Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I want to get a diff lock for the front diff of my 98 V6 Rodeo (IFS) but I've read a few posts that say they prematurely chew out the CV's so dont do it.

I've also read reports that they're not a real problem on IFS CV's as long as they're not hammered too much and they're used only in the appropriate situations.

Another thing is the angle of the front drive shafts to the CV's. I read somewhere to keep the angle less than 45 deg. at normal ride height if your going to lift the front or it will chew the CV's out pretty quick.
Is this right and why?

At present the angle of mine are only about 5 deg. so after I lift the front 2" and flip the upper ball joints I dont think I'd get near 45 deg.

I'm looking for replies from you blokes a who have IFS and done the whole lift and front locker thing along with some advice and your experiences with them......good or bad
would especially like to hear from any 4x4 front end specialists[/b]

BTW, I'm thinking of getting the 4wdsyems front lokka (auto unlocker) as they're affodable for me, I've got manual hubs and we only do "medium duty" off road touring.

The lokka for mine are going for just under $500 at the mo. Is that a good price?

cheers, sudso

have you got one in the rear that is the better i have f/r and dont use the rear that often only on extreme tracks

The more angle you have on your CVs the faster they will wear out. However how often do you have your front hubs locked in? If you only lift two inches then I wouldn't be at all worried. However if you were to run around with 45 degree angles on your CVs you would have no front down travel and your CVs would die very quickly. So would your CV boots.
When you lift your suspension you still are not increasing the range that your CVs will operate through. Just the angle that they will mostly be operating at. Unless you use low profile bump stops.

You may be going for the Lokka for price considerations however you may find that it is alo your only option. An ARB locker is not available for most front diffs in 97/98 Rodeos.
Using a front locker in an IFS vehicle will not destroy your CVs as such however if you were giving it a flogging and only getting traction through the front then you may very well bust a CV.

thanks heaps for that utemad

I have the front hubs locked any time I can get offroad which isnt often enough

When we do our round trip of Oz though I suspect we'll be needing and using these handy mods quite often

cheers

Many Suzuki Vitara drivers say a front locker helps protect your front diff and cv from damage by providing a constant power to each axle rather than the sudden power changes produce by wheel spin and a unlocked diff.
Regards Charlie

Many Suzuki Vitara drivers say a front locker helps protect your front diff and cv from damage by providing a constant power to each axle rather than the sudden power changes produce by wheel spin and a unlocked diff.
Regards Charlie

I'm not sure if that applies in all circumstances...... i.e..... if most of the vehicle weight was on one front wheel when the nose is dipped down, with the front diff locked and the opposite front wheel was off the ground I think it would put quite a lot of strain on the drive shaft and CV of the wheel that has the traction on the ground.

But I can see how their theory applies with the sudden power changes from wheel to wheel. I wonder if it's just a Vitara thing because of their light weight. I dont know

Thanks for reply
Cheers

The maximum working angle of most IFS CV's is around 29 degrees.
Only super heavy duty CV's (such as Porsche 936) will take abuse at 45 degrees.
A Jap IFS 4x4 with the inner CV at that angle will get ripped out.
I would doubt that after a 2" lift and a BJ flip your CV's will end up at that angle.
My Paj after a 2.5" lift (torsion bar crank) left the CV's at around 15 degrees. I never broke a front CV with a Detroit locker and 35"s but split numerous boots due to the greater working angles. I added manual hubs also which stopped the front axles spinning in 2wd this helped quite a bit.
The danger with IFS (with a front locker) is being under power while air born and the wheels suddenly hitting the deck and getting grip = bang !!
I was very careful not to do this but having said that I had the car bouncing up & down many times (fully locked) without drama's.
I never broke a front diff either but had other issues like broken tie rods, bent steering & idler arms from running 35"s.
I didn't do the BJ flip & spacer mod purely because having a front locker negated it and I felt it would just cause breakages due to a greater CV angle. I just trimmed down the upper bumpstops after the lift to have some down travel.

thanks heaps for that bitsamissin

I didn't do the BJ flip & spacer mod purely because having a front locker negated it and I felt it would just cause breakages due to a greater CV angle. I just trimmed down the upper bumpstops after the lift to have some down travel.

According to RoeDao who had done this to his own Rodeo it helped with correcting camber and wheel alignment after a susp lift

cheers

True to a certain extent but the problem is you are making the top arm not parallel to the bottom arm with a BJ spacer. The effect of this is more bumpsteer.
With the Mitsu IFS you can easily correct camber from a big torsion bar crank by adding more shims where the top arm mounts (bolts) to the chassis.

bitsamissin;

BJ spacer. The effect of this is more bumpsteer.

Not putting a spacer in as RoeDao put 1" spacers I think to start with and had probs. ended up only putting in 10mm with the flip and gained about 1" more up travel but he lifted about 3" I think. I'm only going 2".

Dont know if I'll do the flip if it's only worth 1/2" of travel but if it helps to correct camber & wheel align after a lift then I'll do it. I'll have to have another gander at Roe's earlier buildup posts.

what is bumpsteer?