[93zook]

hey guys, just wondering if anyone has ever shaved sierra diffs and how much extra clearence you gained?

[appsie]

dunno if he was on here but there was a young fella in NZ i think who shaved his sierra diffs.Jazuki i think was his username,had a little red hardtop like yours.

Would be interesting to see how much can be taken off em.

[alien]

i wouldnt think you could take off more than about 10mm by the time you close it back up?

definitely not something thats commonly done on sierra diffs anyway.

[lizzard]

God that made me L"OO"K did you say SHAVED

[appsie]

hasnt gwagen done some?or a vitara rear shaved?

maybe joeblow?at the end of the day just protect it and drag it

[BlueSuzy]

I was considering shaving my lux/bundy diffs. After its welded and done. Most difs leak oil as it seeps past the welds.

I have a welded sump with a sensor. It seeps/leaks

So, in the end, Im not going to shave them.

[alien]

BlueSuzy - can't you clean it up and Sikaflex the crap out of the welds to seal it up?? (outside of course).

[Red89]

alien wrote:

i wouldnt think you could take off more than about 10mm by the time you close it back up?

definitely not something thats commonly done on sierra diffs anyway.

You only need 12mm to gain an extra tyre size of diff clearance.

[appsie]

its allready zuk diffs on 33s thats pretty impressive clearance.

Surely it can be done without them leaking tho.Grind em out and keep welding.but at the end of the day id probably leave it alone myself too.

[ajsr]

no welding should leak/weep oil if you clean it all and weld togther properly.
but if you must a thin smear of sikaflex on the inside would probably stop it, also only if the inside is clean first

[joeblow]

someone say shaved............ahh crap......its just diffs............

[Red89]

appsie wrote:

its allready zuk diffs on 33s thats pretty impressive clearance.

The only problem is rocks are very rarely wheel track width and nice and flat, I have roughly the same clearance as Simon and my front diff has some huge dents in it

[BenT]

I posted this on O*terlimits a while ago:




My shaved diffs give me 300mm on 32" Simex's. Same as Hilux on 35" Simex's

[appsie]

thats pretty cool benT

[alien]

farrrrk thats mega-shaved! its like... bald!

[Pubic]

how thick was the material you used to re plate it?

[Zook_Fan]

how do you drain it?

[want33s]

Zook_Fan wrote:

how do you drain it?

Remove the bottom two bolts that hold the centre in... Would work wouldn't it?

[Zook_Fan]

yeah i suppose it would as long as no gasket goo or anything is used when the centre is put in and it would be farking slow

[Pubic]

You could put a plug at 7 o'clock relative to the face so you could drive it up a ramp on the passenger side and drain it from the side???

[BenT]

Pubic wrote:

how thick was the material you used to re plate it?

3mm from memory. Tracks are mostly mud over here, so not much risk of caving it in. If I was doing a lot of rock I might go a little thicker, although thats about what the standard housing is anyway.

want33s wrote:

Zook_Fan wrote:

how do you drain it?

Remove the bottom two bolts that hold the centre in... Would work wouldn't it?

Yup exactly, just pull the bolts and wait a wee while.

Ben

[burls]

cheap lift

got any pics with it assembled??

[86slowsierra]

been thinking of this abit. I'd recon it would only be worth it if it was WT diffs. otherwise whats the point?
all that effort and you cant put chromie axles in.
obviously you would want to strengthen it at the same time and probably put a gard on

[86slowsierra]

would it be possible to ark weld on the pumpkin . im pretty handy with a stick. i also have a tig but no friggen idea how to use it.

[weaves]

BlueSuzy wrote:

I was considering shaving my lux/bundy diffs. After its welded and done. Most difs leak oil as it seeps past the welds.

I have a welded sump with a sensor. It seeps/leaks

So, in the end, Im not going to shave them.

Use Loctite 290 - super wick in.

the stuff is like water, fills all the pin holes and sets. We have a customer who buys it for some diesel/petrol tanks he makes.

Just run it along your welds once they have cooled.

weaves

[Gwagensteve]

I've done a few. They do require good preparation and care when welding to prevent leaks.

Also, I've always welded mine with a diff centre bolted in. You'd be surprised how far they pull when you're welding them back together.

Is there a point to all the work? For sure. not only is there a gain in clearance, the shape of the bottom of the housing can be improved a lot, helping the housing to slide rather than catch.

It's quite a lot of work though. I have a jig to try and keep the axle straight. It also assists in measurements when you are cutting.



WT front. I didn't do the cut, but I welded it up. This doesn't have a drain, so it's a "pull a couple of bolts" drainer.



My Vitara rear. Vitaras use studs not bolts on the rear housing, so you have to fit a drain.



CJ!'s Vitara rear. We built a new cover at the same time on his diff.



My Jig. It's 6mm wall thickness and fawking heavy. It's designed for building the cut down full floating vitara rear diffs we are running.

here's some photos of the MQ rear we shaved for Critta. This car also had countersunk high clearance spring pads/plates









and in this (at the time, unfinished) shot, you can see that clearance is pretty good, even with only 36's on an MQ diff.


In Vic, we are regularly dragging our diffs with sierra axles and over 35" tyres. Every bit we can gain is worth pursuing.

Steve.

[appsie]

cool steve

Whats the reasoning for the pinion angle like that on the mq rear??Also are the ubolt setup on the diff like that reasonably strong?cheers

[Joe]

Hey Gwagensteve please can we see some more pics of your zook

[Gwagensteve]

appsie wrote:

Whats the reasoning for the pinion angle like that on the mq rear??Also are the ubolt setup on the diff like that reasonably strong?cheers

The pinion angle was done like that to increase clearance. You'll notice that driveshaft has a double cardan joint on it at the diff end. We rolled the pinion up until the nose of the diff was level with the transfer so all the angle was on the double cardan joint. It was a kind of cheapskate high pinion.

The U bolt elimination plates were fine. Whilst the car didn't do many km's after they were done, it did get pushed very hard. They never showed any signs of trouble.

You'll note looking at the silver car that we have made provision for a similar setup (but improved as the plates wrap right around the axlehousing) to eliminate the stock spring plates which are anchors for us.

joseph - I did start writing up a post for the members thread. I promise over the next week or so I'll try to complete it and post up my photos.

Steve.

[Joe]

Gwagensteve wrote:

appsie wrote:

Whats the reasoning for the pinion angle like that on the mq rear??Also are the ubolt setup on the diff like that reasonably strong?cheers

The pinion angle was done like that to increase clearance. You'll notice that driveshaft has a double cardan joint on it at the diff end. We rolled the pinion up until the nose of the diff was level with the transfer so all the angle was on the double cardan joint. It was a kind of cheapskate high pinion.

The U bolt elimination plates were fine. Whilst the car didn't do many km's after they were done, it did get pushed very hard. They never showed any signs of trouble.

You'll note looking at the silver car that we have made provision for a similar setup (but improved as the plates wrap right around the axlehousing) to eliminate the stock spring plates which are anchors for us.

joseph - I did start writing up a post for the members thread. I promise over the next week or so I'll try to complete it and post up my photos.

Steve.