[bdawson]

hi all i have recently swapped out my f10a sierra motor over to a g16a vitara and i have got the motor and the gearbox in after changing the engine mounts and the gearbox mounts, cutting out the transfer tunnel and making it wide enough to fit the 5 speed in but now im up to shortening the tail shaft. just a few questions, i was wondering if anyone has had a custom made tail shaft to fit the diff of the sierra as it is offset to the drivers side of the axle or would it be better to swap the axle out of the vitara because the diff is centered in the axle. if there is a way that i dont have to change the axles over it would be great but if need be i will do it.
any help would be great.

[Gwagensteve]

Am I correct in assuming you've replaced the sierra transfer case with the vitara one?

If so have you thought through the gearing implications of this? The vitara transfer case is direct high range and 1.9:1 low range. Your existing 1.0 case had a 1.58 high range and 2.55 low range. You can see those numbers are vastly different.

Your gearing will now be pretty average, especially considering the vitara ran 5.12 diff gears and you're now running 4.1 diff gears. All up, this is a terrible outcome both on and off road. Road revs will be crazy low and performance and fuel economy will be terrible. I reckon you won't get into 5th gear, perhaps ever.

So the best solution is to remove the Vitara transfer case, shorten the sierra jackshaft between the sierra transfer case and the back of the vitara gearbox and run the Sierra diffs. The Sierra transfer case can stay exactly where it is and you will have perfectly acceptable on and off road gearing with up to a 30" tyre.

Swapping the vitara rear axle in isn't advisable. It's very wide (wider even than hilux) and there's no matching front axle without making something custom. There is no matching diff ratio available for the front axle unless you fit a 1.3 (preferably wide track) front axle which will accept Vitara front gears.

[jdk81]

Beaten by steve

Usual method of vit gearbox into a sierra is to ditch the vit xfer and use the sierra xfer.

vit gearbox output is the same spline as a sierra 1.3 gearbox output.
A 1.3l jackshaft can be found fairly cheaply.

If you persist with the vit xfer you will need to regear the diffs.
that means front and rear with vit ones.
An alloy 3rd member (from front of vits) will bolt up and be easiest (not ideal though), vut ftont gears can be installed into sierra carriers.
But you will also need a 1.3l front diff

The vit rear will be a lot wider, and possibly not a great solution to a shaft angle.

I would really advise you to reconsider use of the sierra transfer