[VitNick]

Hi all, first post so here goes,
Would the transfer case out of a 94 manual carby Vitara, bolt onto a manual 98 SV420? Or would the gears fit in.
I'm looking at a box with 4.24 ratios in it. Would this be a good upgrade? I'm runnin 235/75/15 tyres and planning to fo for similar
Or slightly bigger muddies.

Thanks in advanced Nick

[atari4x4]

personally i think you'd want something like a 31" tyre otherwise it will be mega reduction.

there is a difference between early & late model Vitara where the output splines differ, i'm not 100% sure when the change over was.

christover, darkhorse or shandy92 should be able to fill in the blanks as they've all recently done transfer gears into a vitara case.

[VitNick]

Thanks Atari.
Would I be fine running those tyres on the road, as high range isn't effected as much? And run 31's for offroad?

[atari4x4]

yeah that will work & i'm pretty sure it's just the splines on the output so you might have to swap to an earlier tail shaft.

[shandy92]

Hey bud, As atari said i recently did the swap. My transfer came out of an SV and because mine is a 95-96 the splines were good but the speedo gear didnt work. So i had to use the sv speedo gear, this corrected my speedo to perfect with 31's. so yes that case will work (please look for your self tho) but you will need to run the speedo shaft from the sv420.

I wouldnt suggest running 235's purely, but running 31-32's off road would be perfect.

[christover1]

If case is good and a good price, I'd try to make it fit.

[VitNick]

Thanks everyone. I will definitely check and see if the splines are the same. Would a good price be 300-$400 if the case is good, considering I can get new gears for $700?

[christover1]

You pay for the convenience of not having to fit the gears and wait for delivery.
You take a gamble on the 2nd hand case like anything else 2nd hand.
So it is worth what you think its worth.
I reckon 3-400 sounds right, assuming case and fitting is good.

[got_bar_work]

I recon 31.and a.manual r a bit fast.still so 235 would be great
I drove 235 once with a standard case and it was so quick
Couldnt stop.the thing

[lee88]

If you drive mainly rocks and have 31's, the reduction Gears are amazing! (but still realllllllllllly slow, u'll find even with 31's you will never use 1st gear except maybe for going down pretty steep decents where you need to go super slow)
If you don't drive a lot of rocks then i suggest to steer clear from the reduction gears as you will miss cruising around in the mud & etc in low range!
These days now i have to use high range everywhere, before i used to drive everywhere in low (i have 31s)

[VitNick]

Thanks everyone, I think I will hunt around for a set of 31s, drive it and see how it goes. It's got plenty of torque down low with the 235s and 31s are not too much more. If not I will start to look for a set of gears/ possibly clutch if Ive slipped the crap out of it. Thanks again for all the quick responses.

[DarkHorse]

$300-$400 sounds pretty good for a built case.
SV case bolts up, driveshafts are interchangeable so just get shafts to suit. Speedo gears were different between mine, so if you can grab the speedo cable end bit as well you'll be covered.
Gears on 31s is a good place, but you'll also be OK a little either side.

[larry]

3-400 sounds amazing
i wouldve been happy to pay 700 for a built case when i was looking at gears

[VitNick]

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to hold off on the gearing for now until I finalise my new tyres, and then go from there.

[VitNick]

bit of a grave dig. Have been driving around a fair bit now and done some wheeling. On road the gearing with 235s is ok (100km/h, 5th gear, 3000rpm), but the 30's off road brings the suck. Low range is real quick and even 1st low doesn't seem low enough. I know the best way to fix this would be gearing the transfer case but its pretty expensive. Would I be better off changing diff ratios or spend the money and do transfer gears? Any input is appreciated

[christover1]

If you do more sand than rock crawling, I'd say go diff gears.
My auto LWB has tranny gears and 30's, and it is brilliant in most things, but is a bit slow in sand.
It does work in sand, but I have to change between hi and low ratio a lot.
Diff gears will lower high as well, which would be fine.
I would not recommend diff gears with tranny gears, unless going huge tyres.

Diff gears ain't cheap, though, and depends what ratio you have now.

[atari4x4]

smash in some 5.12:1 diff gears from a 1.6 vitara & you'll be back to standard gearing on 31's

[christover1]

I'm guessing a huge 2.0L would have enough oomph to pull 30's thru most stuff nicely

[VitNick]

Yep christover1 the 2.0L has a fair bit of grunt (or that I was really used to my 1.3L barina on 3 cylinders ). I haven't done any sand driving yet actually as Watagans or Ourimbah is closer. Seems like hunting around for a transfer with gears in it will be my best option even if its not the cheapest. Atari, would love to go for 31's full time but have a set of 30's currently want to avoid cutting into the guards and trim. I guess I'm hunting for a transfer and steel diff then, and if plans change find some diff gears, which seem to pop up now and again

[tassie jeeper]

if u have the plastic flares u wont fit bigger than 30's without modifying the guards/flares

i have 245/70/16 (measure at 30 1/4") and its fine in low range for most things but really struggles on the sand have to use 1st gear to go up most hills can pull 2nd sometimes but i really need to keep it above 3500RPM even on the beach.
might be alright as is with the 2.7L (extra torque)