First gen diff drop

Got a 3 inch lift in my first gen about 6 months ago. Went through my first cv boot on passenger side. Thinking about a diff drop to save them but seen a lot of pros and cons online. Wanted to see what some other opinions are. It’s a daily driver that sometimes sees the off-road. Lmk what you think

 

Useless.

You need high angle inner CV boots, or remove some preload and get rid of some of that lift.

 

What he said.

 

The boots seem like the easier replacement rather than removing the lift. All I need is the inner boots or should I grab the outer also?

 

That's it.

Removing lift is pretty easy, and will actually make the ride smoother.

 

By the way, I said remove preload, and you replied with "the lift"

I never said remove the lift, or components for that matter.

 

I have a 98 but I didn't go up to 3". I am at 2" and the diff drop took some of the angle out of the cv axle. I have yet y destroy any boots. With 3" though you'll probably want to upgrade to the high angle boots. See if they help.

 

Do the manual hub swap...problem solved. Sorta....

 

Yeah don't waste money on a diff drop. They don't do what they say they do, just tilts the diff doesn't actually drop it at all. Puts more stress on the diff mount bushings. Not worth the trouble.

 

Which would require modifying his diff tube to the 'engaged' position via hose-clamp method, or replacing it with a manual diff tube, replacing his axle hubs by pressing out his wheel bearings and everything on his spindles, buying manual hubs, as well as manual hub cv axles.

Quite a bit of work just to help with a boot rubbing issue, not to mention the OP may already have manual hubs anyway.

Just trying to keep it easy for someone that made the comment that it's "easier replacing" the boot than messing with the lift; OP is implying that there are some limitations to the work he can do himself, or others around him in case someone did it for him.

 

Hence, the "sorta" - it's a lot of work like you say.

 

In that case, 40s n tons

 

How does it tilt it? Spacer and longer bolts.

 

Consider drawing a straight line from the diff, where the cv axle goes in.

Consider drawing a straight line from the cv axle on the wheel end.

No lift, and the lines are pretty much on top of one another.

Get a 2" lift, and you'd expect the gap between both lines to be 2"....not at all as the further down the cv axle you go from the diff, the larger the gap, which is why those dumb "1 inch diff drop" kits don't make up a whole 1 inch.

Sonoran Steel makes a kit that actually helps with the "tilt" thing but really, just losing some preload or getting high angle cv boots is the way to alleviate all of this.

 

Yeah you remove the stock bolts, put the spacers in and install the longer bolts that come with the kit. So basically the diff stays put but rotates down a tad in the front, putting more pressure on the bushings where the mounts are.

I put mine in 3 ish years ago, no issues with the bushings yet but I noticed absolutely no difference in my boot angles after doing it.

 

For those with ADD, you could try out O'Reilly's extended cv axles; they're meant for lifted vehicles, have boots that don't rub, and have a unique shaft design that actually allows the cv to compress/extend slightly when your suspension articulates.

 

Diff drop also lowers the diff mounts so they interfere with most skid plates, have to put spacers on the skid plate bolts so it wont rest right on the diff mounts (or be unable to install completely depending on the skid)

Not a huge deal but just another mark against them imo

 

OH and I almost forgot... My diff drop made it so I couldn't get the long bolt out of my steering rack when replacing the bushings lol. The front of the diff tilted down just enough to block the bolt from coming out enough to remove the rack bushing.

Just had to grind the bolt flange down and it cleared, but chalk that up as another mark against them

 

So we can pretty much agree that diff drops are as pointless as pineapple on pizza.

/thread