01e transmission based rwd

what is the reason no one seems to try the 01e transmission with welded center diff for a RWD application. The 5 speed trannys are popping up for 300-400$ but not sure of the gotcha's

please share your thoughs

I don't see why not, people weld the center diffs and run quattro cars as rear wheel drive. Depending on vehicle, shifter linkage might be a little tricky, but shouldn't be too bad. I made my own linkage for my audi using the original shifter and the linkage from a b5 s4 hybrid'd together.

Because then you have to deal with two diff reductions. The trans axle reduction + whatever is in the rear axle. Its just not practical for road vehicles. Look up transaxle buggies, its been done many times before but you'll notice that all of those buggies have a top speed of >60mph and that with running 35's and larger.

Exenos said:

Because then you have to deal with two diff reductions. The trans axle reduction + whatever is in the rear axle. Its just not practical for road vehicles. Look up transaxle buggies, its been done many times before but you'll notice that all of those buggies have a top speed of >60mph and that with running 35's and larger.

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I don't think you are understanding what he wants to do. If you weld the center diff and use a custom driveshaft from the audi's rear output shaft to a rear differential you would have the correct gearing. When you weld the center diff, the output shaft spins at the speed of the transmission output BEFORE the final drive reduction. Pick your rear end accordingly and it would work fine. The audi rear ends are in the neighborhood of 3.89:1 and 4.11:1. There are a few other ratios, but those are the most common with the 01e stuff.

Ahh, ok. That makes more sense. I thought he was meaning weld the diff in a transaxle and turn the whole shebang sideways. I didn't bother to look up what a o1e was. My bad.

With that in mind though, you may run into interference issues with the front output shafts and the transmission tunnel. Nothing a torch and hammer shouldn't be able to fix though.

Exenos said:

Ahh, ok. That makes more sense. I thought he was meaning weld the diff in a transaxle and turn the whole shebang sideways. I didn't bother to look up what a o1e was. My bad.

With that in mind though, you may run into interference issues with the front output shafts and the transmission tunnel. Nothing a torch and hammer shouldn't be able to fix though.

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I have seen where someone did that with a chevy cavalier driveline with toyota axles in a rock buggy. I thought that was a genius way to get super low gearing, and it was dirt cheap.

I think you might be able to remove the whole front ring and pinion and plug the output shaft holes. Not sure on that though. Some exploring of schematics might be necessary.

vtpsd said:

I have seen where someone did that with a chevy cavalier driveline with toyota axles in a rock buggy. I thought that was a genius way to get super low gearing, and it was dirt cheap.

I think you might be able to remove the whole front ring and pinion and plug the output shaft holes. Not sure on that though. Some exploring of schematics might be necessary.

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If one welds the center diff, you could absolutely do this. Having had an 01E FWD completely apart, the front diff even comes out via it's own access cover without disassembling the transmission.

You could save the weight and the parasitic drag on the front diff.

Like some Subarus that have done this before, I would take a good look at the rear axles in terms of a possible fail point when moving the whole car on their own. I would see if you could locate the rear diff and axles from a W8 if possible and see if they are uprated over the V6 axles. I know the front axles are definitely heavier spec on the W8 compared to 1.8T and V6 versions.

Audi's driveshaft rotation is opposite most applications is the main reason. Use an Audi diff. or run the rear axle upside down.

oh no, didn't realize the driveshaft rotation is opposite. This forum is great, continue to learn from all your experiences.

Btw, this project is for a rover. was planning to use a LT230 transfer case in a divorced setup and use the output of a rwd transmission.

There are many problems with this:

Welding the center diff will eventually result in the welds or gears cracking. It's not a matter of if rather when.

Removing the front diff will result in lubrication issues towards the back of the gearbox. The front diff pushes fluid to the rear of the box as it rotates. You can overfill the gearbox however unless you don't get it just right the gearbox will puke fluid out the vent. You also loose and speed reference.

Running RWD only, you have doubled the amount of torque to the rear diff, which will eventually result in a blown up diff.

With that said I've not seen a successful long lived 01E in Rear wheel drive mode.

There are far better choices for Rear wheel drive transmissions out there.

There are many problems with this:

Welding the center diff will eventually result in the welds or gears cracking. It's not a matter of if rather when.

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Tell that to the guys breaking axle shafts before the diff they welded up shatters. Is it 100% possible to weld a dif solid and experience no failure. Properly clean/degrease the spider gears before welding, use a decent sized welder (NOT a small 110v hf special) and it will be plenty strong for any amount of power these engines will put out. It wont be as strong as a spool but i would put money on it not failing.

Running RWD only, you have doubled the amount of torque to the rear diff, which will eventually result in a blown up diff.

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Again, definitely not correct. If your using a 01e to power a vehicle that was originally rwd then its no problem at all. This only comes into play if your running a awd car as rwd, not a rwd as rwd.

With that said I've not seen a successful long lived 01E in Rear wheel drive mode.

There are far better choices for Rear wheel drive transmissions out there.

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Fair enough,

My comment on the rear diff was assuming you use an Audi rear diff.

If you use a proper Rear wheel drive diff then you won't have this issue, however you might find yourself going backwards real fast. I believe the Nissan 350 z has a diff oriented proper for the 01E rotation.

Scott_DeWitt said:

My comment on the rear diff was assuming you use an Audi rear diff.

If you use a proper Rear wheel drive diff then you won't have this issue, however you might find yourself going backwards real fast. I believe the Nissan 350 z has a diff oriented proper for the 01E rotation.

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Yeah I'm trying to remember which solid axles had reverse rotation from the factory. I feel like you could just run a reverse cut gear set from a high pinion axle in a low pinion axle to get a reverse rotation axle.

thanks. i am not worried about the load on the rear axle. Its a pretty hefty salisbury axle.

My application is for a series land rover. the output from the transmission is going to the LT230 transfer case. I will get to storage eventually to look at the transfer case for the rotation.