Suzuki 4WD Club of Victoria

Well after a year+ of chasing a front locker for the Feroza, and almost being on the point of DIY I finally have a response.
This of course had to happen - went out and bought a "spare" front diff to start work on or weld.

Had to get a colleague in Germany to ring them - they ignore all international emails.... but finally they have responded and can supply. ( now to normal people a front locker is ho-hum - but to the Feroza driver its rarer than the holy grail or in Suzuki terms - a comfortable Sierra )

So now all i have to do is live on bread and water for the next three months ( I'm not telling anyone how much - I do have some pride left ) and finalise the shipping details etc.

A #$%^ expensive Christmas present - I wonder if I can just insure the front diff ?

That's great news Ross!

What can you tell us about it? (other than the price ) Is at a copy of an airlocker design - all internal - or does it use an external actuator? Is it compressed air actuated?

Steve.

It appears to use pins to lock the spider gears / cross pin and is vacuum operated ( ideal for boost - not ).
Actuator is external, supplied in a cast front cover which is cool as its well up out of the way ( IFS has some advantages ).

The pics aren't of the Feroza system but you can get the general idea.

I remember reading about these lockers in Petersen's a couple of years ago, although feroza's weren't mentioned, there was a guy in Germany selling lockers for a bunch of removable cover diffs. A guy called Wolfgang started a site http://www.killeraxle.com, moved to the US, and was going to be the US agent for them.

The site isn't up anymore so I can't confirm, but I reckon I read a review on a D60 version and it was pretty complimentary. cover and vacuum actuator looks the same as the ones in Petersens.

Ps Wolfgang drove an Uber-cool full size chevy pickup, 39 or 42 swampers, drab, 6.2litre V8 diesel, Mog diffs, Hummer beadlocks, and Gwagen radius arms and coils. Very cool car. Had photos of it in Petersens @ Moab.

Steve.

I strongly suspect that there are links between the two as the company that makes them ( http://www.ks-tuning.de/wj/vacuum.htm) specialises in American offroad vehicles.

The coincidence just seems to be too much and if you look into the url you can see /wj/ - could this be Wolfgang J.......

Hey - it cost nothing to speculate, unlike the locker.

Nothing in life is easy

- yes they have done,
- yes they can do,
- yes its #$^@ expensive....
- yes its takes forever

Yes - I have to send a complete diff to Germany !

So its DIY time, for that sort of PITA and $$$, I have suddenly redeveloped an urge to machine metal......

I have nothing else to do anyway ( sigh.... ), and the grunty engine has been postponed so long that no-one
believes me anymore, so why not start another major project ?

The "Great God of Daihatsu's" has a very twisted sense of humor.

And the icing on the Christam cake - "CORRECTION!!!! -Front diff lock is not supplied"

Ok, so now its definately DIY time.

That sort of deflated your Christmas present aspiration Ross.
Sounds like the good old "runaround".

Yep - its all gone to shyt.

Still there is satisfaction in DIY - almost as much as the frustration.

Thanks for the offer MugginsMoo.

The problem is that I need to use the existing side gears as the Feroza spline count is unusual and no one has a broach to cut new ones. Getting a broach made is out of the question

The basic principal it that one of the side gears is drilled and a set of dogs attached to an actuator ring that can be moved so the dogs engage the side gear and lock it in place thus locking the diff. Another benefit is that i can fit 4 pinions and a non windowed centre.

This apparently is a principal used by Borg Warner.

An actuator fork and actuator goes on the front cover plate ( Salisbury style housing ) and engages the actuator ring, sliding the dogs in or out of engagement - so its a manual locker not auto.

The number of actual diff parts to be made are quite small - even though the new centre is a large lump of steel. The front cover, fork and actuator are a reasonable quantity of work but not ultra precise and don't rotate.