Vitara Diff in a Jimny (front) Axle?

Will you please post up your findings as im interested in putting lsd's in truck or lockers. Also interested in the price of those hd shafts from trialjimny if you wouldnt mind sharing.

Thanks

Dan

With many thanks to Brett 'Maverick' on the forum... my laning buddy, our planner and leader most of the time... who shot over in his BMW today -



If I had one of them, I'd jump at every excuse to go for a drive too!...

So, we end up with two diffs -



On the left a Jimny front diff, and on the right a Vitara front diff...

... let comparisons commence!



Hmmm, the bearing adjusters diameter looks visually smaller without even measuring it?...



Indeed, comparing with some dividers...



The Vit diff's is bigger



Vitara



Jimny



I then checked the PCD of the crown wheels mounting plate... 10 bolt on the Jimny one...



Same diameter and 10 bolts on the Vit one too...



So, it appears, by measuring through the bearing adjuster's holes...



That everything appears to be the same, apart from the size of bearing used on either side of the carrier, i.e. the actual crown wheel mount in the centre of the diff...

So, I think, I can use the Vitara's LSD in the centre of the Jimny's diff, by just replacing the bearings on either side to suit... "just" LOL :laugh:

And, replacing the 22 spline Jimny axle shafts for 26 spline ones...

Looks like Rob Storr @ www.rsmfg.co.uk is the winner (Dan_T) as his are £500, and another company have replied to my email enquiry at a price of 1,250 euros with 100 euros shipping!

Looks like it might be a go'er then!

Thread revival... as still pushing to achieve this... (LSD in the front axle of my Jimny)

So, in late June I got hold of my 26 spline shafts and huge CVs from Rob Storr -



The next step, in the next couple of weeks hopefully, after our greenlaning trip tomorrow, as the Jimny won't be used for a bit as we've having 'August off' due to commitments of some of the other members of 'our little group', is to take the diff out of the Jimny, and the LSD out of the steel diff in the Vitara, and send them off to Rockwatt to combine them, as the LSD unit needs the Vitara bearings removed and the Jimny ones fitted instead (as above in the thread, I've measured and think they are the same apart from the outer diameter of the bearings) and then the backlash and all that set properly by the God-of-gearing...

And then when it comes back, fit the LSD equipped diff into the Jimny's front axle and use the 26 spline shafts (as the LSD is 26 spline) and large CVs from Rob Storr, with those spacers you can see in the photo above... These concerned me, as on other kits you seem to have to swap to manual free-wheel hubs, but Rob has assured me that the original vacuum operated hubs should work...

What I'm aiming for, is to have my Jimny having as good-as road manners (and on road gearing) as I can get, given it's lift and knobbly tyres to give it a good mileage range for 'laning, but then... on reaching a greenlane I want it to be just a couple of switches to turn the ARB compressor on and then lock the rear diff (if required), and then by selecting four-wheel-drive with the transfer stick, the vacuum hubs will then bring the LSD into play in the front axle... so no getting in and out switching hubs on and off, yet the best traction I can get out of my little Jim'... that's my goal anyways!

Time will tell...

Im sure it will all come together dave no doubt,im running the manual hubs just purely because there was so much wrong with my vac system it was an easyer option.not to much hassle for me,but with the lsd as you say you would be in and out the car.

Cheers Gaz... just seen the photos of yours washed looks great

Yes, from Vitara experience, if I run the LSD on the road it makes the steering heavier, so I'd expect it to be slightly worse in a little Jimny...

Ha cheers it looks quite smart from a couple of feet back,should help the branches slide off better.

I loved the vac hubs when they worked for a brief period its a good system just shame i couldnt keep it.i had a switch fitted that turned the switch off for the hubs when you threw the lever so i could have in theory have 2wd low.never mind.

Is the vitara lsd an after market thing or did they come in certain models of vitara ??