Drop Differentials

[tomdietrying]

I've got my torsion bars cranked and bigger tires. Thus, I've torn four CV boots.
Here's my question. Those that have used a dropped differential did that stop the problem with the torn boots?
Thanks.
Tom

[tom4bren]

It sure cured it for me.

Now I'm just waiting for RCV Performance to make the replacement half shafts available.

Others that have had them installed for a while are:

BigMeat
LittleBeast
CSTYLES

& others that don't come to mind at the moment.

[vt_maverick]

I wonder... how high do you have to get before you start tearing CVs? My tires are only 1" taller than stock, but I'm considering a pair of 1.5" Daystar spring spacers (and the accompanying t-bar crank). Do you think that necessitates a drop?

[tom4bren]

Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason that we can tell right now.

Some crank 'em & tear them, some don't.

If you're lifted & start tearing boots - they'll keep tearing (no matter what brand of boots you replace them with) until you do one of two things: diff drops or replacement half shafts.

BTW, you should be OK with 1.5 in lift. Troubles seem to start at 2-3 in lifts.

[Marlin]

Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason that we can tell right now.

Some crank 'em & tear them, some don't.

If you're lifted & start tearing boots - they'll keep tearing (no matter what brand of boots you replace them with) until you do one of two things: diff drops or replacement half shafts.

BTW, you should be OK with 1.5 in lift. Troubles seem to start at 2-3 in lifts.

Tom,you forgot me!! LOL.
I never tore my OEM boots, went ahead and put the super $$$ mecatechs on while doing locker install. Tore those boots in just a few months.
Now that I dropped the diff, no problems. I was somewhere in the 3" lift I suppose.
VT, bigger tires doesn't mean anything, and has ZERO effect on the CV angles. Only when you get into cranking the Tbars does it matter.
Another bonus for diff drop, your CVs are almost dead level, which means the force is more evenly distributed to all the balls in the cup and in the outer joint as well. That cannot be a bad thing. Otherwise, that force is concentrated on two or three balls at a time, and that cannot be good. I would suspect far less CV wear and tear with the diff dropped.
(Tom, I know this is a repeat of what I told you via PM, just wanted to post my thoughts so others could read it as well)

There is one disadvantage. If you lower the front back down (which I have now done), it puts the CVs at a negative angle(in reference to the normal lifted angle), and they DEFINITELY don't like that. They weren't meant to ever sit like that. So, I have to compromise and lift the front back up a bit to relevel the CVs. I found that the offroad performance was much better lowered, and I had no problem with the 34s fitting. Did some cutting and pounding, but my rig is more for offroad now than anything else. It looks kind of goofy, the rear sitting much higher than the front, but I will take the performance over the cosmetics...as you all know;)

[vt_maverick]

BTW, you should be OK with 1.5 in lift. Troubles seem to start at 2-3 in lifts.


Only when you get into cranking the Tbars does it matter.

I read in one of rickshaw's threads that although the Daystar spacers claim 1.5", they only actually raised his rig 1". So hopefully not a lot of cranking is required.

Tom - Since you've seen/installed my Kilby plates first hand, would a diff drop interfere with them? Seems very likely to me...

[Ebenezr]

Dropping my front differential has made a wonderful difference for me. The angle of the half shafts -esp on the passenger side - was so acute that the tripod style cv would give a slight upward push on the diff with every rotation of the front tire. this happened esp when the front end would dip from a bump in the road while traveling. I had an intermittent bump brump noise that was solved by dropping the differential to where the half shaft is much more horizontal. As I type this I'm expecting UPS to walk in with a used driveshaft. I have a lot of driveshaft noise- long story- that expect to fix with it.

[JHarris1385]

I have had my diff dropped for a couple+ years now.

No torn boots.

[tom4bren]

Tom - Since you've seen/installed my Kilby plates first hand, would a diff drop interfere with them? Seems very likely to me...

IIRC we've been doing a drop of 2" which does require you to relocate the crossmember. That crossmember is what the Kilby's bolt to at the first seam (front to back).

I don't remember how much clearance there is before dropping but I'm thinking that if you only drop the diff 1" then it might work.

Don't nobody run out & measure the clearance on an unmodified VX though. He has the Kilby plates which comes with a replacement crossmember.

If you do decide that it's necessary to drop the differential though, I'm sure that if we only go for the 1" and the pumpkin hits the crossmember, we can modify it to still work with the Kilby's. In your application, the crossmember is only something to bolt to. The plates themselves are far stronger than the crossmember.

[BigSwede]

I read in one of rickshaw's threads that although the Daystar spacers claim 1.5", they only actually raised his rig 1". So hopefully not a lot of cranking is required.
The Daystar spacers in question are designed for the IFS of a Dodge pickup...because of the placement on the control arm the spacers achieve 1.5" due to the radius of the control arms, in that application. Whereas for a straight up, solid axle application like ours it is a 1" spacer.

[DogBoneVX]

Where exactly can one purchase the items needed for a differential drop?

[Triathlete]

Where exactly can one purchase the items needed for a differential drop?

You need to know somebody that knows somebody that knows the secret handshake.:winky:

[Ascinder]

Where exactly can one purchase the items needed for a differential drop?

You can make your own if you're willing to eat the downtime on your VX. They are pretty straightforward. IIRC there are a couple of people on this forum that have offered them in the past. Try searching.

[DogBoneVX]

You can make your own if you're willing to eat the downtime on your VX. They are pretty straightforward. IIRC there are a couple of people on this forum that have offered them in the past. Try searching.


I could search, but then I would be doing this forum a disservice by not providing content. :winky::bwgy:


What exactly does IIRC mean?

[Bob Barker]

indigo indigo rivera charlie... maybe?

[Ldub]

I could search, but then I would be doing this forum a disservice by not providing content. :winky::bwgy:


What exactly does IIRC mean?


indigo indigo rivera charlie... maybe?

If I Remember Correctly...:yesgray:

[Bob Barker]

lol. I was way off.

[Marlin]

You need to know somebody that knows somebody that knows the secret handshake.:winky:

That somebody would be me;)
I forgot to mention the cross member. There are multiple options to fix this.

Anyway, the drop in and of itself is very simple, some cutting and welding of the brackets. That is it. But the cuts and welds have to be done in a specific way to prevent steering linkage rub and control arm problems. The install can be difficult for someone who is not mechanically savvy.

[DogBoneVX]

That somebody would be me;)
I forgot to mention the cross member. There are multiple options to fix this.

Anyway, the drop in and of itself is very simple, some cutting and welding of the brackets. That is it. But the cuts and welds have to be done in a specific way to prevent steering linkage rub and control arm problems. The install can be difficult for someone who is not mechanically savvy.


How much for a set of drop brackets?

[Bob Barker]

What did everyone use (that's done this) to cut out the brackets? A cutting wheel? Torch?! Plasma cutter? I don't want to go after it and cut out so much material I've got to refill with welding!

I have a 4 day weekend starting tomorrow morning and I'm thinking seriously about attacking this. Needs to be done soon as I've gone through 4 boots on the pass side in the past couple months.

[tom4bren]

What did everyone use (that's done this) to cut out the brackets?

I used 'Welder Guy'.

Sorry, I rekin that was no help at all.:)

IIRC, he used a plasma cutter.

Guess that wasn't much help either but that's the best I can do.

[VXorado]

I used a band saw for the vertical cuts and a jig saw for the horizontal cut with a hole drilled to start the cut. It worked well but took about 6 hrs to measure, cut, weld & grind the 2" dropped diff brackets. PITA but worth it.

[JHarris1385]

Yup I went to a welder as well. It was only $30 but I think he cut me a deal. Not sure if that is on par with the others that have paid to have theirs cut, lowered, welded.

[Robbomaz]

You can plasma them out - I have a plasma but lack the skill to be neat so I used a tool I CAN handle well - 5" angle grinder with a 1mm cutting disc. The 1.2mm gap worked out perfectly for the butt welds afterwards. After some dressing with a flap wheel, sand blast & painting it looked totally factory :bwgy:

[Joe Darlington]

I still make the Drop Brackets for Isuzu's, PM me if your interested in a set.

[tom4bren]

Yes, go to Joe. I'm out of OEM brackets to modify until further notice.