SloopJohnB@mac.com

won't a torsen interaxle differential apportion some torque to the rear with a broken front axle?
Apparently not…
The Torsen (from Torque Sensing) works as an open differential when the amount of torque going to each wheel is equal. As soon as one wheel starts to lose traction, the difference in torque causes the gears in the Torsen differential to bind together. The design of the gears in the differential determines the torque bias ratio. For instance, if a particular Torsen differential is designed with a 5:1 bias ratio, it is capable of applying up to five times more torque to the wheel that has good traction.
These devices are often used in high-performance all-wheel-drive vehicles. Like the viscous coupling, they are often used to transfer power between the front and rear wheels. In this application, the Torsen is superior to the viscous coupling because it transfers torque to the stable wheels before the actual slipping occurs.
However, if one set of wheels loses traction completely, the Torsen differential will be unable to supply any torque to the other set of wheels. The bias ratio determines how much torque can be transferred, and five times zero is zero.

4Driver4

Yup. Think of it like this: Torsen is a torque multiplier. When you have zero traction (or mechanical failure) at one corner, you are multiplying by zero (we all know what that equates to).

The difference with mechanical failure is that you lose the ability of EDL to apply the brake and "trick" torsen into seeing some "traction" at the spinning corner.

4Driver4

My guess is that the bolts backed out of the flange on the CV last touched. That would also account for the lack of noise. ;-)

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Another good reason for LSD…like a positraction or DetroitLocker.