H233B questions/research

[XterraGuy]

Greetings! I'm in the US and have an Xterra, which has a left-offset front
IFS diff. I'm intent on swapping a solid front axle down the line, and
if at all possible I want to stay 100% Nissan.
After having my hopes dashed pretty hard when I learned that the C200
front axle has the short-side spring perch cast into the housing,
throwing a major wrench into my idea of swapping the tubes to make a
left-offset unit, I got to thinking last night about the H233B's
potential. I recently learned that there are right-offset rear H233B
diffs used on some older Patrols. So I'm thinking of chopping off
the ends of a right-offset H233B rear and grafting the
outers/knuckles from a front H233B onto it to make a left-offset
front unit. If done right, the only custom part would be the housing
itself, the shafts would be OEM, just swapped short/long.
For simplicity's sake, I'm inclined to go with a leaf setup, perhaps spring-over if it doesn't jack it up too high and/or make for an abominable pinion angle. I'm aiming for a sleeper, something that doesn't look sky-high but works well when asked.

The questions I have are:

How "offset" is the H233b rear to the right? Is it more or less than
halfway towards the drum?

Are the third-members of the front and rear identical as far as the
surfaces to mate to the housings (same shape, gasket, etc.)? If the mating surface is the same shape/size but the stud pattern differs, that's easily dealt with.

Which direction does the front H233B pinion/driveshaft rotate when
moving forward as seen from the rear? Clockwise or counter-
clockwise? Or alternately, which side of the vehicle is the
ring/crown gear on in the diff?

And here's the really obscure one: If the front third will mate up to
a rear housing, is the axle centerline the same depth into the
housing from the mating surface? In other words, will the center of
the axle holes in the front carrier line up with the center of the
rear housing's tubes?

Having a look around I see discusion of an MQ knuckle swap, feel free to speculate on if that's something to throw into the mix while I'm at it.
I'm still getting my head around the whole Patrol line, I couldn't tell you what years are MK, MQ, GQ, GU, Y60, etc. with any certainty.

Thanks for any help you can provide, hopefully I can pull this off one day.
Brent

Pics of my Xterra if you're interested:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/xterraguy/SSRs-2.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/xterraguy/OldSchool.jpg

[big red]

dunno about most of it but the rear diff centre is offset about 2" to the right of centre on a GQ and GU.

MQ 80>
MK 83>
GQ 88>
GU 98>

[i think...feel free to correct me]
Y60 etc is the proper model name but the common names are as above.

hope that helps.

www.bigred4x4.com is about a GU cab chassis trayback ute

[Wendle]

the axle you want is out of the rear of an MQ, or "Model 160". the offset is quite a bit, and you would have scope to adjust it to what you need to fit your front axle shafts depending on where you need to cut the tubes to fit the knuckles.. the tubes are just that, a 100mm diameter tube. there is no trussing to deal with, or anyhting else, so I think you can make this work fairly easily. you will need a couple of axles to make this work. the MQ rear axle, and a GQ (model Y60) front. the GQ axle will give you the hi-pinion centre, the trunions (inner knuckles) inner axles, brakes, hubs, and the outer knuckles if you want them.. you could use either MQ or GQ outer knuckles depending on what you want to do with steering..
go for it.. It would be good to see if it works

[XterraGuy]

Thanks Wendle, that's a start.

So I assume the front center/third will mate to the rear housing? I know there are some Toyota axles that use interchangeable thirds, if you blow the rear you can just pull the front out and stick it in there to get you home. I don't want to run into any surprises trying to put an GQ center into an MQ housing. There was a change in the number and/or orientation of studs securing the center to the housing on the US H233B back in around '90 but it's a simple work-around, the overall shape of the mating surface did not change. I know there were some Maverick H233B axles that had an integrated selectable locker and had an entirely different-shaped mating surface, but otherwise I'm assuming that they're pretty universal on all H233Bs.

Still would like to clarify the direction the GQ front pinion rotates and/or which side of the pinion the ring gear is on. My front diff's ring gear is to the right of the pinion and therefore the rotation of the pinion is counter-clockwise for forward progress.

If the above work out, I guess I'll just cross my fingers on the obscure question, though if anyone is simply aware that front and rear centers are interchangeable that should clinch it.

Thanks again,
Brent

[Wendle]

front crown wheel is on the RHS (your passenger side) of the vehicle.

[XterraGuy]

That's good to know, thanks again.

[Wendle]

centres will interchange, number of studs may be different though..
the mating flange is beefy, will be easy to drill and tap..

[XterraGuy]

Well it seems like the next step is to start putting out feelers to source and import some axles and find a fabricator that can cobble this thing together. Well, let's not forget convincing the wife, which includes getting $2000 or so set aside for axles and shipping. Sometime next year I think...

Meanwhile anyone else care to chime in on this, feel free!

[XterraGuy]

Alright, more brainstorming:
What were the factory gear ratios on the GQ? I've got 4.636 gears in my diffs now, and I've got a set of 4.90s to go in before long. Would be nice to have a match or something close enough come w/ the GQ axle.

I see 4.625 and 4.88 ratios available aftermarket, both of those are close enough to be used with my ratios. That's good news.

Brent

[XterraGuy]

Still hoping for stock gear ratio info, and I've got one more question too. What's the width of an GQ front axle WMS to WMS? I'll be working around that parameter at all times since I intend to use the GQ axle shafts, knuckles, etc. and will have to hack the MQ rear housing accordingly. I would assume that the MQ knuckle swap option does not change the width, or at least not to any significant amount.

Thanks,
Brent

[Wendle]

~64"

ratios; 3.9, 4.1, 4.3, 4.6 - 4.1 is the most common, by far.

[DR Frankenstine]

Why not use the c200 diff flipped over upside down then it would work like a high pinion. Cut and bleed the swivel hubs off and put them on opposing sides. Just a thought . I can't see why it wouldnt work. anyone else?

[Wendle]

crown wheel will be on the wrong side and it will run backwards!

[DR Frankenstine]

crown wheel will be on the wrong side and it will run backwards!

Yea it would. like i said just a thought (not a very well thought out one) but a thought anyway