[cbzook]

Hey guys..

Been searching around for info on diff locks for xl7.. long story short every second post on the web says something different.. i have potentially come accross some diffs from a grand vitara around same model year model not confirmed just yet and was wondering if these diffs would bolt over and secondly can i rebuild them with lockers? From my understanding i would need a vitara 3rd member for both diffs correct? I also would like to upgrade front cvs if possible because i am currently running a 3" lift n it likes to nom cvs.

Any info on this would be great

Thanks

Nic

[ninjamoses]

Rear diff is completely different. It may be possible to bolt in an entire rear diff assembly from a GV (which you could then use a Vit centre with locker in), but to my knowledge no one has done it before (or written about it anyway). That is what I had planned to do when I got mine, but I'm happy enough with just the front locker for now so have put it off for the time being. All the mounts etc look to be similar as far as I could tell, however the tailshaft bolt pattern is different (3 bolt on the XL7 vs 4 bolt on the GV/Vits) so you would need to do something about that.

Front diffs are the same up until about 03/04ish when the XL7s changed to the orphan bastard child setup in the front. Either way its easy enough to fix. I've got a steel GV housing and third member with a lockrite centre in mine.
Keep in mind the early XL7 auto models had an alloy front diff also, so if yours is one of them you would be wanting to swap that to a steel one anyway.

[fordem]

The perhaps most important aspect of this discussion should be to determine first, which XL-7 you have, and second, which XL-7 you are reading about in the various web posts as there are differences - it must also be noted, especially when looking at internet discussions, is that the vehicles supplied to one market may be different to those supplied in another.

Early XL-7s were essentially a "stretched" Grand Vitara, so some parts do interchange, but with the later models this cannot be done with the same ease - as far as I'm aware, the rear axles/differentials are/were not interchangeable as the XL-7 uses a larger, stronger axle, front axles/differentials on the early (01~03) can be swapped for the GV units.

As far as lockers go, to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing available for the rear, you can lock the front, but you should swap in a cast iron housing housing if you don't already have one, and you'll also need a third member from a Vitara.

[ninjamoses]

We never got the 2nd generation XL7s here in Aus (no great loss from what I have seen/read!), so its a fair bet that he is talking about the stretched GV version

[cbzook]

Yeah 01 stretched gv... what front locker are you running? And is it making a difference? Also how are your cvs holding up?

[ninjamoses]

I am running the trail tough modified carrier/lockrite - http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=53

Makes a huge difference to the capability of the car as you would expect. Its the same front diff I've kept across three different vits now.
Haven't broken a CV yet in the XL7 (touch wood).

[tanshi]

I actually thought the rear xl-7 diff was some sort of ford variant.

[fordem]

ninjamoses wrote:

We never got the 2nd generation XL7s here in Aus (no great loss from what I have seen/read!), so its a fair bet that he is talking about the stretched GV version

Wasn't referring to the second gen XL7 at all - and so it's clear, when I say second gen, I'm referring to the post 2007 GM based product with the odd headlights that never really sold in any market.

The early XL-7 (JA627) use what is essentially the same front axle setup as the SQ series Grand Vitaras and although there are differences, the housings are the same part number - you can swap stuff around, later production use a completely different axle and do not have the pneumatic freewheel clutch.

So, just for example, he can swap the front diff assembly between an 02 GV & XL-7, but not between 05 models.

I was also pointing out (or trying to) that what he reads on the web may be factual for the person who wrote it, and yet, doesn't match what he sees - as an example, early US market (01~03) XL-7 were manual shift transfer cases, late US market (04~06) XL-7 were electrically/electronically shifted, and all Australian market XL-7 had manual shift transfer cases.