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Removing the rear diff

Contributed By: Enginebasics.com

Granted, I know this maybe doesn’t deserve its own page as an update, but this really is a very cool piece.  It is what arguably makes the SH AWD system the most advanced AWD system currently on the market.  While this rear diff is a beast, it’s not as heavy as you might think.  Once again Acura went the extra mile on this car and made the whole thing aluminum.  The sub frame, diff, A-arms, spindles, you name it and its aluminum.  Now there is still a lot going on here so it’s not going to weight the same as a regular rear differential, but its not terrible.  I had read online that the RL diff is around 250lbs and the regular rear differentials without the acceleration device are about 30 pounds lighter.  For 2015 Acura is saying they have redesigned the SH awd differential again, or at least for the new TL its 50 lbs lighter, so the newest version might be under 200lbs.  Now I know this is still a monster when you consider most independent rear diffs are around 80 lbs, but this thing has a lot going on.

Here is the diff right when I removed it from the donor 2005 Acura RL

It was so dirty.  This next picture doesn’t do it justice after I cleaned it up, but it really is a shinny beautiful piece of engineering.