Sorry for having to start a thread, really, I searched and searched and it seems I'm the only jackass that doesn't know what this means....and I'm a mechanic!!!!!
I'd also like to know. It was added some time ago, but nobody ever bothered to explain what it actually does, it was just like "here it is, use it". Can we get The Tristan in here please?
Under the option for setting your gear ratios, to the left. You can adjust it up and down, I just need to know the difference, I fear I may be missing out on something important. But thanks AlienT I'll read through, but if anyone can post a simply explanation, thank you very much!!!
The reason I posted the link mate is that the chap describes in simple terms in his original post what pre-load is I keep his thread handy just to remind myself also.
Quote: 'Preload simply makes the diff behave as if it were locked over a certain range of torque difference between the wheels'
"The Tristan" is easily confused by the nuances of differentials. Plenty of other people on this forum are far more qualified in terms of understanding to help out.
It's something I really need to understand, but never bothered. All will change soon, as I have a clutch pack 'Powerflow' differential in the race car for next year. Ramp angles, preload and friction plate configuration will soon be thought about
@DHRammstein
Do you maybe need help for some special car, or special type of race, help with how big the value should be? I don't really know how it works in real car, but I know what it does in LFS
Clutch pack differential
The power and coast sides of the differential are affected by driveshaft torque. As torque builds in the forward direction, the differential gets closer and closer to being fully locked at the rate given by the Power setting. Vice versa for the Coast setting, which only comes into play when you're using engine braking.
However, for small amounts of throttle (and thus torque), both of these settings become negligible and the diff opens completely, potentially making the car very skittish and unstable. This is where preload comes in.
Saying diff preload "completely locks the diff up to a certain point" is largely accurate but can be confusing. Suffice it to say that diff preload forces both wheels to spin at the same speed up until the torque differential between the two wheels exceeds the preload value. At that point, the diff allows the wheels to spin at different speeds, although obviously still with quite a large torque differential. When that point is passed, the value of the preload no longer matters and the Power/Coast values take over.
I was just curious in general. Honestly, in all my real life racing experience((mostly drag racing until recently) I've never even heard of preload, so I'm clueless what it is/does. However, for now I don't adjust it, I dunno what it will do. At this point, I wanna try to put the power down just a tad slower, because I'm on KB and it's tough coming out of corners hard on the throttle, even with adjusting the button control rate all the way down, it can still be touch with the FZR and the two fastest open wheel cars.
That's only part of the truth though. Fully locked means 100% lock. Preload makes sure that lock never gets to 0% but it doesn't do this by always making it 100%.
A simple explanation is, how much power load is on that axel , more preload on the front axel = more understear more preload on the back axel more overstear , on a AWD car like the FXR if U put-it on 0 or 20 Nm it kinda kills the AWD understear efect. A racing engineer explain-it to me but I was sleeping before he finished.
