But my $.02 worth:
Assuming this is a full-time 4WD design and there is no oil leak present, I would expect that the movement you have found is more or less normal and will be much reduced when the axle is actually under power.

 

so you're saying you can wobble the axle around inside the differential? If so, NO, this is not really normal. I've recently replaced a differential and axle that had this happen. I'm not 100% sure why it did in the first place, but the axle stub had a huge groove worn in it on the bearing surface and the differential bearning was all messed up.
PRobably have this checked out...
~Erik~

 

Kiwi, my car is a 1st gen. similar to year 2005 & below (SQ416 1.6L engine).
does anyone have detailed information on the structure of the front differential?

I know that the diff. bearing has some kind of adjustment, does it need adjusting ?

 

Curious...did you determine this free play with the vehicle jacked up and the tires NOT loaded on the ground or on ramps? If so, that dangling wheel geometry will add to or throw off your wobble indication. You MAY not have a problem in other words.

 

Hi Paul,
I assume that the dif is leaking on that side? I have similar play on mine and the seal is leaking significantly. I checked 3 2000-03 vitara's at local used car lots. All 3 leaked and all 3 had similar amounts of play like you and I have.
Max,
All the vitara's I checked including mine were on the ground, I'm actually surprised there isn't a large amount of vibration when driving.

My local suzuki dealer quoted 2.2 hours at $75/hour, $29 for a new seal, and $79 for an updated bushing that prevents all the play which wrecks the seal.
So hopefully I can get out of there for less than $300.

At this failure rate I'd think Suzuki/GM should be covering some of the cost or even recall them, but I guess the front axles don't seize at 70 mph so nobody is getting killed, therefore no recall...
Ian

 

$79 for an updated bushing that prevents all the play which wrecks the seal.

Hi Ian - do you have any further information on this bushing? A Part number or similar would be great - as I was thinking it may be a solution for the leak I have - but all the info I found was that I had to replace the diff as there was no off the shelf fix?

Cheers

James

 

Max,

the wheels where on level ground when I checked it.

Ian,

There are no leaks at all, but I do a feel a vibration when my left foot is on the floor, driving at 90 Km/Hr.
not sure if this is the cause of vibration since I didnt checked yet the lower arm suspention & ball joint .

you said that you checked some car for free play. did you found any with no free play at all?

please update after replacing the bushing. I'm curious to know if the free play is gone.

 

My '04 had free play when I bought it at only 4,000 km. Based on the diff construction I don't see how it's possible to get rid of it entirely.

Since it isn't leaking I would suggest the best course of preventative action is to purchase and install a set of free-wheel hubs. See my notes here.

 

Hi Paul,
Every one that I looked at had some movement and they all leaked, like Kiwi says, maybe some movement is normal but obviously there is too much when the seal is damaged.
Getting manual hubs is a good way to avoid the problem entirely, in my climate the hubs would be on for 4 months of the year anyways and my wife drives the car often so I'd better get it fixed properly.
Ian

 

cv joint

There will be a little normal play in the joint but only on the driver side. The pass. side should have none, and if it does you should have a shop check it out. The fornt axle's are about $500 ea.the labor for one side would be 1 hour and for
both about 1.5.

 

Thanks Ian - appreciate that - I'll start chasing up Suzuki Australia and see if they can supply the same part here....fingers crossed they will be able to supply them - otherwise I'll be buying one online somewhere I guess and getting it shipped back here...

Cheers
James

 

OK - have been able to locate the part - thru Keema Cars (they are the Suzuki dealers in my area) - they have it in stock in the local warehouse although they didn't have it in their system to start with, Retail price is AUD$104.40, and AUD$22.60 for the seal.
So I'm off to order that after work tonight and will update on how it performs on a more severe case of movement........

 

Bush now fitted

Fitted the bush on sat along with a new seal - pleased to report that there is now next to no play in the CV (better than when we bought the car at 116,000km) and there is no more leak
This was from a pretty severe leak - I had to fit manual hubs to keep the oil in the diff as it was making a huge mess when it was running all the time....
Well worth the $ compared to replacing the entire front differential.

Cheers

James

 

Hey Paul - as Kiwi says, its only on the RHS - the LHS isn't affected by this problem.

Its not a bad job to do yourself - but time consuming - if you have a look in the online manual - it outlines it, you basicly need to unbolt the hub from the suspension to allow you to pull the CV out of the diff - in my case, I was unable to release the bottom ball joint, so ended up removing the entire lower wishbone, and the strut assembly with the brake disc and driveshaft attached. Once you have access to the diff - you remove the old seal, slide in this nylon support bush, and install the new seal - takes about 2 minutes at the most.
All up the job took me about 4 hours - but I was taking my time

 

Naturally it would only apply to the right hand side given that the other side has an axle tube with a second bearing.

This is certainly a design error and Suzuki should be doing this mod for free. However the diff housing design surrounding this part looks to me to be very common and used widely on any independently-suspended drive axle, including the current generation GV/XL-7's.

I suspect the reason it affects the '99 to '05 (plus '06 XL-7 and apparently your vehicle) axle-disconnect models is that in 2WD the axle is only very-lightly loaded. In 4WD, higher torque going through the spline between the spider gear and axle will tend to center it and prevent it from flopping around and beating-up the seal.

The bushing is a good, cheap fix but should be fitted from new.

 

Found it

Found it yesterday - and did a quick drawing for you:

Measurements may be slightly out - I didn't have calipers to work with, but should be fairly accurate:

Hope this helps someone out

Cheers

James

 

https://www.suzuki-forums.com/attachments/diff_oil_seal_tsb-pdf.34945/

2000 Suzuki Grand Vitara Parts - Suzuki Car Parts Catalog Online Store

Part Number 2761965D00
Part Name SUPPORT, DRIVE
Online Price $71.26

 

Hi, Max

I'm new to the forum. My '01 XL7 has developed the leak in the right side diff oil seal. I've purchased the new oil seal and the driveshaft support bushing. I've also purchased a new cv halfshaft and noticed that the compressed length is about 3/32" longer than a remanufactured cv halfshaft. Because of this increased length, is it necessary to use the support bushing?

Thanks!

 

Tough one to visualize. I'd say yes to the bushing, as the slight increase in shaft length won't change the shaft "wobble" potential that the added new bushing supports / corrects, IMO

 

Thanks, Max. I'll use the bushing.

 

Hey! While I've got your attention, can you add anything to my travel inquiry post located over here?

http://www.suzuki-forums.com/off-to...s.com/off-topic-lounge/175945-trip-routing-recomendations-colorado-florida.html

 

Sorry, Max. I've been under the weather the last few days and haven't been online or able to work on my XL7 until today.

I've only been the southern route toward FL once and we headed through northern NM on US-87 to Amarillo and I-40 eastbound all the way to Knoxville, TN and then NE on I-81 to my family in the Washington, DC area. Not a bad route but Interstates have a lot of truck traffic. We didn't have time to get off on the side roads much. I live 200 mi SW of the Denver area.

Now that I'm back on the XL7, today I pulled out the cv half shaft. It came out fairly easily. I was fishing out the remnants of the broken circlip with a magnetic tool when I pulled out a round "spring" a little bigger than the diameter of the unsplined portion of the axle. No one talks about this in the repair. What is it and where does it go? It seems to fit perfectly in a groove on the outside of the oil seal but it seemed to be inside. I can't find it in any of the online service manual diagrams.

Thanks for your help!

 

Thanks, as the large East / West I-40 portion of that route is what I am contemplating.

Can't put my head around that spring issue. At first I figured a lip-seal spring backer, but that's only an 1/8" or so in diameter. I'll try and research it more unless someone else knows. :mellow:

 

Wow! I just looked at the back of the new oil seal and it has a reinforcing spring attached. It looks just like the old one I fished out. Case solved! Thanks!

 

Cool!

Hope the rest goes well.