I'll be glad to see the back of ball diffs in electric cars...
They came out to answer a problem in the early 80s - how to create a simple, lightweight diff, with a limited slip action.
But that was in the days of 1200 cells and sealed 35-turn motors.
Now, we have so much power that the diffs struggle to stay in good condition, and the adjustability is pretty limited, at best you have a tight and a loose setting between the diff slipping or locking up. On top of that they completely bewilder beginners.
Sealed gear diffs are so much more consistent in their adjustment and virtually bulletproof. Modified electric cars now have so much power that the extra weight is not a hindrance. Great to see the new Durango will have them - if I had £1,000 spare I'd get a Durango simply for that reason! It's a shame that so few other manufacturers have gone down that route. Serpent did it for their touring car but I think there were a few other issues with the brand at the time which stopped them being widely used.
And it took Tamiya about a decade to build a decent ball diff... the first ones in the Astute and Madcap were just plain weird. Notchy and with effectively no adjustment.
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