another front diff saga

Hey everyone,

well my front diff has finally given up- the whine which got louder as roadspeed increased developed into a CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK which rattled the whole car as if i were driving on square tyres.

So I was thinking, rather than having the diff. rebuilt and paying a large fortune, would it be better to buy a front diff from car-part.com and have it swapped in for a slightly smaller fortune?

SVX front diffs assemblies are going for $350 US on there, from a salvage-yard here in California.

Car-part.com also suggested various Impreza and Legacy diffs to me for around $200. Are these appropriate? I scoured the forums on here and found a lot of involved discussion of 4.444, 4.10, R180 etc etc, which means little to me....

(Remember if I get it fixed locally, the guy is unlikely to be an SVX expert, so the fewer chances I give him to screw up, the better. )

Any suggestions from people as to how much I should expect to pay for labour? I will add 30% to your estimate, since this is "rip-off Santa Barbara"....

Thanks,
Gabriel
(92 awd LSL, 115,000 miles)

If you are looking for better acceleration as well as less stress on your engine and transmission, now would be the time to swap in a lower gearing for your differential. The stock gearing is 3.54:1. This is too high for the SVX, resulting in slower than expected acceleration, and unnecessary stress on the engine and tranny.

The number-one gearing one this board appears to be 4.11:1. This is somewhat of a compromise for loss of top-end speed (do you actually drive at 140 or above?) and more power to the wheels. You can go to 4.44:1, but that will kill your top-end speed even more and definitely lower your gas milage by a significant amount.

There are two caveats to this, however. Firstly, you will also need to swap out the internals of your limited-slip rear differential with the same gearing as your front. If you don't, serious damage can be done to the entire AWD drivetrain.

Secondly, there probably aren't a whole lot of mechanics who will submit to the job.

I wouldn't be entirely concerned about your mechanic and his personal aptitude with the SVX's front differential. A diff is a diff is a diff. Open-types are open-types, and Torsens are Torsens. If he feels questionable about it when talking to him about the job, then getting the stock (3.54) gearing is best. Otherwise, it would be an excellent long-term "investment" to get a 4.11 front and rear diff setup.

bump! thanks for the reply -

so does anyone else have any comments? i doubt i will be changing anything other than the front differential right now, given time/money constraints. The car need to be operational soon!!!

Still wondering what I should expect to pay for the labour...

Gabe

[Mr. Pockets]

By 'changing' do you mean 'replacing with the stock gear ratio?'

Because you can't change the ratio in the front without changing the ration in hte back.

Well, you can...

As for labor, I don't know what the book rate is on the job. But since the diff is in between the engine and gearbox, the whole transale has to come out. It's a time-consuming job...

It's simple. My front diff is broken, I want it fixed as cheaply and quickly as possible.

Originally posted by Gabriel
It's simple. My front diff is broken, I want it fixed as cheaply and quickly as possible.

Then you should go with the stock 3.54 diff.

But I'm telling you, you'll be happier with a 4.11 in the front and rear.

errr, ok, so labour? time? cost?

for the straight swap i mean.

i guess this isn't such a stimulating conversation topic for most people....

sooooo..... anyone catch the big game?

Originally posted by Gabriel
i guess this isn't such a stimulating conversation topic for most people....

sooooo..... anyone catch the big game?

lol. Sorry for the no-reply for a while. I'm not entirely sure on the cost. I think I may have seen someone post a price of about $1000, and I think I have also seen a price of about $1500. I don't know the details on these prices (dealer, new parts, labor, etc). I also don't know if these are even the correct prices.

Your best bet is to search for some key phrases like "new front diff" or "replace diff"... I'm definitely sure that you'll find a few threads on people's experiences with this.

I haven't had it done, so I wouldn't know!

holy cr*p

you must be joking... swapping in a differential should not cost 1500 bucks, even with the dollar being worth 10% of nothing these days...

So i just found out that the yard that had the front differential is now out of stock...

anyone got an idea where i can find a stock front diff?

help!