differential......
 

had a question..i have a 95tt.....i heard someone talkin about NO FLUID in the differential....if that HAPPENS..ur diff. goes out?? what happens then...can u just BUY the differential or is it a WHOLE tranny???

first off the diff and the tranny are two different items, and basically if you run out of gear oil, the gears will work for a short time, but the heat generated by the gear mesh will eventually either melt something or bearings will sieze or gear backlash will not be set correctly(since the oil provides a thin barrier, it helps in backlash on the gear facets) and you'll start breaking things-either transmission or differential. Now if either or both run out of fluid and the gears get destroyed, in the diff you could probably get away with a new spool, but in the tranny, you'll likely lose the bearings and races first and the gears to follow, cheaper to get a transmission used from a salvage yard than rebuild(not always the case but often).
Art