[harry_the_woody]

Hi Everyone!

Recently bought an unrego SJ51T, aimed at being a daily - it's my first zook, and the second for the missus (she took her first one, a jimny, around aus a few times) - and just getting it sorted for rwc. I have a reasonable amount of experience with cruisers, commos and jdm ricers but I am totally green with suzukis!

After fixing a whole bunch of stuff, I found it has a welded rear diff in it, while this might be good for mud it's a deathtrap on the wet mountain roads when the Triton i had couldn't go any faster than 30kmh uphill. I just bought a front diff and carrier thinking i could swap the centres, but I'm just learning that the front/rear axles are splined differently, so I'd have to swap the spiders, which I assume are welded.

I figure my options are, keep looking for an open (NT 1.3 manual) rear, or buy a new TRE air locker rear... just aiming for rwc at the moment before looking at upgrades!

If anyone can confirm the above that would be awesome, thanks!

[alien]

Given the amount of heat that would have been pumped into that welded rear, I'd be replacing it entirely. That would tend to point towards an upgrade opportunity =)

Oh, and whilst I can't comment on wet mountain roads, I used to run mine locked in the wet all the time (airlocker) as it was MILES more predictable than open-diffed where it'd spin one wheel and go nowhere, or randomly oversteer. At least with it locked you could take the time to correct any oversteer, and have great engine braking as needed. 100% agree that your car is trying to kill you on corners though. That's just the nature of the short wheelbase.

[harry_the_woody]

Excellent point!

Ok, sounds like a proper nudge. I'll check out these pagpac guys sellin the TRE in VIC, unless i stumble over something here in QLD...

Cheers

[greenzook89]

Check out ARB. I picked up a New RD208 for $950 with a bit of haggling in November

[harry_the_woody]

Cool- will do!
Just looking into LSDs...

[Gwagensteve]

Unless you’re driving lots of snow and ice I think it’s hard to justify an LSD.

[4x4xzook]

TRE for the win, i just picked up a locker and im installing it in my rear diff.
They look the goods. I can let you know how they run in a few days.

[harry_the_woody]

My thinking was that a TRE or ARB locker is open unless you lock it, and i don't expect it'll get locked very often up on the slippery mountain, so the LSD makes a lot of sense. I'm a huge fan of torsen diffs (quattros, prado centre diffs) but can see why they're not popular with zooks aimed at wheeling and crawling, with the extra weight and still requiring a locker if wheels are lifting.

[harry_the_woody]

4x4xzook wrote:

TRE for the win, i just picked up a locker and im installing it in my rear diff.
They look the goods. I can let you know how they run in a few days.

Please do! Be great to hear about it - i found a little feedback on them but not much!