Adam,
I suspect the reason failures may possibly occur on 01E Quattro (AWD) converted (to FWD) transaxles is that they use a hollow output shaft, as opposed to the solid output (pinion) shaft used on the FWD (non Quattro) transaxles. On the Quattro, the pinion shaft passes through the hollow ouput shaft and both are coupled to the Thorsen. Torque is distributed to the front and rear differentials from the output shaft via the Thorsen. That said, I'm inclinded to believe that the weak link is the differential but I have no direct experience with any failures.
Andy
I suspect the reason failures may possibly occur on 01E Quattro (AWD) converted (to FWD) transaxles is that they use a hollow output shaft, as opposed to the solid output (pinion) shaft used on the FWD (non Quattro) transaxles. On the Quattro, the pinion shaft passes through the hollow ouput shaft and both are coupled to the Thorsen. Torque is distributed to the front and rear differentials from the output shaft via the Thorsen. That said, I'm inclinded to believe that the weak link is the differential but I have no direct experience with any failures.
Andy