[kingkom]

Hi everyone
I recently had a Lockright and 5.12 Vit centre installed in the rear and 5.12 Vit ring and pinion in the existing air actuated GV centre installed in the front of my 2003 GV.

Recently after a big hill climb the passenger side inner axle shaft popped out like an inch and I heard random occasional clunking. I popped the inner axle shaft back in and while it shows that 4x4 is engaged on the dash it doesn't seem to be turning the front wheels (they skip forward a bit with each clunk). There are no teeth on the sump plug magnet and with the car lifted the front diff sounds and works normally except for with 4x4 engaged you can still turn the wheels by hand even though the rear is on the ground. So it seems as though the air operated clutch is not engaging and the clunking is it skipping teeth?

Now I know, I should have gotten rid of the air actuated mechanism when I re-geared the front but I couldn't find a Vit steel carrier and I thought it would be OK as I had the mechanism inspected and all looked to be in good condition.

Don't really have time to fiddle at the moment since I have uni exams coming up and can drive it fine in RWD for now. So what I want to do is get it checked externally when the car goes in for a service to make sure it's not anything to do with the vac pump or solenoid, though I can hear it working so I doubt this is the case. Then when the holidays come if it's internal I thought I'd put in an ARB air locker up front and do a stubby shaft while I'm at it along with the manual hubs, this would eliminate the air operated 4WD system and hopefully make it more reliable plus give me added traction with the locker.

Now my question is; if I go down this road can I use my GV front diff carrier? So basically block off the air nipple, bolt the 5.12 ring gear to the locker and slap some bearings on it then put it in the steel GV carrier which has the 5.12 pinion already, set tooth contact and backlash and be good to go? Because steel Vit carriers are impossible to find and I don't want alloy. Or is this what everyone has been doing all along? The ARB application guide says use Vit third member but since the locker replaces the diff case with the cross-shafts, spider and side gears all as one unit you aren't really using the third member at all, just the carrier with the locker, and ring/pinion gears in it. Looking at some photos, the carriers for GV and Vit look identical except for the air mechanism. So why wouldn't it be easier to do this instead of tracking down a Vit steel carrier? Or is there some slight millimetre difference or some big piece of casting that's in the way and won't let you do this?

GV


Vit



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[got_bar_work]

There isnt any steel vit carriers. Only aluminium.there are 2 different steel ones
U will also need new axles out of a 96.5-97 1.6vit with a new dash or a sv diff. When u piss off the air crap the center moves to the left like 10mm

[kingkom]

Thanks. So it works? Have you done it? Also, regarding the axles; so basically anything that's 26 spline will work?


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[MrRocky]

U gunna need 5 spare axles every trip with that gv front locked
The cvs and axles are made of cheese

[kingkom]

Why would the inner axle shaft fail? It should be extremely strong. CVs maybe, though I can always do the Hilux CV conversion if need be. But there's plenty of people with lockers in the front and while they do break CVs I don't see it being that much of an issue.


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[got_bar_work]

No i have a sierra rear hemisphere with a lock right
No gv axles will not work u need vit ones. They are different lengths.

[kingkom]

Ahh yep that's what I meant, any 26 spline Vitara.


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[Built4thrashing]

got_bar_work wrote:

No i have a sierra rear hemisphere with a lock right
No gv axles will not work u need vit ones. They are different lengths.

Um not true.

I have a manual V6 GV with lockright in the front. and i still use the standard GV CV shafts. but you have to set things up properly


First of all you have to get rid of the air operated GV center and replace it with a Vitara Front center (installed in the GV carrier)
remove all the air lines and plug the air hole in the carrier.

Open the Vit ctr and swap out the 22 spline side gears for some 26spline ones (from either the Vit or sierra or Gv. All will fit)

if fitting a lockright or Spartan you will need a cross pin block. Using a dremmel open up one side big enough to allow the stub axle to push in about 5mm. Taper end of axle also helps.
Die grind a groove in to the side gear about 5mm in so drivers side CV shaft locks in.

Put it all together and you can use all your factory GV CV's

[got_bar_work]

Do u know if the gv lhs axle is 10mm longer then a vit one or did my diff guy shorten it .its been so long i cant rember what he did. He machined something.
I want to make new stub and only have gv axles here so i should be able to just machine a new grove in the side gear and then be able to swap between the 2. Are u getting enough spline engagement with the side gear being 10mm shorter

[Built4thrashing]

Its not longer. Its just that the internals in the Vitara center sits across to the passenger side more than the GV center. the Axle doesnt quite go all the way in.
so you either need to shorten the axle or hone out the cross pin block to allow the axle to go in further. Its only needs 5mm.

[fordem]

Vitara axle, left; Grand Vitara, right, and yes, it is about a 10mm difference.

[got_bar_work]

Ok so im not crazy. Mine are like that and so are the rhs ones but other way round

[kingkom]

Ok. I went and got my boxes of diff parts and quickly slapped together a diff. Mismatched ring and pinion gear and sloppy as a gypsy camp but it spins and is good enough for a proof of concept. I can confirm that the Vit diff case will fit in a GV steel housing - so no need to go looking for a steel Vit diff centre - not even sure they exist tbh and if they do they're like unicorns. I can also confirm that the Vit and GV carriers look identical except for the little bit of casting for the air line fitting. External length is the same, distance between trunnion yokes is the same, trunnion yokes are the same thickness, bearing caps are the same except for the one on the air mechanism side of the GV diff having an extra bit of casting to bolt on the air mechanism - once this is removed though they are all the same as the extra casting doesn't interfere with anything. Diff cases between GV and Vit are also the same width and locate the ring gear in the same place.

Here are some photos:

Diff cases side by side:



Bearing caps:


Vit diff case and ring gear in GV carrier:






So now I'm going to order my ARB RD208 air locker quoted at $1044AUD and get it fitted, along with some manual hubs and Vit inner axle shaft and Vit stubby shaft - as the side gears get offset about 10mm inside the diff case by the air centre it is apparently necessary to use Vit inner axle and to make a stubby shaft out of a Vit CV stub.

I also realise I used an alloy GV carrier here - didn't have a spare steel but if it fits one then it will fit the other as the cases and air mechanisms were the same.


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[Built4thrashing]

Im suprised on the axle lengths... All GV and Vit stuff I've pulled apart have been the same length and there has been alot of it.

[kingkom]

Fair enough. I haven't measured - the 10mm offset and different lengths thing is just what I've read on here. Either way I have both inner axle shafts and both CVs so will just use whatever fits.


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