Viscous coupling broke?

[BoostinAWD]

Ok heres the deal, one day while pulling into the driveway the car made a loud pop 3 times and the passenger front tire spun. Got the car apart thinking it may of been from the welded center differential. Got the differential out and it looks perfect, ok so its not the differential.

Maybe the output shaft? Nope pulled it out, its also perfect. Ok maybe the transfercase, no again. Front diff seems perfect, will find out soon. Question is how can you tell if the viscous coupling is broke? Its kinda hard to tell since its a pretty solid peice, and I was told it will eventually break without the proper retainer. It seems to be one peice to me. Has anyone else had this problem. I have since ordered a stock differential (if it ever gets here) and am thinking of converting it to a 4 gear spider.

Main question is how do you tell if a viscous coupling is broken, with no visual signs of it being broken? If its not that does anyone else have any clues because the entire transmission looks perfect. I also pulled the transfercase apart its perfect also.
I'm a little confused as to whats making the popping noise if nothings broken

Thanks
Chance

 

[dynatos]

if you can connect the viscous coupler to a lathe, you can test it. Run it at about 90-110 rpms and connect a torque wrench to the other side. If you get a lot less than 9-10 kg/m ( 65ftlb - 72ftlb ), you know it's kicked the bucket.

have you done anything lately that could have damaged the VC?

 

[BoostinAWD]

Well I have a welded differential that I have been using as a daily driver. Lots of tight corners making the tires chirp. When it made the pop it was while entering the driveway with the wheel fully cranked to the right. The curb is kinda abrupt so I kinda gave it too much power pulling into it.

Will a bad viscous coupling cause those abrupt jerking/popping noises while turning if it is infact dead.
Other than that I'm clueless as to whats wrong. On a side note with the front of the car jacked up. I had the transfercase off, the output shaft out, no center diff. When I would turn one of the front wheels the other would remain stationary, I know when all that stuff is on the other wheel will spin in reverse of the other. But the front diff is still intact wouldnt the other wheel still spin in reverse still?

Oh yea I really dont have access to a lathe, I have a friend who will loan me a spare, but dont wanna single that out, get it all back together and have the same problem.

Thanks for the help
BTW this is my 2g GSX not my 90.

 

[steve]

If your center diff is welded that pretty much takes all the stress off the VCU since the diff can't slip, right? So all it's doing right now is retaining your output shaft.

Steve

 

[pneumo]

The popping sound is most likely from the CV joints in the axles wearing out. A welded center diff will do that, especially if you need to make sharp turns on a regular basis, such as entering your driveway.

Your front wheel spun when going up the driveway because the whole drivetrain winds up when making a sharp turn, then whichever wheel has the least traction will slip.

 

[BoostinAWD]

You know whats funny about that, is I just barely finished changing the passenger front axle went around the block and pulled into the driveway when it did it.

Got scared cause it wasnt a light pop. It was POP chirp POP chirp POP chirp you could have heard it a block away.
Backed out of the driveway went to make a hard left and it did it again, pulled it in the driveway where it now sits.

So far havent found a damn thing wrong, never did it once in the 4 months I had the differential, which I am now replacing with a stocker.

 

[MrNeedles]

Hate to bring this back 10 years later, but did you ever find a solution to this? I just had the same exact thing happen to me, except I don't have a welded center diff.

 

[donniekak]

If your center diff is welded it's impossible to break the coupler. All it's doing is holding the steel ball in place that keeps the output shaft from being pulled out of the transmission.