4x4 gurus I need some help please

[blu_fuz]

There is a '99 Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4 V6 for sale locally for CHEAP. The rear differential is "out" (not working) but the car will drive in 4x4 with the front wheels doing all the work.


Does anyone know enough about 4x4 in any vehicle to know if this could be driven in 4x4 using the front wheels only and hold up for a long time? I would probably pull the rear drive shaft or differential out so it doesn't lock up.

I read this info for someone asking about a truck doing the same thing, good points but no positive answer:
http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/585/can-i-drive-my-4wd-4runner-in-front-wheel-only



Any info is appreciated. Sounds like it could be ok for a long time based off how I understand it.

 

[baddboybill]

Is it rear wheel drive when in 2 wheel drive cause I'm thinking gear ratio for front might only be for low speeds!!!

 

[stormsven]

So i use to race for some time with 4x4, got probably more than 20 different 4 wheelers and currently have 2 , but dude there is no way that one of the diffs to be out and to drive the car for a long period. The transfer gear will be fast worn out too and you are in big trouble. I know some people got removed some of the front gear just to lower the fuel consumption but that is sort of ok for on demand 4wd. Still stupid tho..... Actually on Vitara it will be a huge problem because most of the torque is normally driven to the rear diff when in 4 weel mode and normally is 100% to the back when in non 4 wheel mode . Its long story to explain all ( and my english suck big time ). From other side if you can find a replace second hand diff you are hitting the jackpot. Sure there should be some out there .
Normally vitara have on demand 4x4 system and in this case is no go without rear diff

 

[blu_fuz]

It is a rear wheel 2 wheel drive without the 4x4 engaged. With the 4x4 engaged, it is 4x4 high so it is made for highway-ish speeds.

 

[stormsven]

It is a rear wheel 2 wheel drive without the 4x4 engaged. With the 4x4 engaged, it is 4x4 high so it is made for highway-ish speeds.

High speed on 4x4 is ok. But the splitting of torque in this case is not ok dude

 

[blu_fuz]

^ OK, sounds like what I was going to hear.


It's only $650, but it sounds like these rear diffs are very problematic and have problems often . I will probably pass as it is a vehicle for my brother to drive and I don't want to leave him stranded .


Thanks for the input!

 

[-GZ-]

Those are nice looking rides....for a suzuki...I thought about buying one about 10+ years ago...

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I think your best to pass on this truck...they are so cheaply made

Unrelated, I did have an S10 Blazer that I broke the rear diff on and I did push the 4x4 high button and drove it home on the freeway and then to the dealership with no trouble at all. I was trying to do a burn out and did a neutral drop TRASHED IT!

 

[skippy1969]

Suzuki's SUCK!!!! don't buy it dude..........
There is a good reason someone is selling it is so cheap......
Because parts are expensive for that toilet......... :annoyed:

 

[blu_fuz]

Because parts are expensive for that toilet......... :annoyed:

^ this is what I have been reading too.

 

[stormsven]

Wowwowow i disagree with the "suzuki is crap " part actually . Is a mustang crap because cant take a turn in european city ??? Or is it the old corvette crap because front end can fly in high speeds??? Is the new corvette crap because the interior is so damn cheapo and break on pieces ???? is the humvee 3 crap with always trashing plastic transfer gear parts ???
But is a boombox forum and i will stop here .

 

[skippy1969]

Wowwowow i disagree with the "suzuki is crap " part actually . Is a mustang crap because cant take a turn in european city ??? Or is it the old corvette crap because front end can fly in high speeds??? Is the new corvette crap because the interior is so damn cheapo and break on pieces ???? is the humvee 3 crap with always trashing plastic transfer gear parts ???
But is a boombox forum and i will stop here .

Yup I agree we could argue all day.
So I'll agree to disagree.
The cars you mention have NOTHING to do with what were talking about here.
Were talking about SUZUKI'S.
I don't know what kind of Suzuki's you have in Bulgaria but here there in the U.S the quality generally sucks.
I know a few people personally who have Suzuki cars and the quality is quite bad,lots of problems....
I personally worked for a dealership who sold and worked on the junk piles.
So when you work on one own one and have problems like I've seen then we'll talk then,ok........
Personally I had a brand new Suzuki motorcycle and I had a lot of problems Suzuki wouldn't even bother to take the time to address.
So I traded the bike off.
Never again will I buy a Suzuki product.....
I'm trying to stop Joe from making a BIG mistake by buying that toilet.......

 

[Ghettoboom767]

I'll have to agree withe Skipster here,Suzuki's
are junk!! Don't like the styling and I feel there
is transfer case damage already!!

So flush it down and go to the next one!
I wouldn't fo anything to one of those except
destroy it backroading and enjoy it to!!
Sorry but it's a no good!!

 

[stormsven]

ok ok

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I know we are way off subject here, but if your talking about the Suzuki Samurai, that was a great little truck. You can beat the crap out of those.

But the Grand Vitara has NOTHING to do that the Samurai. There is NOTHING Grand about the Grand Vitara. I have a very close friend that had one (his mother gave him after she stopped driving) and it was a disaster in all points.

stormsven, I am a Chevy guy to the bone, but you are spot on man....I have had 5 Chevrolet's that I bought new and the very first thing to go was the interior components. Even my Cadillac Escalade, a $68,000 truck fell apart on me. From cup holders to A/C vents to switches and seats, it all fell apart in a short period of time. I spent a good $15,000 on that truck in repairs and sold it with 154,000 miles on the clock and I only got $3,900 for it! I replaced 4 radiators, both head gaskets, intake gasket, the entire A/C system (that was a costly one), the water pump, all the O2 sensors TWICE both catalytic converters, the muffler TWICE, the rear differential TWICE the entire breaking system 5 TIMES and the list goes on and on and I only got 154,000 out of it....OH and it wasn't running when I sold it, because it needed the entire fuel injection system replaced which is UNDER the intake manifold so the top of the engine has to come off AGAIN! I said enough is enough!

I hate to say it....and every American is sick of hearing it, but I HAD to switch over to Japanese cars to get the mileage I needed for the money I spent.

Honda Insight Hybrid: 319,000 miles Nothing more than normal maintenance. Original clutch, 1 set of breaks. 20 sets of tires! Traded it in and they gave me $4,000 for it
Nissan Sentra 101,000 and counting, nothing to report. Original clutch and original breaks
Nissan Altima Hybrid 102,000 and counting, nothing to report. Original breaks.

 

[Ken]

What Chris said.

Silverado is the only way to go.

fftopic: fftopic: fftopic:

Lets turn this into a Chevy thread...with a little hijack even? Joe won't mind!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

What Chris said.

Silverado is the only way to go.

fftopic: fftopic: fftopic:

Lets turn this into a Chevy thread...with a little hijack even? Joe won't mind!

Joe owns a Chevy right

Here was my Caddy

 

[monchito]

we used to own a 2006 suzuki grand vitara we had bought it new my wife drove the career out of it with more than 100,000 on it when we traded it in last year in the time we had it it worked great without a hitch untill it was getting to the 100,00 mile mark when we recieved a letter stating a recall for the streering pump which we did take her in but it worked for about 1 month and went back to the same thing..back in the days i remember when suzuki came out with the front wheel drive mini jeeps we used them for a couple of years they were ok i guess ..the only thing i can see on front wheel drive is the fact that it is not the all wheel drive version where it is active all the time on the one you are talking about is the one with the transfer case which in fact is not designed for high way speeds with the front wheels active even the fords and chevys are basicly the same way... or turn it into this

 

[blu_fuz]

Joe owns a Chevy right

Yep, chevy's and ford's currently. I don't care what brand between the 2.


Current '07 Avalanche LTZ 6.0L 4:10 rear (has 140,000 miles):

Old '04 Silverado 5.3L 3:73 rear (sold with 240,000 miles):

Together:

Current '09 Ford Flex Limited (105,000 miles):

Current '95 Ford Contour SE (238,000 miles overhauled):

And I'm kind of a Ford Contour fanatic and all my brother's and sister that can drive, own them too because of me! I have owned 23 of them

 

[stormsven]

Thank you for the honest words dudes. Actually i made a post in top and edited it because was afraid that im tellin the truth about old suzi's . I thought that all americans are goin to jump on me , and we dont need a 3rd world war , especially when i would win it . I co-own a service shop and we are preparing machines for hard off road . So i have some experience there too. And everything new is crap dammit. Actually the grand vitara is one of the last which can be still abused hard. One of the big myths for me is the H2 and 3 - those are total crap indeed and i mean expensive crap . The only serious off-road machines comes sadly just from Mercedes and Toyota now days . And i mean a G class not the ML and co .