Trying to find a white elephant front diff from the 99-01 vitara. I have located two posibilities half a country away on 2 sides of me. If I can get a large salvage yard here in kansas city to located a steel one I can get it for $200 but who knows how long it will take for them to get just the precise model I need. Still the most I have ever spent on an axle but I would be happy with that. I didn't want to do a solid axle swap on this frame because I'd rather save it for when the drivetrain goes into the buggy.

I have had thoughts of cutting the moutning tab off of my aluminum case and welding it on the other side of a good one and then grafting a couple of large ribs to reinforce the 3rd member. Any thoughts? Still have a weak axle housing then?

I priced out the housing and 3rd from hawk $600 plus shipping. It'll stay 2wd for that.

BTW
94 Tracker running open diffs and 30 mt's and this is my daily driver...

Thanks for revisting a common problem. Right now I am 2wd with the axle hanging from the 2 swivel mounts. Oh and the pinion support strap works great! My pinion is exactly where It is supposed to be. 

Just curious how you did that running open diffs and 30's?  I don't wanna wind up in the same pickle. 

I have seen 2 alternative solutions for strengthening the front diff.

Weld a bunch of reinforcements on to it.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/240265/4

And Reinforce the pinion mount
http://www.izook.com/tech/tracker/pinion/pinion.htm

WOW!
Yet another denizen of the KC area!

We are in big enough numbers to form our own local club!

$200 sounds pretty good for a steel housing.

Have you tried that salvage yard on 40 Highway just West of I-70?

I know they are crawling with aluminum ones but I didn't bother to ask about the newer steel ones.

The two "pick and pulls" rarely have anything although the one on 12th south of Osage in KCK seems to have some Samurais...

That $600 sure is rich for something used...

I built the hagen pinion strap mod. Might have been partly why it broke I don't know.

I was driving up a ledge and was almost up to the top and it just let go.

I haven't been to the other pick and pull I plan to check it out next week. I'll look for the one on hwy 40 just west of 70. I work dowtown so it's just down the road.

The $600 was for new housings.

Thanks, for the tips jake

Call Hawk he has them

Call Hawk he has them

Uh yeah I called him. He wants $600. Thanks, Jake

I was driving up a ledge and was almost up to the top and it just let go.

I blew apart the diff housing in the Goblin, but on 33's. I did it by blasting up a short steep bank that you basically had to pop the front tires in the air to get over the lip. When the fronts popped into the air, the rears started slipping, which let the fronts start spinning in the air. When they hit the ground spinning, I heard the loud snap and lost my front drive. The pinion snout broke completely free of the diff housing, allowing the main housing to swing free from it's end mounts. Since I couldn't find the right white elephant, I swapped in a stock alloy one and made a note to myself to avoid that situation again... LOL!

I did a 3rd member strap to and it did hold out a lot better but when i converted to an axle and removed it is had stress cracks all over it.

i did this

lots of work but with arb and strengthened shafts its been great for the last 8 months of wheeliing , admittly i have broken panard mounts on 2 occassions but mainly down to me under estimating the stress on it

I only broke one ally axle before I went to a steel front. That was on 29s and an open diff, the third was OK but the axle housing shattered.