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another welded rear question......

Tech Talk for Suzuki owners.

Moderators: lay80n, sierrajim

Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:23 am
Location: Melbourne

Post by Charged_ZooK »

would my trye being a/t be alot hard to turn insted of a mud terain.? my tyres are leaving marks almost every sharp corner..... what tyre is good for locked rears.....?
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Post by dreamz »

Im seriously looking at getting my rear welded :) just looking for someone in brisbane who can do it fot a good price and a carton or 2 :D
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Post by Swamp Donkey »

as he said... i find that the a/t's are better on the road with the locker in the dry, but the cheap muddys work the treat in the wet, every one likes differnt set ups though. you win some, you loose some. i definatly agree on the crazy burnouts. :twisted:
munch, munch, jeep for lunch.
Posts: 93
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Post by Swamp Donkey »

if you want less of the locker feel on the road put about 35 pound in the rear and they dont jump round or cherp as much.( they still do it, just not as much- and they'll pump better skids :P ).
munch, munch, jeep for lunch.
Posts: 118
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Location: Melbourne

Post by Charged_ZooK »

yea yea i have around 40 psi... i put in 28 as some one from OL suggested but it grabed to much around corners.... felt like it was going to snap.......

yea welded rears are cool..... just take it easy around corners and you will be fine buddy...>!!!!!
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Post by monkeyplex »

So whats the problem with welding up the front diff? You wont feel the effect if your transfer in in 2H and the hubs are free. Am i correct?
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Post by SiKiD_01 »

monkeyplex wrote:So whats the problem with welding up the front diff? You wont feel the effect if your transfer in in 2H and the hubs are free. Am i correct?
dude, they way i see it on the forum is that you can read and ask a million questions about welded fronts, but you will never truly understand at all whats going on.

so if you get a chance to drive a locked front with out power steer, go for it. no doubt it wont be for very long.

the answer to your Q is: YES, yes you WON'T feel anything at all if you are in 2H and the hubs are FREE.

with the hubs in free, and the transfer in 4H, it wont be any different to normal driving. same as 4L, only you will be spinning the entire 4wd drivetrain.

lock in one hub, and you still get the steering, but you will also get a form of torque steer. if you lock the left hand side hub, and you give it some curry, the steering wheel will pull hard to the right, and vice versa.

if you lock both hubs, and the diff is locked or welded, the inside tyre needs to 'skip' or slip when you are turning. exactly the same as the rear if it were locked or welded. the only difference is, you need to steer.

my steering box is about to shit itself, and i'm thinking its the result of a welded front and me wrestling with the steering wheel to turn.

i had my rear driveshaft out to put new unis in, and i was driving around front wheel drive (only to move my car around my driveway and so on) it is IMPOSSIBLE to drive on road with a welded/ locked front with both hubs locked! dont even try it. but, even with only one hub locked, its still VERY DANGEROUS and hard to drive normally on road.

the problems with a welded front and un-equal distances the wheels travel when turning, become more severe when larger off set rims are used. this means the castor axis on the hub is not equal to the axis on the rim. there are proper technical names for this, but i forget.
1995 Vitara:
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Post by Charged_ZooK »

i managed to drive a locked front today and mate... it is so shit..... i had to unlock just to turn a bees dik..... no turning circle at all.... rear is all good in my experiance altho fron is a big NO NO...

Can i do anything to strengthen my rear end....

tail shaft strengthing??? i donno.....

SiKiD_01.....
mate i have to tell you that you have a nice ride... looking at your pics on OL my favourite by far...!!!!!! keep it up... thanks for you imput!!!

:lol: :twisted:
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Post by SiKiD_01 »

Charged_ZooK wrote:
Can i do anything to strengthen my rear end....

tail shaft strengthing??? i donno.....
do you need to strengthen your rear end? do you do a lot of hardcore rock crawling? or do a lot of burnouts on bitumen?

you can get calmini strengthened axles. other than that, there's not much else. laminating the housing stops it from bending and stuff, but the vit rear diffs are pretty strong already.

because i run a lock right in the back of my vit, i have found it wears the bearings and unis a lot quicker than a normal vit would. so i check my diff centre and wheel bearings every 2nd or 3rd service, where each service is at 10,000km. i take the axles out and clean them up, and i take the centre out and check it too. the inside ends of the axle tube, tends to build up a lot of crud if you are doing a lot of mud and water driving. it also depends on how much off road, touring, mud water, and on road driving you do.

i have also found that the axle shaft splines have quite a bit of wear in the drive side of the splines. i think this is fromt he locker also, as other with no lockers do not have this much wear.

just keep servicing regularly, and keep all the nipples greased. if you drive a lot on road, you shouldn't have much to worry about.

i have not heard or seen anyone who has broken a tail shaft by twisting or anything. if it lands on a rock hard, it'll get damaged. if it does, get a heavy walled one made up. its good because you have no slip joint to worry about. unis need to be looked after. replace old ones with greasable units, and they should be good for a while.

keep an eye on the upper ball joint. having a locked rear puts a lot more stress on this joint, and so it may tend to wear quicker. if in doubt, buy the calmini kit. it replaces the ball joint with a heim/rose joint. easier than making one yourself. i'm still trying to make mine, but mine is more complicated. and when your lower trailing arm bushes give out, get some nissan rubber ones pressed in. real nice.
1995 Vitara:
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Posts: 163
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 1:51 pm
Location: Ballarat

Post by monkeyplex »

Obviously you wouldn't drive on bitumen with the front diff locked, hell i wouldn't with my rear locked (thats just me anyway), but off road, rock climbing, mud etc. it would be ok right? I mean any lower traction surface will allow for some slip on the inside wheel. These are the only circumstances i ever lock in the front hubs for anyway. The only disadvantage i can see is having to get out and lock and unlock your hubs all the time, but hey it's a small price to pay for a next to nothing diff lock that drives fine on road.
=/_____________\=
/[__\\___S___//__]\
|-----------------------|
I--------[vitara]------I
I___I'''''''''''''''''''''I___I
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 11:26 pm
Location: craigs house

Post by Swamp Donkey »

i run welded front and rear, like anything it takes a little getting used too. in reguards to having no lock, you just to hang of the wheel a little more. beats going to the gym.......
i do agree it is a bit shit at first, try it, if you like it put power steering on it. i'm a sizable fella and handle it without power steer fine. everyone is different though...
munch, munch, jeep for lunch.
Posts: 1087
Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:37 am
Location: Darwin N.T.

Post by SiKiD_01 »

Swamp Donkey wrote:i run welded front and rear, like anything it takes a little getting used too. in reguards to having no lock, you just to hang of the wheel a little more. beats going to the gym.......
i do agree it is a bit shit at first, try it, if you like it put power steering on it. i'm a sizable fella and handle it without power steer fine. everyone is different though...
i'm a 5 foot tall chinaman, i can barely see over the steering wheel let alone steer a welded front.
1995 Vitara:
stock standard


WWW.DARWIN4X4.NET
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 11:26 pm
Location: craigs house

Post by Swamp Donkey »

now i understand what all the fuss is about. tooshay. :D
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