years for auburn and torsen

[1999slpss]

I've been trying to find a break-down of years of which cars came with the auburn and torsen rear diffs. I have a 99 and still can't find a straight answer to which one it is.

Thanks

[Firebirdjones]

The only bit of information that I remember back when these cars first came out was all the SLP optioned SS camaros that had upgraded units installed by SLP.
I remember back then at the time they always had a ton of "take outs" for sale with no miles on them and they were cheap to buy.

The SS cars that were at SLP are the only ones I'm aware of that had the upgrades. Both of my LS1 SS's are SLP optioned and had that done. The other 4th gens I'm not so sure. My 97 Z had an Auburn however. So somewhere along that time frame I would assume. It's very easy to crack open the cover and identify what you have right away.

For what it's worth, the Torsens aren't all that great, and I'd actually prefer a clutch style unit over the goofy helicoil crap. Those units are horrible for making trash in the gear oil, metal to metal contact all the time. I've gone no more than 20,000 miles on a gear oil change and still have a ton of crap piled onto the magnet every time. Just nasty, that's all I can say about it. I guarantee if you have one of these, you'll want to change that gear oil anyway, crack it open and see.

The Auburns, being a cone style setup, don't produce the trash, but are not rebuildable. Once the case starts to wear and the cones loose pressure, that's pretty much it for those. You can't repair the case per say, and even though Auburn offered a repair service for these at one time, it was more of a bandaid fix from what I've seen.

The Eatons are the way to go. Good ole fashioned clutch packs that are rebuildable in various forms, clutch materials, spring pack loads etc...
You can set them up on kill if you want. Kits are still available from various suppliers and even GM for $100-150, since Eaton was the supplier for posi's in all the GM applications since the early 60's. They are still on the roads today, just rebuild them and they keep on going.
I've got a few here that are still kickin' fine and have never been apart, 40+ years old too.
There are alot of new units on the market that are good, various forms of lockers and such if you can put up with a little noise and some goofy action with wet roads.
Just one mans take on it. Sorry it doesn't directly answer your question, just rambling.

[9T8W66]

It's my understanding that 1998 was the last year of the factory Auburn Diff.
`99 -up cars should all be Torsens (unless optioned with SLP Auburns).

[1999slpss]

alright thanks! that's what I was looking for.