this is a message from quaife
The question that is posed as to the differences between the two makes is a good one and for me is fairly easy to answer. Without seeing the new MTX 75 unit that has been built by the competition, I will recite 2 major differences under the assumption that the competition has not deviated from their traditional production philosophy.
Although both types are considered torque-biasing and function in a similar manner, there are 2 major differences. First and absolutely most importantly, the Quaife differential housing is manufactured from billet steel while the competitor's unit has traditionally been a cast housing. While a cast housing suffices in OEM applications where the power will not be uprated, in a high performance or racing environment the stakes are much higher. Any significant power upgrades will increase loads and forces and eventually break a cast housing as the stresses put on the housing are too great. Those of you that are metallurgists should be able to confirm this to be true. It is the main reason as to why Quaife America offers a ltd. lifetime warranty, even when used for all out competition. We are very confident that the diff housings are bulletproof and our past track record I think speaks for itself. You may ask yourself as to why a manufacturer chooses to build a diff with a cast housing rather than a billet steel one knowing that it can possibly break in high performance street or race applications. The answer is strictly cost. It generally costs far less to produce a casting and thus generally speaking these diffs sell for a lot less money as well. Than again, the costs involved to repair, replace and reinstall the unit if it breaks are far more than the original purchase price of the unit.
The other major difference which somewhat affects the housing integrity is the fact that generally speaking the Quaife diffs utilize more internal pinion gears than the competition. This allows for far greater tooth contact which of course promotes increased strength and helps to absorb some of the forces put on the diff housing. Again, I stress that I have not yet seen the new MTX 75 unit that has been built by the competition but am basing my observations on their past applications. I would be surprised if they have changed their manufacturing theories.
Lastly, there is the pricing and warranty issue. Obviously, I am biased towards the Quaife unit but believe that I have a compelling argument. The Quaife unit is $80 cheaper and comes with the bulletproof warranty. The Quaife diff is cheaper purely because of the larger production quantities now being built and no longer having the shackles of a multi-layer North American distribution system that was previously in place. I don't want to get into that aspect but I know Chris Feist and I corresponded back and forth on this issue many months ago and perhaps he will e-mail you if you are interested further. You can also view our warranty details on our website at
www.quaifeamerica.com. You likely will not get any type of warranty consideration from the competition if you should happen to have trouble with their unit. Just something to think about.
Please do not get the impression that I am bad mouthing the competition because that is not my intent. I simply wanted to lay out the obvious differences and let the customer decide. As always, I welcome any feedback that you may have. My e-mail address is rhollack@quaifeamerica.com
Thank you for your consideration of this post.
Gentlemen,
To answer the question as to what grade alloy steel the Quaife diff housings are made from, they are manufactured from EN34 which is than case hardened.
EN34 is a particular grade of British steel, I do not know what the equivalent American version would be but I am sure that some of you out there can find out. I would expect that the box of donuts that were to be consumed by someone's lab buddies will now be shipped to me instead? I prefer jelly filled and glazed.
To also respond to the gentleman questioning that our warranty doesn't really suffice because it says "LIMITED" and thus must have some underlying conditions, you are certainly correct. Some perfect examples of those conditions would be:
In the instance that you decided to drop the Quaife diff off of the Sears Tower and it broke into a million pieces it would not be considered for warranty.
If you broke a gear or some other component in your transaxle and a metal fragment lodged itself into the diff and it bound up, it would not be accepted for warranty.
If you decided you wanted to look inside the diff and try and figure out how it works and mistakenly put it back together wrong and it broke, it would not be considered for warranty. This has happened a few times in the past as the diff can be confusing to reassemble. That is why it states on the warranty card that the diff can not be disassembled for any reason other than by us. It is not to make it a big secret as to what is going on internally, it is simply to prevent people from tinkering when they do not have the mechanical ability to tinker and than want us to pay for their mistake.
If you were to forget to put gear lube into your transaxle and the diff got so hot that the pinion gears welded themselves together the diff would not be accepted for warranty. Don't laugh or discount the possibility of this happening, this actually happened to one of our Porsche 911 customers many years ago.
If you decided you wanted to modify our Dodge Viper application to work in your MTX75 transaxle, and the fabrication went terribly wrong and the diff is ruined, the diff would not be accepted for warranty consideration.
I think that by now everyone should have a general idea as to what the warranty does not cover. Please take the time to read the warranty details from our website as there are no hidden agendas. The cliff notes version is if you break the diff in street or race conditions under normally operating conditions and the diff is for its intended application, we repair or replace the diff. Period.
Regards,
Ralph B. Hollack
Director of Operations
Quaife America
remember I got this info from an email from them. I'm not by any means a Quaife spokeperson. Perhaps My friend Terry want to explaint the material used yo build the quaife.
"You can turn a engineer into a sale man but, you never can turn a sale man into an engineer"
"I have walk to the valley of Honda and death for that I should not fear no V-tech"
I hope! 