Anyone know what torque bias ratio Nissan has chosen for the new Maxima 6sp with HLSD. I've studied Mr. Chocholek's (BSME) article (you can find this article at: http://torsen.com/Traction_Control_Article.pdf ) in detail and came away impressed with this technology. Compared to the "Open Differential" a "Torsen or Helical Limited Slip" Differential is quite impressive. The article is fairly technical but I managed to walk away with the following example which contrast the two technologies.

Open Diff Example

Say you're traveling along a road surface offering limited traction in some areas. Assume one wheel would break traction if a torque of 100 ft-lbs. is applied to that wheel (lets say that wheel hits a wet path). Suddenly you need to get going in a hurry and step on it. With an open diff the most torque you could ever deliver in this example would be 2 times the amount of torque supported by the drive wheel having the least traction. If this value is exceeded the wheel having less traction would spin up out of control. In our example that means that only 2 x 100 ft-lbs. could be delivered to the road collectively by the drive axles.

Helical LSD Example

Lets assume a torque bias ratio of 4:1, which should not be to hard to achieve (common range is 2:1 to 6:1 and even higher if necessary; I suspect the Maxima's torque bias ratio is closer to 2:1). This ratio basically implies the following. If we look at the previous open diff example the drive wheel having the least traction would break loose at 100 ft-lbs. This technology would allow us to apply up to 400 ft-lbs. of torque to the drive wheel having good traction. Whoa, that is simply impressive!!! With the open diff we can only deliver 200 ft-lbs. but with the HLSD collectively 500 ft-lbs. of torque could potentially be delivered even though one wheel is limited to 100 ft-lbs. of torque. Simply amazing.

Folks, I'm waiting for the December production run!! Hope you found the article informative. Best resource I've found so far.

Regards,
Rudy