I have been reading this forum for years I dont know why it took me so long to join.  Anyway let me introduce myself.  Im Patrick I drive a 94 Tracker with a 3" Calmini suspension lift,  2" home made body lift, 8000 lb Ramsey winch, homemade tube front bumper and many little mods that Ive made threw the years.  I have broken my front diff twice now in two different places.  The mounting flanges on both the passenger side and on the pinion.  I have fixed both of these problems with simple changes.  I would like to know any other ways people have broken these things Im trying to design some simple bolt on strentheners but I need to know how else they break.

Thanks,
Patrick

other people will be able to give u more info..but u can always go the anvil route( kinda expensive..but makes it easier to have a front locker)

i have throw a pinion out of the side of the case and broke the mount off the snout of the 3rd member.  both of theis prblems can be fix by putting a Vitara 3rd member in place of the stock one.

stu

If you want it to last it has to be steel. I tried gussets, added brackets, clearancing among other things... Steel is the only thing that will hold up to my driving. The anvil is cheap compared to the downtime from breaking. The final straw for me was getting 5 days off of work (precious) driving 8 hours to Indiana to run Zukimelt (gas$) Entrance fee ($) Camping ($) only to break a diff on the second day.   Since I went with a  steel diff my vacations have been a lot more fun. Even if you break an axle shaft within a 1/2 hour or less you can be back playing again. Break a diff and your done.   Id just go for the parts that have proven to be tough. A steel GV third member (Hawk suzuki) and Calmini Anvil. (Availible from Calmini or Hawk) This is also a good time to swap in a front locker.  If you get a rear sami carrier, equip it with a locker it will work in the Calmini anvil. You will also need a Carrier pin holder if you run stock gearing. (hawk also sells that)   If your runnin the Calmini 5.83 gears its not needed.

For more info look at the bottom of the screen there is a black toolbar. Click on ARTICAL ARCHIVE and scroll down to Hagen pure sport in the technical section. There is a writeup on Strengthining the frontend.

Mike

from calmini site it looks like the price of the anvil increased a little.  but when compared to the price of other replacement axle housings/assemblies, etc. its pretty cheap considering.

I agree, go the steel in the front if you can. I saw the following post on another forum and thought it might be of interest.

Vits spit diffs because of an oil feed galley that is like a little tube moulded into the casting. Its job is to feed oil from the main pumpkin area to the pinion bearing. (The bearing nearest the drive shaft). The front diff mount (on the side of the diff ) is like a tag that sticks out to the left hand side. Unfortunately as torque twists the drive shaft, yoke and pinion, the whole housing wants to twist. (It can because there is only one mount) The oil galley is the weak spot and the housing splits up the guts like twisting a peach in half. The simplest and cheapest way to reduce the chance of failure is to cut and force a piece of solid rubber, like an old shackle bush into the 10mm gap between the diff and the cross member. It will greatly reduce the ability of the diff to twist but may add a slight harshness as some vibration may be felt through the chassis. Small price to pay. Chances are you won't notice it at all. Most people blame the crown wheel and pinion when a vit front end shits itself. That’s because the pinion spits out. What most people don't realise is that once the housing splits up the middle, there is nothing to hold the pinion in its place. It simply drives forward on the teeth of the crown wheel and punches its way out the front of the diff.

It's funny how the calmini 3" system got brought
into "the broken front housing" topic again.
just a thought.

I appreciate all of your input.  I am mainly interested in finding out ways that you all have broken your front ends and it sounds like its always the same problem that I had.  I seam to have fixed my problem by removing the original mount and clamping the pinion down to the crossmember with a u-bolt.  I've been wheeling like that fore a year and a half now with no further problems there.  Im sure with the combination of an Anvil and a cast pinion carrier is very strong but I am more interested in making the stock pieces last.

I've never broken a housing or 3rd member. I did trash alot of CV's over the years though.
Zig

That actually brings up another question.  How are people breaking CV's?  Like what physically happens to them when they break? I've been talking to a machinist friend and we have been toying with the idea of machine fit sleeves to go over the CV.  I've only broken one CV and it split the outside housing.

The majority of mine came when I tried to "get a little more lift" out of my 3" suspension. I ended up over extending the inner cup on the drivers side Then I put it back to norm and havent over extended one since

I have snaped the inner splines on the passenger side a few times (inside the stock housing), shattered the inner cage (that holds the bearings in place at the shaft) many times, and twisted off the outter stub shaft once.

Zig

My casualties are 1 cage (pass inboard)
and 1 front axle shaft (long side)
and it took the turbo to do it.

Zig, you're  hard on the CVs  
I'm working on a better setup, still
using stock parts tho   so you would
probably blow it up too    LOL

This would eliminate the CV cups and reduce
the drive angle of the shaft, while allowing
more lift, all the stuff you want  

PM me for details if you're interested in
finding out more  

Wild

More Lift, less damage Hell Yea   I already have the CV problem fixed thanks to Mr. Hagen, feerless leader of the Kick Clan But always interested in more info/ideas. I'll send you a PM.

Later,
Zig

How'd you fix your CV problems again? Do you have Maxima halfshafts instead of regular Kick CV's?

Yea, I did Mr. Hagens front end widening, and installed Mr.Hagens super strong Maxima V-6 Half Shafts. They look about twice the size of the Stockers  
Zig