Offroad-Express

Hi guys,

I've got a 1995 LWB V6 Vitara and the time has come to up it's game. (I have a annoying friend with a Hilux)

1. In order to fit the commonly available 15 inch steel rims, I believe I need to swap the discs and calipers over from a 1.6 Vitara, has anyone done this ? Do I need to buy any other parts that the discs and Calipers ? Will they bolt straight on in the same places ?

2. There are some lockright lockers available on TM for $500, is the diff in the 2L exactly the same as the ones in the 1.6 ? Will it also just bolt up ? Has anyone installed these ? I am very capable mechanically (have rebuilt engines etc.) I assume I will manage installing one of these?

3. Has anyone mounting some recovery hooks to the chassis rail of this model of Vitara ? I assume it will just be a matter of machining some strengthening plates that sit inside the chassis rails and then bolt the recovery hooks to these plates through the chassis rail ? Huge job ?

Thanks for any advice, also, if anyone is around the north shore and have done some of these mods and wouldn't mind me coming over to have a look and a yarn I would appreciate the input.

Thanks
Hein

Hi

Do a search on threads by truck-fixer he did some cool stuff with a v6 Vitara including the hub/wheel swap and setup a nice front bar with recovery points.

good luck,

Al

Hi Al,

Thanks, will give that a go now.

cheers
Hein

Hi guys,

Some more help needed!

Ive found a set of hubs from a G16A which I intend to fit so I can fit the 15" Rims. The problem is . . . I don't see any auto or manual locking hubs? Did escudos come out with fixed hubs at some stage ?



Will I be able to fit these to my V6 2L and use my auto locking hubs ?

thanks again.

To be honest you will want to replace the auto hubs with manuals anyway so do it now. Stronger and more predictable (when they are in they're locked in, when they are out they are unlocked) Auto's can have a mind of their own (unlocking at the wrong time).

Just my thoughts, but if you look at most club trucks the autos have been replaced or modifed (electric ones that is) to be manuals.

I have a question as I am not sure, Do you need to replace the whole hub or will the disc and calipers fit on without changing hubs? Whats too big and stopping the 15" wheels from fitting?

Hi lincooln,

Yes, initially I figured I may be able to just swap the discs and calipers, it is indeed the calipers that are actually in the way.

There is a thread on here where "truck-fixer" has done this swap on his V6 vitara to fit the 15" rims and in the thread he said the hubs had to be swapped too because the smaller discs and calipers wouldn't go straight on.

I took apart my wheel and auto locking hub tonight to see how mine looked in comparison to the picture above. It's really weird, I think that escudo has fixed hubs (wheels always turning the driveshafts)

Anyway, I will drive through to Manukau on Saturday to have a look at those hubs, if they have splines underneath the covers that look similar to mine I will just buy them, they will probably work.

I was really hoping to get a bit more information from the guys on this forum, not too much luck so far!

Oh cool thanks man, I understand now. and Some Escudos did come out with fixed hubs, and other were converted, take the old Hansen/Extreme 4x4 park Suzuki's. They were all fixed hubbed.

But Heath was right. Put manuals in. I run autos and they are fine, but manuals are just a bit better and ultimately more reliable

I don't know what the donor truck was, but is it possible it was a Grand Vitara shape, as they are also badged Escudo in Japan? They don't have the same hub setup because they use vacuum to engage 4WD.

Hi, Yeah, I walked by a GV today and noticed that it didn't have any obvious hubs, must be the pneumatic system.

Picking up the hub set from a guy tonight and managed to get some 15x7 rims with negative offset for reasonable price on TM. Should vastly improve my stability as my current 16" wheels are +24 offset!

Will add some more pics and details as I do the install in case anyone else maybe is looking at doing this.

Awesome, step 1 under construction, picked up a set of hubs from a G16a last night.

UH OH.... Where are the steering knuckles?

I'm pretty sure you need those as the caliper is mounted in a different position between the different models.

Extract from above mentioned post:

Well firstly Alan I had the same problem with rims hitting the calipers, but this is simply rectified. You need to find a wrecker with a Vitara with the 1600 engine, take the whole front pair of steering knuckle/hub/rotor/caliper assemblies and change all of your stuff to this stuff.

Dammit, better go double check now, will have to get them if they are not there. dammit dammit dammit

Hi Truck-Fixer, I think the steering knuckles are there, here is a pic of the rear:



Will that do the trick or am I still missing a bit ?

Yeah it's all there. I just couldn't see the knuckles in the other pick. You are all set to go.

Matt.

Great stuff, had me worried there for a bit. Now for the big job, hopefully it won't rain this weekend!

Good to see the hubs i sold you going to good use will keep an eye on youre progress. Jeez its a small world

Hi Leon, When I saw the name I instantly knew it was going to be you. Definitely the biggest village on earth. Cheers mate

Good news, my manual hubs arrived this week and just got a set of KL71s off TM. Now to get those damn hubs fitted!

Well, was a week and weekend of pretty good progress at my place:

* Got a set of secondhand Aisin hubs from mudbits, they were in pretty terrible condition so they were completely stripped down, cleaned and greased.
* Got a new set of 30x9.5x15 Maxxis Buckshot Mudders, these went onto a set of chrome 15x7 steel wheels with -19 offset.
* Fitted the "new" wheel hubs to the Vitara and went for a quick test drive

Here are some pics:

The new hubs and calipers fitted:


The new wheels showing the huge offset improvement:


Side pic of the old vs new wheels


My friend Tony putting one of the front wheels on the new hubs.


Pics of the manual hubs before and after service:




Ill be putting a video about servicing the manual hubs on youtube a bit later on tonight if anyone is interested in doing theirs. Not a big job and well worth it.

The good news is that the wheels went on and so far no problems with rubbing etc.

I will now need to fit some flares and have been advised that garden edging is the way to go.

Also have a set of commodore springs at home that I want to have a go at fitting to do the suspension lift before forking out mega bucks for "official" lift springs.

The other thing I will have to do over the coming weekend is change my A-arm bushes, had a look underneath and they are COMPLETELY shot.

Will post a bit more as the progress continues.

I tried garden edging - but the sort I had was really stiff recycled plastic and because I had it sticking out flat, soon as the anything comes in contact, they just get popped off. Try and find something that will fairly readily bend when you push on it.

Hi PJB, thanks for the advice, will head round to para rubber and see if I can get something more bendy than the recycles plastic then. Cheers

old converyor belt works too (flexy)

x2 conveyor belt. That garden edging crap can destroy your guards if the truck leans on em or gets hung up on em.

This ones got conveyor flares. I just screwed up that side a bit and ended up with that sag in it.
Just rivet it on, cut it to shape and steves ya aunt.

Yes, I definitely think conveyor belt is going to be the way to go. I was going to head out to para rubber on the weekend and see if they sell anything that seemed thick and stiff enough. I guess I could also call up companies doing conveyor belts and see if any have some off-cuts for a box of beer.

That stuff there must only be about 4mm and its reinforced but still really flexible. I used hcd in hamilton who do rubber and plastic stuff for industrial applications.

Just a quick update on my progress . . . .
I gave up on the plan to use the Commodore / Laurel spring combo to raise my suspension, this was mainly because I couldn't get the Commodore springs bent sufficiently to fit the top of the spring mount in the Vitara. In the end I bought a full set of 30mm raised springs from Wairau Alignment, managed to get a pretty good price at $398 for all four springs.

I managed to fit one of the front springs before getting busy again last week and then spent all weekend working too. I also did the strut mount flip while I had everything disassembled anyway. The strut flip was trivial, actually getting the old spring out and new spring in was a bloody nightmare! I ended up removing the strut and removing the sway bar to get the arm bent down far enough to get the old spring out and new one in. I do own a set of spring compressors, but the vitara suspension is set up in such a way that it's hard to get a spring compressor on both sides!

Does anybody have any tricks for getting the springs out easy ? Thanks!

Yep the front sux. You could remove the shock/strut to get it a little lower (one side is worse then the other - cant remember which though). I turned the wheel a little to get some more room and yes spring compressors dont really fit.

The rear end is a piece of cake (compared to the front) though Shocks off, trolley jack in the middle of the axle and jack up the other side and the spring should fall out then lower opposite side back down and swap sides, same deal and then bolt up the shocks (just watch your brake lines and yeah I did over simplify it a bit - but it is really simple). All up it should take you about 1 hour, including wheels off/on and putting tools away for the rear, maybe 1.5 hours for the front.

Another update: Front driver's side was much easier than passenger, undid the nut at the top of the strut (jack under the arm to make sure it doesn't fly down!), undid the swaybar, undid the nut and bolt that hold the swaybar onto the chassis, unclipped brake line, leaned on the hub and rotated the spring until it came off. I found rotation to be magic for getting the old one off and new one on. Now I just have to do the rears over the weekend which should be pretty trivial and then it's off for a wheel alignment with some camber bolts!

Also going to change my A-Arm bushes if the weather is nice and might as well put a spacer under the A-arm mount while it's out.

Still have to figure out how and where I'm going to mount the spare wheel and hi lift jack inside the cab. Spare wheel no longer fits on the rear door with 30" tyres and it's heavy as anyway, don't want to wreck the hinges too quickly!

It's all coming together, but taking ages with all the rain and not having a garage to work in!

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Just for future reference...
When you fitted the springs did you undo the front axles. Drivers just pops out and passengers has 3 bolts?? Allows the arm to swing right down. I did the front springs with a hi-lift, a stupid little scissor jack and a block of wood for releasing and compressing the springs. Did em both in a couple hours at home 1 afternoon. And yeah was easier to leave the shocks attached to the hub and drop em out of the mounts at the top instead too.

I left the sway bar off too, seems to have helped it a little bit.