I just bought an axle, the bloke who i got it from said it was from a mk2 escort 1600ghia(3.54:1), but to turn the drums one full turn, i only have to turn the prop flange approx 2 full turns, not 3.54 as i expected, the other thing is when i turn one drum, the other turns the same direction, does this mean its got LSD???, if so what ratio would it be?

Ray

If in doubt it may be worth pulling out the half shafts , undo the nuts retaining the diff and take the diff out (watch out for oil leaking) count the number of teeth on the crownwheel and pinion do the maths that will tell you the ratio. Probably worth cleaning anyhow when stipped.

you need to do this again with one wheel on the ground so that it cannot turn and then count the side that can. I'm pretty sure thats what youv'e done wrong as if not you've got a VERY high diff.

3.54 is the highest diff you can get in the English axle (unless specially made), so you must have done as suggested and not held the other wheel stationary when measuring.
I thought the RS2000 was the only one with the 3.54, might be wrong though

Corsair 2000e was 3.55

The way to get the exact ratio is

Lock one shaft
Mark both input and the one free brake drum.
The turn input shaft exactly one turn at a time until the marked brake drum has stoped exactly on the the pont it started --- nb input shaft and output must both complete an exact number of full turns until BOTH have returned EXACTLY to the starting position.

Say for example 39 turns of the input shaft give exactly 22 turns of the output. Because only one brake drum is turning we have to multiply the turns of the input shaft by a factor of 2 .

(39*2)/22 =3.545454 = 3.55

or
If 49 turns of the input gives exactly 26 turns of the output
(49*2)/26 = 3.7692 = 3.77

[Edited on 21/6/05 by britishtrident]