Suzuki 4WD Club of Victoria

I recently upraded the motor in my 1995 SWB manual Vit to a Baleno convert based on advice I recieved on this forum, and I have been suitably impressed. I was hoping to get more good advice on a gear reduction option.

Can anyone in the Suzuki brains trust advise me on the best way to achieve a gear reduction for my Vit when off road. I am only currently running 30in tyres so its not extreme, and the motor still pulls fine on the road. I am aware that there are rockcrawler gears for the transfer case when in low range that are available as per the link below:

http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=53

Is this rockcrawler option the only/best way to get a suitable gear reduction? Is there anyone out there available to provide me with an already modified tranfer case, or to modify my case (for a fee of course)? Are there gears available in Aus somewhere? Or do I just have to import the parts and work through inserting the gears myself?

All advice gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Scythe

Yes, that's the best and effectively only way to lower your off road gearing.

These gears work well. We have two cars in the club running them. As they have no effect on high range, they are a good solution for someone running "smaller" tyres such as 30's.

Christover has just fitted a set to his vitara. Fitting is pretty straightforward.

We tend to source our parts from Lowrange Offroad. They carry the Vitara gears but ship USPS Global Express which is considerably cheaper than trail tough who only ship UPS.

It might be possible to find a spare vitara transfer case sitting around - there is little demand for them, (I threw out three this year) but I think it the time consuming part of the conversion is removing and replacing the transfer from the vehicle, not fitting the gears, so I think there is little point getting an extra case.

Christover may be able to provide more information.

Steve.

I just recently fitted Trail Tough transfer gears to my 93 LWB Vitara.
It is the only choice that I am aware of for transfer gears.
But you can sometimes get better prices,
and delivery costs if you buy through lowrange http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.ph ... gears.html
or other resellers.

If you already have 5;12 diffs there is no easily available options for diff gears.
Mine came with 5:12's, not sure which models do.

There is 5:7 diff gears here http://tr.4xfourart.com/4xfourarten/urunic.php?id=3
But I have not found any body who has used them yet.

I'm very happy with the t-case gears,
was easy to fit, considering I have very few proper tools.
Can't comment on hoow long they last, as only just fitted them..

christover

Diff gearing reduction is a poor solution for a small tired car.

Steve.

Now I have a motor that works,
the 31's are no problem in high range.
Can use economy mode now,
and can use overdrive too.
So I agree,
30's dont need diff gears.

Thanks again Steve and Christover. I will go with the Rock Monster option. Trail Tough have advise they will post them via International Express for $131, which is much better than the $250 for UPS.

I have played with gearboxes before, but never on a 4WD and I have never done a tranfer case. Any tips on the install?
I assume the process is:

1. Remove tail shaft and crossmember.
2. Remove transfer case - does it seperate from the gearbox with ease?
3. Open transfer case.
4. Remove old and fit new gears.
5. Reassemble transfer case - is a gasket kit required? Are there any tricks to lining it all up?
6. Reinstall transfer case - more gaskets?
7. Reinstall crossmember and tail shaft
8. Fill with oil - amount of oil? gearbox oil?

Any other pointers?

Cheers

Scythe


Seems so easy

Scythe wrote: 1. Remove tail shaft and crossmember.
2. Remove transfer case - does it seperate from the gearbox with ease?
3. Open transfer case.
4. Remove old and fit new gears.
5. Reassemble transfer case - is a gasket kit required? Are there any tricks to lining it all up?
6. Reinstall transfer case - more gaskets?
7. Reinstall crossmember and tail shaft
8. Fill with oil - amount of oil? gearbox oil?

Any other pointers?

I used gasket maker in a tube,
pretty much what Suzuki do from factory.
I have a body lift,
that gave me plenty of room to separate transfer case,
without removing the Auto.
I don't know if thats the same for no BL and/or manuals.
You do have to remove gear stick to access one bolt that joins gearbox to t-case.
That has caught a few people off guard
PS empty transfer case oil first,
before removing front tail shaft,
as the oil will fall out (I know that from experience)
The instructions that come with it are very clear,
but I found an online pictorial instal gguide,
which I made a pdf.
If you want a copy, I can email it.
or try down load from https://skydrive.live.com/?sc=documents ... 451F%21900

Thanks again all. The instructions you posted (Christover) were a real heads up and very useful. I am now inspired, and a little concerned, but I have ordered the gears, so now we will just see what happens next.

Cheers

Scythe

Well this just got real difficult. I am in the middle of trying to remove the transfer case from the car, and cannot see the way ahead in relation to the bolt under the gear lever. Help please, from anyone who knows how to get this off without removing the gearbox from the car. Otherwise.... do you have to remove the entire gearbox to get the transfer case out of a manual?

And it was all going so well......

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Scythe

I been searching around,
some say easier to pull box and transfer out together.
Some say like this I copied:

As the gearbox and transfer box are one unit, if you only need to remove the transfer box, you can remove the rear cross member and support the gearbox part while you undo the bolts that join the two boxes together. The biggest problem as I recall is gaining access to the bolts underneath the gearbox selector housing - if it's a manual of course. I think you will have to remove the gearbox selector housing to enable this. Be also careful of wiring for different switches and the like. I would say "no, it's not an easy job".