[rob_macca67]

Hey all.....

Been looking around & researching Reduction Gears for Vitaras and I had always thought that 4.24 ratios were the only ones available... until I came across the following post in the US:
3.79 Reduction Gears

Within the post/article, he quoted the following:

Quote:

GRP Automotive out of Australia have released their new super low transfer case gears for the Tracker / Sidekick / Vitara line of vehicles. It appeared to be advertised as a 4.0:1, but my math gave me something a bit higher. 3.79 to be exact. I was anxious to get a set due to fact I was becoming ‘allergic’ to smokin’ clutches. Replacing a clutch every other year was becoming old, AND expensive!

Does or has anyone heard of this GRP Automotive here in Australia ?? If so, has anyone got the contact details of the place, etc ??

cheers...

rob

[ODA1]

died out years ago like any store that tries to supply good zook parts in aus....

[joeblow]

ODA1 wrote:

died out years ago like any store that tries to supply good zook parts in aus....

X2.

[rob_macca67]

ODA1 wrote:

died out years ago like any store that tries to supply good zook parts in aus....

What about BBM (that u see on 4WDTV) - I think there down Slacks Ck way.....

Quote:

Rob BBM were using reduction gears about 4.0 ratio awhile ago. Really expensive. They may be able to help you out?

[ODA1]

u funny guy

ps liam works at 4wd action mag

[303zuke]

GRP is still trading, but no longer operates a shopfront store. I've sent him an e-mail to find out the latest update on these.

[rob_macca67]

303zuke wrote:

GRP is still trading, but no longer operates a shopfront store. I've sent him an e-mail to find out the latest update on these.

Good Stuff... Can u keep us up-to-date as to what u find out ??

That would be great....

rob

[Westie]

X2

[Joe]

x3

[steak_knife]

69



This is an edit by royce, yes an edit not just a thread delete like usual
This is a good example of a thread that for now has seen its usefulness for now with a bit of chat type stuff at the end and right here is about where its all going to turn bad, cause after this point no doubt somebody else will quote this post and have some kind of better dribble reply and so on till its pages of shit with people complaining about the amount of shit

THIS IS NOT TOLERATED IN TECH ANYMORE, soon people will have their posting privledges taken away

[royce]

Wasnt GRP the original rockhopper brand that BBM started selling with no warranty and people soon started telling em to piss off?

[303zuke]

royce wrote:

Wasnt GRP the original rockhopper brand that BBM started selling with no warranty and people soon started telling em to piss off?

That is indeed the reply I got from Greg:

"Hey, how are you mate?

Neither myself or xxx have had anything to do with Rockhopper for quite some time. I still see xxx once or twice a month. We were only discussing the Rockhopper aspect in the last month or so. I handed Rockhopper over to Big Balls when Liam was running that business, probably about 8-9 years ago. BBM still handles the Rockhopper product, including Vitara gear sets (to my knowing) http://www.bbmmotorsports.com.au/vitara.html

The Vitara gear set was always a diffcult one to handle because there was variations in the gears from factory. Realistically there was about 3 variations, and it was difficult to keep track of even with the break down on microfische."

[rob_macca67]

Thanks for that mate.... looks like Royce was correct.... $1650 and NO WARRANTY

a bit OVER PRICED

303zuke wrote:

royce wrote:

Wasnt GRP the original rockhopper brand that BBM started selling with no warranty and people soon started telling em to piss off?

That is indeed the reply I got from Greg:

"Hey, how are you mate?

Neither myself or xxx have had anything to do with Rockhopper for quite some time. I still see xxx once or twice a month. We were only discussing the Rockhopper aspect in the last month or so. I handed Rockhopper over to Big Balls when Liam was running that business, probably about 8-9 years ago. BBM still handles the Rockhopper product, including Vitara gear sets (to my knowing) http://www.bbmmotorsports.com.au/vitara.html

The Vitara gear set was always a diffcult one to handle because there was variations in the gears from factory. Realistically there was about 3 variations, and it was difficult to keep track of even with the break down on microfische."

[royce]

I think thats a reasonable price for something that is (I think) Australian made and produced and from memory when they were made there was a lot of talk that the gear pitch and other bits were none standard so the tooling was quite dear

[rob_macca67]

royce wrote:

I think thats a reasonable price for something that is (I think) Australian made and produced and from memory when they were made there was a lot of talk that the gear pitch and other bits were none standard so the tooling was quite dear

Royce.....
I didn't think anything like that would be made in australia. So Rockhopper is an Australian Company ??

Would these bolt into any 'Year" Vitara Transfer Case or are they like their US cousins and only bolt into a T'fer case from a '94 onwards ??

I know the gear sets from the US are slightly longer (5>8mm I think) and therefore you need the later model Transfer case to install them in....

[royce]

yeah rockhopper was, the original series 1 gears for sierras was the first thing they made, engineered from the fabled chopped up 1 litre and 1.3 transfer sets

no they wont, there are different transfers from factory that nothing interchanges so there is no chance an aftermarket gear st will

[303zuke]

Yes, these were designed and made in Australia. As they have been sold to BBM, I can't vouch for their current gearcutter's actual location, but the GRP ones were Aussie. Besides the Sierra (Series 1 and Series 2) and Vit sets, they also did Hilux and were looking at Patrol.

As I quoted from the E-mail ("The Vitara gear set was always a diffcult one to handle because there was variations in the gears from factory. Realistically there was about 3 variations, and it was difficult to keep track of."), they were made for the different Vit cases, but you had to be specific which box, and for that reason GRP preferred to install to ensure correct application. BBM sold the sets over the counter (or by mail) and of course people ran into trouble and blamed BBM or tried to modify the gears to fit, and BBM then wouldn't warrant saying it was a self-install.

The original GRP manufactured gears were good quality and when installed correctly, did not require the fallback of a warranty. I know of 3 Sierras still running GRP gears after 15 years of off-road use, and 2 Hiluxes, and these vehicles have not led sheltered lives. I have no knowledge of the current BBM gears.