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m56l 4.0/1 or m56 3.77/1

moto1800

New member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Hello all,
I need some general advise. m56l 4.0/1 or m56l 3.77/1 final drive ratio.
I can't seem to find any direct answers online.
My 98 v70t5 has a bad differential (170,000 miles)...I found a very low mileage m56l with a 3.77 ratio. (under 20,000 miles). a rare find for it's age.

Will the car loss much of it's 0-60 speed?
I live in the NYC area, so will the 3.77 ratio be an issue driving in traffic and around the city?
Can the final drives be switched in the two transmissions?
Does anything have to be done for the speedo, since the final ratio would be different?

FYI: My car's mods are mostly to help with suspension and braking. It does have a ARD green tune and obx exhaust.. no increase on boost (car is HP turbo). The injectors are stock. I would say it's about a stage 1 tune. As it is, it's fast enough to piss off most porsche owners and I'm not looking to make the car faster.

My goal is to have a great drive-able everyday car, so any clear advise and thoughts would be appreciated. thanks for your help,
michael
 
considered replacing with new queiffe lsd, but even wholesale at $960 + labor its not worth it... the used gearbox I found has under 20,000 miles so its like new.
If I could have found a use tranny with the lsd at a good price I would have bought it.
 
considered replacing with new queiffe lsd, but even wholesale at $960 + labor its not worth it... the used gearbox I found has under 20,000 miles so its like new.
If I could have found a use tranny with the lsd at a good price I would have bought it.

used trannys w/ a LSD installed for a good price is not something you are going to find.

the factory open differentials are weak... its good security to install a LSD and makes driving the car a lot more fun too.

The labor to R&R the trans will greatly exceed the cost of a Quaife LSD
 
I agree the lsd would be great, however at a point the cost versus value of 18 year old car doesn't make it consideration.
the last differential lasted 170,000 miles.... If I was racing the car it would be a different story but I'm not... All I'm concerned about is drive ability with the 3.77 ratio in the NYC area slow traffic and city... I know highway driving will be fine.
 
FYI...the M56L came with a 3.77 ratio, the M56H came with a 4.0 and a couple other 4.xx ratios. The M56L was typically a non-turbo trans, the H was on the turbo cars.

For a daily the L will be fine for cruising and such. If you're that concerned about perhaps an extra second on your 0-60 times, go with the H. If you're just trying to keep the car on the road, the L will be fine.
 
considered replacing with new queiffe lsd, but even wholesale at $960 + labor its not worth it...

It really is though. What you ought to do is buy the low mileage trans, put a brand new quaife in it, then put it in your car. When you're done with the car pull the trans and you can sell it for pretty much what you paid for it. Think of it like a savings account rather than money wasted on the car.

Also take the diff out of the 20k mile transmission and put it in your 170k mile transmission and sell that for a few hundred. Diff swaps are super super easy if the trans is out of the car. Takes less than an hour.
 
lloyd I like your idea. just don't want to lay out the extra cash now.
If there was interest here, I have wholesale accounts and would do a group purchase for quaife LSD if there was interest. I know I could get them below the normal $1100-1200 price range. I think I'll call OBX monday and see if the m56 lsd is in development yet. they were saying it would be around 6-700 each and was going to be a quaife copy.
 
I have a M56H 5 speed differential I no longer need.

$50 + shipping if you're interetested. I won't be able to ship it until after May 20th since I'm out of town.

M56H.jpg
 
I ordered the m56l 3.77 from europe this week... at $675 and only 17,500km so it's practically new. I haven't look to see if I have the single or dual weight flywheel. ser # says dual, but I'll know soon enough. I do have a NOS oem 850T5r clutch on the shelf if it's a single. otherwise it's going to be a LUK. Most of the Sachs clutch kits for my car come with the LUK clutch plate. I will most likely change the flywheel too, so before labor I've got 1300-1400 in parts.. that's a big reason for me not to do the LSD. I'll be doing about half the labor so that's no an issue.
If anyone thinks there interest in a group purchase for LSDs, I'll call my supplier and see what their best group purchase price would be. I also contacted Mfactory development to see if they ever started the R&D for their version of the quaife.
 
lloyd I like your idea. just don't want to lay out the extra cash now.
If there was interest here, I have wholesale accounts and would do a group purchase for quaife LSD if there was interest. I know I could get them below the normal $1100-1200 price range. I think I'll call OBX monday and see if the m56 lsd is in development yet. they were saying it would be around 6-700 each and was going to be a quaife copy.

What's the result with obx?
 
the main phone number for OBX is not a working number anymore.. got no reply to an email.. In the past, I've had bad customer service from OBX with their SS exhaust. At this point, with no contact #, I'd be wary of putting an internal part made by them in my car. I was hopeful things had changed but, fixing an exhaust is a lot easier had a blown gearbox...so I'm not going to pursue them as an option.
 
Dmf bolts

update:
I got the tranny from europe a few weeks back. total cost with shipping from Sweden was about $650.
The aluminum case is shiny as a new tranny... will it's almost new at 17,500 original km.
I've collected all the parts needed to the job, new DMF, clutch, seals, slave...

I did find that volvo pente sells the same oem DMF bolts through marine dealer network for a fraction of the cost the volvo car stealerships or well know volvo parts dealers.. normal price is @ 5.10 -6.50 a bolt. I paid 1.88ea + shipping. It is recommended by LuK to replace the bolts, since they are stretch bolts. for $25 its a no brainer but at $60 you think twice.

I should hopefully get to work on the car early next week..
 
I did find that volvo pente sells the same oem DMF bolts through marine dealer network for a fraction of the cost the volvo car stealerships or well know volvo parts dealers.. normal price is @ 5.10 -6.50 a bolt. I paid 1.88ea + shipping.

Is there a link or phone number for this dealer?
What part number are the bolts?
 
dmf dealer bolt info

hello,
I believe its against site rules to post dealer info, so privately email me off list and Ill be happy to give the info.

I installed the gearbox yesterday and the bolts I got were exactly the same what can out.

the gearbox shifted like a brand new box, tight and smooth. with the 3.77 final drive its not as fast, but the car has no noise.
the DMF in the car and clutch were ready to go to Valhalla. plates were near rivets, dmf was very lose, sac had no adjustment left... considering the car had 70 of its 170,000 miles driving in the NYC area... which means millions of shifts when in traffic and being stage 1 tuned it was extremely well designed. FYI the oem clutch that came out was Luk. I'm assuming the DMF was too, since the new and old looked identical. The old one ws only marked volvo.

michael
 
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