[timosorento]

I think I will be replacing my actuator in my front differential this weekend. I'm hoping that I will be able to drop the lower ball joints and just pop the axle shafts out of the front differential. Has anyone done this before? I'm just trying to avoid having to separate the axle from the wheel hub if I don't need to.

 

[cmar]

The left hand side one is easy, just undo the top ball joint pinch bolt, undo the clip that retains the ABS sensor cable to give it some slack, and undo and remove the brake caliper , then you can just pop the upper ball joint, let the whole spindle plate pivot outwards on the bottom ball joint and pop the CV shaft free of the diff with a pry bar. Warning mine was VERY tight. The RHS is a different story, you can remove the CV shaft using a similar procedure but if you want to remove the diff centre then you will also have to remove the straight axle shaft extension from the spline inside the diff. You will probably have to unbolt the extension housing from the diff housing, and piull it off as an assenbly with the axle inside.

Are you sure the actuator is gone? It is a lot of work to do if it turns out to be just a failed pump or split or blocked air tube.

 

[timosorento]

I pulled the front cover off today to confirm that it is the actuator. It looks like a major pain in the a$$! I may just have my shop do it. Doing this on my garage floor doesn't look fun!

 

[timosorento]

One more question?

Cmar, thanks for the info. If I pull out the carrier and remove and replace the one side bearing and actuator, will I be able to reassemble with the original shims? I'm just wondering if I need to check any clearances? I would think that putting it all back with the original shims would be ok since nothing else is changing.

 

[cmar]

BTW nice shots of the diff interior, Suzuki used a similar system system on the 4 door Grand Vitara wagon and it was supposed to be very reliable, The pump appears to be identical.

Technically if you replace a bearing you should check the crownwheel and pinion imprint with engineers blue or paint when you rebuild the diff. My experiience has been that as long as you either carefully replace the same bearing or replace with exactly the same type of bearing you can usually get away with replacing the original shims. A front diff is usually not driven on much and a "slight" misalignment is not quite so serious. The same misalignment on a rear diff that is driven on constantly would be fatal.