I was just curious to know if the rear axel on my mom's '00 E150 Chateau is a LS. We need new tires on the back and when I was in a hurry the other day coming out of a wet parking lot(it was just cleaned) I was going to get out on the highway and gave it plenty of gas.. 2 seconds later I hadn't moved an inch, and the rear passenger side wheel was just spinning. Is this common for LS or would you say it is an open differential?(or locked, dunno seen so many terms..) And if you could tell me or show me how a limited slip works compared to an open(or locked, whatever), I would greatly appreciate it.

Might be useless info, but we had the whole rear axel replaced with one from a '02 E150 about 10,000 miles after we bought it used, because the bearings went out and messed up the housing.

 

Jack up the rear axle until both tires are off the ground. Pick a rear tire and spin it. If the opposite wheel spins in the same direction, its a LS, if it spins in the opposite direction its an open diff. You can also climb under the truck and look at the tags on the diff.

Go to www.howstuffworks.com and type in limited slip diff or something. They have a decent article on how LS, open, and lockers work. Just takers a while to read.