[30ONA]

I'm sure it's been asked but I can't find it.

My front diff seal is leaking. Before I go to the effort to remove and reseal it, I thought it made good sense to fit a steel diff and save me another job later. Its only an open diff and is going on at the moment having seen sand and a few 4wd parks. Should I just keep the alloy one?

What are the front diff ratios in a 2004 manual 2.0L grand Vitara with alloy housing?

Which model can I direct swap a steel diff from our do I need to put my centre in a new housing?

[Joe]

Yours will be a 4.8, front diff from a 03 04 05 V6 auto will have the same ratios but has a different pinion mount so get the mount with the diff

[Joe]

If you want to check your ratio first, chock front wheels jack up rear axle with the car in neutral turn a wheel 1 rotation the tailshaft should rotate 4.8 times

[fordem]

First - I'd suggest you jack one rear wheel off the ground and rotate that wheel two full turns whilst counting the tailshaft turns - if you jack the entire axle you'll need to rotate both wheels at the same speed.

Second - which seal is leaking - if it's the right CV axle, you can probably repair it for a lot less than it'll cost to replace - yank the CV axle and fit a new seal along with the nylon support bush.

[Joe]

fordem wrote:

First - I'd suggest you jack one rear wheel off the ground and rotate that wheel two full turns whilst counting the tailshaft turns - if you jack the entire axle you'll need to rotate both wheels at the same speed.

Has been a while since i did this and couldn't remember if it works just jacking up one wheel

You say turn the wheel two full turns? Why two? One full turn of the wheel should turn the tailshaft 4.8 times yeah?

[fordem]

Differential action is the reason you need to turn the wheel two full turns.

[30ONA]

So two turns of the wheel 4.8 of the shaft? And the front diff has to be the same ratio but without the diff locked you can't check the front?
It's leaking from the housing not the cv. I already have the nylon bush.

[Joe]

Im pretty sure when i did it i turned the wheel one rotation and the tailshaft did 4.8 turns, same thing i checked a front diff i bought recently i turned the flange just over 5 turns (5.12 gears) and the crown wheel did one full rotation



I might be missing something but that's how i see it.

[Gwagensteve]

Fordem is correct Joe.

[Joe]

Not the first time i been wrong

Is the way i checked that ^^^ front diff correct?

[fordem]

Joe wrote:

Im pretty sure when i did it i turned the wheel one rotation and the tailshaft did 4.8 turns, same thing i checked a front diff i bought recently i turned the flange just over 5 turns (5.12 gears) and the crown wheel did one full rotation

If you have CVs pop a couple in and try it - hold one steady so it can't turn and then rotate the flange, the other CV will rotate twice as fast as the crown wheel - differential action - if it's a GV diff, you'll need to engage the freewheel clutch.

If you have the diff out as you do, the easy way is to count the teeth and divide crown wheel by pinion.

[Joe]

fordem wrote:

Joe wrote:

Im pretty sure when i did it i turned the wheel one rotation and the tailshaft did 4.8 turns, same thing i checked a front diff i bought recently i turned the flange just over 5 turns (5.12 gears) and the crown wheel did one full rotation

If you have CVs pop a couple in and try it - hold one steady so it can't turn and then rotate the flange, the other CV will rotate twice as fast as the crown wheel - differential action - if it's a GV diff, you'll need to engage the freewheel clutch.

If you have the diff out as you do, the easy way is to count the teeth and divide crown wheel by pinion.

That front centre has a locker

[303zuke]

Joe wrote:

Im pretty sure when i did it i turned the wheel one rotation and the tailshaft did 4.8 turns, same thing i checked a front diff i bought recently i turned the flange just over 5 turns (5.12 gears) and the crown wheel did one full rotation

I might be missing something but that's how i see it.

That's exactly how the pinion and ring gear work, in the way you describe for the 5.12, but for a normal/open differential if one WHEEL is fixed (eg on the ground) then you need to turn the other wheel TWICE to turn the ring gear ONCE, due to the spider gears that connect the two axle shafts inside the diff. So for the 4.8 diff, you need to turn one wheel 2 turns to count the rotations of the flange.

But if you'd told us that the two front axle shafts were connected by Locker.............

[Joe]

303zuke wrote:

due to the spider gears that connect the two axle shafts inside the diff. So for the 4.8 diff, you need to turn one wheel 2 turns to count the rotations of the flange

Yeah ok that make sence now.....hopefully i haven't confused the op to much

[30ONA]

Joe wrote:

Yours will be a 4.8, front diff from a 03 04 05 V6 auto will have the same ratios but has a different pinion mount so get the mount with the diff

When you say pinion mount do you mean the mount arm from the diff to the chassis?

[Joe]

30ONA wrote:

Joe wrote:

Yours will be a 4.8, front diff from a 03 04 05 V6 auto will have the same ratios but has a different pinion mount so get the mount with the diff

When you say pinion mount do you mean the mount arm from the diff to the chassis?

The one that mounts to the crossmember

This pic shows to two different mount types, top one is what yours should look like (apart from being broken)