[Scales]

Hey Guys,
I noticed that the info on here about diff breathers is fairly patchy so i decided to put this up on exactly what is needed to do the job yourself and save yourself a bundle on those kits you see on ebay (that probably wont fit without drilling or tapping)
I wasnt happy with the idea of running 1/2in hose all over the place, its just WAAAY too massive and bulky. this looks good and is not overkill.

Heres what you need



5 Meters x 3/16in or 5mm ID Fuel/Emissions hose (mines Goodyear brand) $29 - I used almost all of this, its a good amount to buy.
200mm x 1/2in or 12mm ID Fuel/Emissions hose $2
2x Male hosetail brass barb fitting - 3/16in barb 1/4in bsp thread $3.50
2x Female hosetail brass barb fitting - 1/2in barb 14in bsp thread $4.50
4x 10-22mm Hose Clamps $5.50
1x Mini air breather (supercheap) p/n CALMAB12 $14.99
1x 5mm barbed elbow $3.99
1x 5mm barbed t-piece $3.99
some thread tape
plenty of cable ties

All the hose stuff i got from a hose supplier in my local industrial district, the breather filter i got from supercheap.

Youll notice in the photo there are some smaller hose clamps for the small hose connections, I did not end up needing these.... the hose that i used was pressed on quite tightly to the barbs so i deemed them not necessary, you may find that you need them however.

I started off by making an adaptor to fit onto the rather large nipples found on the suzuki diff when you pop the caps off.
I used a small length of the 1/2in hose with the barb in one end, and screwed on the smaller barb to make a reducer. Dont forget the thread tape.



Then i attached the 5mm hose to the end of it to start the run from the rear diff to the front


Here it is on the rear diff looking from the front, i have already begun the routing as you can see


once you get half way along the left hand side, i ran mine across to the other side as you can see here


following the right hand chassis rail now using brake lines for cable tie points


Once i got to the point where the hose is to run straight up to the engine bay, I repeated the above procedure on the front diff and put the T-Piece in and ran it up the firewall.



I dont have a pic of the hose hanging out of the engine bay but you get the idea, Now i had to make the fitting for the filter to fit onto the hose, its simply an elbow connector with a small bit of hose to make it fit into the breather filter.



pretty easy huh? now i stuck that on the end of the hose and attached it to the rear firewall with a cable-tie mount (bit of plastic with double-sided tape, buy at supercheap)

FINISHED

[BigMav]

Looks good man, bit dubious about the line running under the fuel tank though. Nowhere else that can go?

[Scales]

not easily, its actually quite good there, im happy with it. It gets too close to the prop shaft otherwise, or too close to the springs if i keep going past the tank.

The hose has quite a thick wall to it, and its braided, so it should withstand a fair bashing. If it does go to shit, its easy to re-route

[Rusho]

Tidy work...what if you do get water in your breather on the fire wall?? Both diffs get full of water

[Scales]

if i get water in that filter, im in quite deep shit.... also youll notice the filter is on its side, part of the reason for that is if it gets a splash it wont act like a funnel into the hose.

Could always chuck a freezer bag over it if tackling something particularly hairy i guess.

i think it'll do just fine. should check diffs after any trip with big water crossings anyway.

[Choppy]

Good work - I tucked mine along the line of the chassis rail from the back coming up in the red arrow. the front cuts a lap in the engine bay as the blue arrow. i was able to keep mine away the shafts this way and is not noticable under the vehicle.

[Scales]

ahh righto, i actually had mine on that side of the bay to begin with then cut it all back to go across half way, The breather was a bit too much on the exhaust side of the engine, already have the dual battery, and aux fuse panel on that side to deal with. i guess anything works really, i just wanted to explain the diff connection side of things a bit better for the everyday noob.

[Choppy]

Yeah definately, rusho's old write up helped me alot for my sierra, i litearlly knew nothing about anything back then and wouldnt have thought of using oil filters.

[Scales]

oil filters?????

[Rusho]

Scales wrote:

oil filters?????

Fuel filters actually

[Scales]

i thought that might be what he meant. lol
either that or crank case filter.

[Rusho]

I used 3 big Z9's

[Bugsta]

I have run 4(diffs, Tcase and GB) 6mm Urethane pipes back to individual right angle adaptors into the air box. I have posted some pics in a thread somewhere.

[BigMav]

Won't running the lines into an air box create some sort of pressure in the line itself?

[Choppy]

Rusho wrote:

Scales wrote:

oil filters?????

Fuel filters actually

thats the one

[Bugsta]

BigMav wrote:

Won't running the lines into an air box create some sort of pressure in the line itself?

I have had this discussion before. The sorts of pressure's/vacuums we are talkinmg about would not be enough to suck water in through the axle seals, whih is what the issue in question is.

[Scales]

pressure.... not vacuum, so issue would be blowing seals out.
Im happy where my filter is, its pretty much the same as what the commercially available kits do anyways.
My thoughts are that once the diffs hit the water, the initial shock will equalise the pressures quite quickly, if water splashes on the filter after that, i highly doubt the diffs would still be sucking anything at all. so should be quite safe.
as i say before, ill be checking oils after any trip with big crossings anyway. just good practice.

[Bugsta]

I don't see pressure as being such an issue because the engine is sucking air in, past the breather connections, creating a vacuum. But when you have a large air intake and such small breather lines, there wuold be well enough air rushing in to compensate for any differential possibly created.

This was just an idea I had when I was researching breathers, and seems to be ok so far.

[zuk85]

ROOTHY says its ok to plug into you snorkel or air box.... lol :D

[want33s]

Nice write up but there is a reason for using 1/2 " hose instead or 1/4 airline or smaller.


Imagine you are out driving in the country, you have been travelling at speed for some time and entire driveline is at operating temperatures.
You need to ford a creek so in you go, the hot diffs are suddenly cooled causing the air in them to contract, hence the need for a breather to let more air in.
With a small diameter hose the air cannot get in to the diff fast enough and water WILL be sucked in somewhere else.
Try breathing out as deeply as you can and then inhaling through your 3/16th hose....

[Scales]

I disagree, but each to their own

[dp87]

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i33 ... 9-2011.jpg


how does it go onto the diff? did you just slide the red tube over the thing that sticks out on the diff?

looks good. might do this to my sierra over xmas

[alien]

i always wondered this, and of course ive never tested it... but how much does the air in the diff contract and expand??? reason i ask is, why can't you run say 2m of line to a sealed dead end? surely that would be enough volume to allow for expansion and contraction without the need to have a filter on the end?

just curious =) i do have mine run to a filter... lol

[atari4x4]

diff balloons

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.ph ... r-kit.html

[Scales]

will still have to make a fitting to suit the diff on the zooks....

[joel]

zuk85 wrote:

ROOTHY says its ok to plug into you snorkel or air box.... lol :D

the amount of kms he does offraod has to account for smething right?
i would follow him

[sierrajim]

joel wrote:

zuk85 wrote:

ROOTHY says its ok to plug into you snorkel or air box.... lol :D

the amount of kms he does offraod has to account for smething right?
i would follow him

I'm assuming that he means that because he works for 4WD monthly he must be an idiot. A connantation that I don't understand that it most often put out by interweb F'tards that don't have any real life expirence to offer themselves.

Plugged into your snorkel is a sensible option. Relatively clean air and you'd need to submerge your vehicle before you suck any crap in.

[Gwagensteve]

zuk85 wrote:

ROOTHY says its ok to plug into you snorkel or air box.... lol :D

And that is wrong how?

Actually I am serious. Please explain why this is a problem. I would do it f I could be bothered.

Steve.

[zooky08]

Is 1/4 hose way to small

[Scales]

Not at all zooky08
had it on for ages now and it works like a champ, checked oil and its sweet. did plenty of DEEEP crossings up cape york also so yeah.

i respectfully disagree with want33's comment above about having 1/2in hose. there is simply not enough air movement within the tiny diff and hose to create enough negative pressure to suck water past the seals (which are designed to seal funnily enough) with 1/4 in diff hose.

so yeah go with 1/4 is my recommendation, neater, smaller and gets the job done more than enough.

but make your own decision, if you want 1/2 go 1/2.... not my car lol.

EDIT: could always try 3/8