Need help with torque steer., Searched, searched more, searched again, gave up. Options

[richee3]

I've been pulling my hair out over this issue for several months. I can't figure out what it is. I'll start with the background details.

I have the factory LSD S54 tranny on my BEAMS. Never had any issues out of it. However, bloodMoney noticed a droning noise related to my gearing that I hadn't noticed. It started only on slow acceleration, where I usually accelerated quick enough that I flew right past the noise and never heard it. This slight issue has never seemed to be anything more than just a noise, but now is in all 5 gears, pretty noticeable up until 3,000 rpm when it suddenly goes silent. Not sure if it's related to the torque steer at all. It makes a wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah noise, similar to that of old worn out tires. It needs to be said that when I turn the wheels and hit the throttle, my wheels are locked together and turn just like they should. Absolutely no issues when I turn, just when I'm going in a straight line.

Last summer, I replaced my front lower control arm bushings for poly bushings, new Racing Beat rear end links and Two's R Us front end links, Moog ball joints, and more importantly, bought Dustin's ADR Vision rims with 225/45/17's and coupled them with 10 mm spacers. The front end links, rims, and spacers came last, in that order. Some time after installing the rims and spacers (not sure how long, it was a month or two) I noticed if I accelerated hard, the car pulled right. Let off the gas, it would straighten back out, meaning it pulled back to the left quickly. Eventually, it became any acceleration at all, hit a pretty good bump and it would go to the right, but if I was just cruising or decelerating, no issues at all. Only on acceleration. Typical torque steer.

Late February or early March, I picked up Noberto's 17" Caldina rims. They're just a little bit lighter with 215/45/17's. When I swapped rims out, I noticed a badly torn passenger side axle boot. Problem found, I thought. Drove with the Caldina rims a few times while waiting for a pair of new axles to come in, and I immediately noticed that torque steer was greatly reduced, but still present. Now it only pulls in 1st-3rd gears. The high gears are relatively trouble free. I got under the car, replaced both axles, and thought I was ready to rock and roll. Wrong, problem was still there.

I've put entirely too much time into this and come up with nothing. I've had a few theories, including worn out LSD. I'm aware that helical LSD's do need to be rebuilt around 90,000 miles, which is close to what mine has on it. However, a worn out helical diff acts like an open diff and does not do anything like what mine is doing. So I thought maybe something in the suspension was loose. Wrong again, it's all torqued to spec. Motor mount issue, maybe? Perhaps my motor was able to twist around on acceleration? Nada. My motor mounts, while not brand new, all pass a visual inspection. No cracking, all bolted down tight, and I can't get the motor to move when I try to force it around. So I gave up on actually looking at the car and resorted to teh intarwebz. The only thing I could find is possible due to wheel offset. It's very possible, since the issue started some time after installing the spacers. I don't know the offset of the ADR Visions, but I know the offset of the Caldina rims is +45 so I'm currently at about +35 offset. Plenty of Celicas running around with +35 and no issues. I'm at a total loss here, I give up. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm all ears.

This post has been edited by richee3: Apr 15, 2013 - 1:55 PM

[Special_Edy]

Lol if you had less caster on your front wheels you wouldnt experience torque steering.
Have you put the car on jackstands and tried turning the wheels by hand? You should be able to feel anything like a bad bearing turning it by hand. If you try to turn a rear wheel by hand on my 64 chevy's positrac, the driveshaft will spin a little bit before the differential locks and the opposite wheel spins the opposite way you are turning your wheel. Maybe yours does the same thing and if it doesnt its malfunctioning?

[richee3]

Lol if you had less caster on your front wheels you wouldnt experience torque steering.
Have you put the car on jackstands and tried turning the wheels by hand? You should be able to feel anything like a bad bearing turning it by hand. If you try to turn a rear wheel by hand on my 64 chevy's positrac, the driveshaft will spin a little bit before the differential locks and the opposite wheel spins the opposite way you are turning your wheel. Maybe yours does the same thing and if it doesnt its malfunctioning?

Turning the wheels by hand with the car on jack stands will yield exactly the same results as an open diff. I don't know why, but this diff will work like an open diff if one (or both) wheels come off the ground, sending power through the path of least resistance and will turn only one wheel. I definitely appreciate all the good advice and brainstorming, keep the ideas coming! Eventually we'll get to the bottom of this. I'll probably start in a few weeks with removing the spacers/studs and see what happens. If no change, that rules that out. It'll be at least a month before I can make any changes though.