so, I'm thinking I've cracked the aluminum as there is a leak on my 02 Vitara 4-door. I have a 95 Sidekick sitting at the side of the house, also 4-door, that I could possible use as a donor for the casing. Would it work?

Thanks,

Jeff

It should since you can swap the steel housing from a GV with a manual transmission into the Sidekick.

Yes it will work.  Are you sure you have cracked your housing?  They are known for leaking on the pass side axle seal. 

George

Mine is leaking out the passenger side axle seal pretty bad now after installing my lift.  So I can pull the axle and install a new seal, right?  I don't have to replace the whole CV axle.

Guess it's time to install the manual locking hubs I have sitting here.

Alright, did some searching to verify my own question.  You can just replace the axle seal if that is the problem and the rest of the CV is fine.  However, it appears there is a snap ring on the axle inside the diff, how do you get that out without pulling the 3rd member and removing the snap ring?

I am suddenly becoming much more mechanically inclined... or just to dangerous for my own good.

maplebar - Danger is a mans best friend. We seem to thrive on it  

You just get a lever and CAREFULLY pry the cv out - be very carefull not to damage the housing though. Some just pull out easy by hand and others are a PITA . Generally the clip survives the ordeal

ZeusZuki

It seemed pretty easy to change the seal, I did it when I did my lift yesterday. Once I removed the snap ring on the front part of the hub, dropped the strut bolts out the cv just pushed out of the hub with two thumbs on the splined end, then slipped right out of the diff.
One caution, there is a very thin (and flimsy) dust seal lip on the cv, carefull it bends out of shape easy and won't allow the cv to fully slide back into the hub. It's a lot of work for a $10.00 dealer item.

Yes it will work.  Are you sure you have cracked your housing?  They are known for leaking on the pass side axle seal. 

George

Not sure if it is cracked, probably just a seal actually since it has had a skid plate on the whole time (never been banged, so don't know how it would crack unless it just does from internal pressure).

I'll look into it more to determine a point of origin for the leak.

Thanks,

Jeff

My 02 had a leaky rh shaft seal.  I took it to a diff shop after the warranty ran out. 

They took the diff apart, and found that the differential carrier and rh output shaft were worn out (no bearing on rh output shaft, just sits in the diff spline).

I phoned up Suzuki, and they gave me goodwill warranty extension for parts only, and they had to do the work.

If anyone has a rh shaft seal leak, I would say it is very highly likely more than just a seal!  If you can shake the rh output shaft, you definately have wear.

Marc

I knew that the seals wear out, never heard of the carrier/axle shaft getting worn out.  I am impressed that they warrantied the parts for you.  Did you have any lift installed at the time? 

Anyways, here is a better way to correct the weak right hand axle shaft.
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9148.0
There is a pdf with diagrams on the 3rd page.

If I ever have and extra diff (ie steel) being prepped to swap in, I will definately look into this more.  Since I don't it woudl be too much down time for my DD.

No lift, no hard core off-road.  Mostly snow and gravel roads only (some at high speed, 80 KMH).

Marc

Anyways, here is a better way to correct the weak right hand axle shaft.
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9148.0
There is a pdf with diagrams on the 3rd page.

 

And it's working out great   

If you still think the diff is done, this is on ebay today:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/99-03-Chevy-Geo-Tracker-Front-Differential-Carrier-Assy_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33731QQitemZ8069237030QQrdZ1