I need some help trying to solve the issue of installing a steel diff from  a Grand Vitara (year?) onto a Sidekick (1991). The Sidekick has a Calmini 3" suspension lift and has the drop brackets but when installing the steel housing the 3rd member sits to high. It sits on the frame cross member thus the 3rd member is sitting to high and cant level it. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated

Did you have this problem with the original Sidekick differential?  Also what year GV is the steel differential from, there was a change made to the mount I believe in 2003.

Find out where it is contacting and then modify it so you have some extra clearance there. I had to heat up my crossmember with the diff removed (carefully, as there are fuel lines not far from there) and bash it down with a big hammer to gain enough clearance to be confident it would not contact when torquing on it in 4wd. I also remember on another Zuk (this one with an aluminum diff) I had to clearance the rib on the bottom of the diff because it was hitting the top of the crossmember.

Thank you Olija for the suggestion. I will give this a try. Although it seems like I have to hammer this down quite a bit about 1" to 1.5". With this being done would it affect the vehicles driving? Thanks again for your input.

As for the year I am unsure but I have managed to get another from a 2001 GV and it is steel and identical to the one I am using. I have installed this unit as well and found the same issues. In fact I installed the old aluminum differential and noticed it is not sitting properly either. Very frustrating.

I have been restoring a 2 door hard top that had zero rust and have put several upgrades on it. Here is what I have done so far
- Calmini 3" lift
- Calmini EDSES strut eliminator (challenging install)
-Bilstein shocks front
- Pro Comp ES3000 rear
- rear ARB lockers with Compressor
- ARB Breathers
- front & rear bumbers
- Warn winch 9000lb
- new engine
- headers
- High Flow Air intake
- rebuilt transmission with Trail-Creeper gears
-rebuilt rear
-new Axles
- GM alternator upgrade
- Under hood LED lights
- 24" front LED light bar
- Fender Flares
-New fuel filler neck
-1.5" wheel spacers
-Yakima Load Warrior rack with extension
-new brakes rotors and stainless steel brake lines

Every time I do an upgrade there are other issues that pop up and prevent me from finishing. Arrgg.

Sorry, I'm useless for the answer you are looking  for but by reading thee list it sounds like it will be a great rig.  What size tires are you going with? Please post some pics when you're done.  I'm getting an ARB rear locker installed next week myself. 

Looks like you've done some great things on your rig. I may suggest going to our main part of the site and searching for IFS, steel upgrades, and calmini lift installations. From experience, I'd suggest swapping the poly for rubber on your blue bracket and heating / beating the crossmember well enough out of the way so that the IFS third member / chunk can float a bit without restriction.

Good luck.

-Eric

Thanks for the advice Eric. I had a look at the forum but there was nothing
In detail. The unit does not bolt in as easy as mentioned. Can you also clarify your recommendation by using only the poly and not the rubber. Shall i just use just the poly and throw out the rubber pce? Here is what my build looks like. I have decided to put 235/75/15 wild country tires on steel black rims. I have also have a lot of goodies still waiting to put on. I also need to know how to plug one of the air vents for the front diff. I was going to weld it closed but I don't want to risk anything dropping inside the diff.

I like the build you're doing... Going to be cool. When I say search the main site, I mean the actual ZUKIWORLD.com website of which the forum is a small part of. Try clicking on the ZW logo at the top of this page. Once there, in the upper right is a search bar, enter one or two words about what you're doing and you should get several installation articles that will discuss the issues you're seeing.

Good luck!

-Eric

ON the rubber vs. poly... We've had better luck with front ends not grenading when using the rubber mounts on the 3rd member. You can keep the poly on the other mounts. The rubber on the 3rd member lets the hole unit float a bit and reduces shock loading.

Hope that helps.

-Eric