Replacing a genII front diff, with a genI v6 diff.

Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Location: USA

Ok so I should be working on a term paper, so of course I am thinking about rediculous four wheeling shiet instead.

The arb is suposedly coming out soon for the front. It wont fit my truck because I have a auto gen II with the smaller diff. I have 5.29's for the truck (well front atleast), but I dont want to give up a locker for gears.

I could swap out the genII auto for a genII manual axle. But then I cant run 5.29's. Also the genII axles have 4.88's for the manuals... which means I have to re gear the truck... blah, no thanks.

Instead I think it would be better to run a genI axle.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. There would still be shift on the fly if you left the hubs locked right? The awd is in the tcase. Sure there wouldnt be a Central axle disconnect, but that might be a good thing. I have seen the cad strip and blow up before, taking out alot with it.

Also I would have more available cvs. I cant find shiet for cvs for my genII, because it has the bastard diff.

I would have to adapt the mounts... and maybe the drive shaft some what. I think the cvs will work just fine, I think all the hubs are splinned the same, I would just need v6 cvs.

So what do you think? Any concerns you would have?

Joined: 26 Oct 2002 Location: Melbourne

As far as I know it's almost a bolt in job.
Aki did this mod in Japan and tells me he used his old CV's and only had to drill a couple of extra holes. You need the diff plus axle tube.
It's all here http://www.jsroot.com/04ijiru/kai1_34.htm (have to translate to English).
He had the same front diff as you with a 5.29 (he went to the smaller front diff to run the front high pinion 5.29).
When I told him you can get the front 5.29 for the 8" Gen 1 3.0 V6 diff and the new ARB locker will only fit the larger diff he changed over. He found one and as a bonus it already had a 5.29 in it and a lsd Very Happy

Do you think he was happy....................
The only drama was the flashing lights when engaging 4wd but some simple wiring should fix that.
Running manual hubs or even hub flanges you will still have your super select function just more reliable I reckon without that CAD.

Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Location: USA

Thats great, I am glad to hear it.

Especially since I have a whole genI truck in the backyard to steal the parts from. When it is finally running, it wont need the ifs anyways.

Do you know what he had to do for the driveshaft yokes? I am assuming that they matched up. And he used the genII cvs?

I have a hunch that all the cvs are basically the same, regardless of the engine or tranny configurations. What do you think?

Joined: 26 Oct 2002 Location: Melbourne

I think the same way Doug, I reckon all the 3.0 V6 CV's are universal, maybe different part no's (minor differences) but will work in any configuration.
You can find out easy enough pull a CV from your Gen 1 then one off the Gen 2 and compare you will soon see.