[MrRocky]

Well im going to be in the market for a new daily in the coming months and am toying with the idea of throwing a bit of coin at a 4dr vitara.
Coming from a quite capable sierra naturally i would like something with a rear locker (front would be nice as well) my preferance is for an auto.
After pouring over the build threads aside from front axles made of cheese generally they seem quite solid but many builds seem to say that theres a few things they would do differently 2nd time round.
I was thinking 245/75r16 or 31"s depending on the model with mild lift, diff drop brackets, locker(s), possibly gearing and various other bits.
Does anyone have any advice or insight keeping in mind its going to be a daily not a shed queen. I would cry my eyes out if i started popping front axles every time out.

[got_bar_work]

Go a gv

[Gwagensteve]

I disagree. I do not see a meaningful advantage in a GV. Bigger and heavier, same mechanicals= fail in my opinion. Like a 100 series cruiser.

[MrRocky]

I dont mind the old ones even in 1.6 form although iam a little weary of the 2.0

[vet 180]

Front axles are not the weak link, it's the alloy diff and cv's that go on you.

2-3 inch suspension lift and front arms is the max I would go. Remember the front cv's will limit down travel so don't go crazy with lift. 31-33 is the sweet spot for tyres. Although it's a little harder to fit 33's in the rear of the lwb compared with the Swb. Try and find one with an aw4 or just get a sv420.

[christover1]

the 1.6 is still a cheap and easy to get engine, which is my reason to stay 1.6.
But a J20 would be my preferred engine if it was in my budget.
1.6 narrow body mods and parts stuff seems easier to get, too.

[MrRocky]

Is the aw4 (4spd?) More desireable, better gearing ?

[christover1]

My AW4 has been great.
Leaks a tad when too hot, but a good cooler and better quality fluid has fixed that.
The gap between 1st and 2nd is huge, though.
So sometimes engine struggles when it changes up, till revs pick up.
1st is quite good, so I put the stick in 1 a lot.
Mine don't always kick down to 1st, so putting in first is sometimes better.
I know nothing of the 3 speed, but the AW4 has a good rep.
Same box is used behind 4.0L Jeep I am told.

[Gwagensteve]

All automatic 4 door vitaras run an AW-4, so it's not really a choice. Only the carby SWB's ran the trimatic.
The AW-4 is an excellent gearbox with both a relatively low first gear, deep converter ratio, and a very tall overdrive. It's a much better choice than a manual as it can help to cover road gearing problems incurred because there's limited solutions to correct taller tyres on road.

The AW-4 in piggles came out of a Vitara with 265,000km on it and I did nothing other than change the fluid when it went in. Works flawlessly.

From my experience (which is far from extensive) I'm no fan of the H20 motor. They need to be revved to do anything, and they don't do a lot once you get the revs up. They're also in the heaviest variant so once you add taller tyres and load them up they're really no great shakes. There's less support for the 2.0 cars as they basically don't exist in the US.

A 3Rz/Auto/geardrive hilux case would be the business in a vitara.

Steve.

[MrRocky]

Spose the question is 1.6 or 2.5

[MrRocky]

You would think less stuff would break with the 1.6

[Gwagensteve]

Well 2.5 is GV only unless you swap one in to a vitara.

Yes, the 1.6 is kinder on the rest of the car. The big issue with the 1.6 is that it already runs 5.12 diffs, so with 31's on them they get a bit doughy on the highway. tHe H20 runs 4.8 or something so you have some room to correct tyres on road.

Steve.

[christover1]

Dropping mine to 30's from 31's made a huge difference on road and towing.
I imagine the improvement is possibly more from narrower tyres than the diameter change.
Apart from the small loss of ground clearance, is better off road, too.
If you go tall, go skinny.
I will probably go 16's when my tyres run out.

[Gwagensteve]

Lack of on road gearing options is what kills the vitara for me.

Steve.

[MrRocky]

Yeah i think 245/75r16 is looking like the best tyre choice for me

[Gwagensteve]

That's still a fair bit bigger than the 27" standard tyres.

[MrRocky]

Yeah but gearing might happen if no good onroad
Hoping the auto can compensate a bit
WA is flat as a tack so should be liveable onroad

[got_bar_work]

As a daily the gv is so much better but offroad i think the wider body will hurt performance
I think a sierra tc would fix all the performance problems of the 1.6 on the road
I would run some 235 85 or 255 85 and not much lift with some super soft coils

[Gwagensteve]

I would not use a Sierra transfer case in a Vitara. The car is too heavy for the case, the offset is wrong and the gearing too low in high range and too tall in low range unless you run gears which make the gearing even lower in high range. Yes, you could swap to 4.3 diffs or something but unless you're running giant tyres it will still be revving super hard on the highway.

You could run a stock sierra transfer (1.409 high) doubled with the vitara range box, but then you're putting massive torque loads into the sierra transfer when you're doubled down, and overall reduction is then the same as running gears in a vitara case, but you're revving 41% harder on the highway, and there's the worlds supply of custom underneath the car.

Strong indirect high range cases are pretty uncommon - the most obvoius choice is the LT230, but it's a constant 4WD case. It is available in more helpful high range reductions though, like 1.2:1.

The 5:3 and 5.7 diff gears are the only real solution and the availability, cost, and service life of either would be a concern.

There's a few other issues with the GV - rack and pinion steering, crappy 4 link geometry, and small rear wheel wells are all additional factors on top of the relatively massive body. V6 manuals also appear to be very difficult to drive offroad - revvy motor and poor clutch engagement feel and torque are two issues I've experienced first had that makes the car hard to drive in techicnal terrain.

[got_bar_work]

Whats wrong with the rear 5link?

[Gwagensteve]

Top links are about 50mm long. They get some wicked rear steer going with long shocks in them.

[got_bar_work]

So i should look at putting the lowers up top and maybe some longer gq lowers

[jdk81]

Has anyone investigated what other transfers can bolt onto the aw4 to correct high range etc?
By swapping the output part of the auto case, seems can get many to bolt up (with some degree of work)

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content?topic=113393.0

[Gwagensteve]

Only case I can think of is lt230 and that's not an obvious bolt up to an aw-4.

[MrRocky]

Possible to add a torque converter with a bit more stall ?

[vet 180]

J20 is the engine of choice. Not sure why you would want a h20

[Gwagensteve]

Because there's no j20 in a LWB Vitara?

[Zook_Fan]

I'd stay away from 2.5's for a daily with lockers. While mine has much bigger tyres (315/75R16's), the cv's and the rear axles can be broken at will. If you do want to go big with tyres the body is a pain to chop and you'll be chopping into firewall and doors to make it happen. The front geometry doesn't take well to lifting and as said the rear does induce rear steer.

They are also really low and top heavy. There is an awful lot of body weight above the door handles.

[2000 gv]

If you want a feel for the gvs your more than welcome to drive mine when I get it fixed

[fordem]

jdk81 wrote:

Has anyone investigated what other transfers can bolt onto the aw4 to correct high range etc?

AW4s were also used by Jeep & Mitsubishi for their 4WDs, so there should be many choices for part time 4WD, full time 4WD and I'll bet you can mate an Atlas to it - my other 4WD is a Mitsubishi with an AW4 and SuperSelect II - 2H, 4H, 4HLc and 4LLc - the first 4H uses a viscous coupling to provide a 30/70 torque split, and the last two "Lc" positions lock the coupling to provide a 50/50 split.