Poor Little Cone Style

replicaracer43 said

They do work pretty well for street use, run plenty of them myself. The new auburn units seem to have a reputation for spider gear breakage though from what I hear. Now, the clutch style, DOES increase its clamping load as torque increases, due to the crosspins running on the ramps in the case, very good design. The cone style has a spring loaded design, so increasing torque does not cause them to grip any harder.

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Oh but it most certainly IS a torque sensing unit. That's why the cones are threaded on the outside. As torque increases to the differential, the cones are forced into the carrier ends and they tighten up against the inside of the carrier. The cone style is perhaps more of a torque sensing unit than the clutch style.

The clutch style is spring loaded too. Look at the Dana Power Lock. The springs in either unit are not there to provide 100% of the load on the clutches or cones. They are there to press the clutches or cones together allowing them to ramp up from the torque being applied and do their job. Both styles are torque sensing. That's how they work by design.

I've seen or heard nothing about failures in Auburn units. I think it's funny that suddenly someone brings it up in a thread about this. Do you have links to some destroyed Auburn units? I am sure I can find some mutilated clutch style units as well. IMO, if someone is making enough power to break either one, they should step up to a Detroit Locker or spool.