Diff advice and moral support.

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loren, mondo, and rnr,

i guess i have something else to add to the "to do" list for my ultralite. i still need to move the upper control arms to the upper brackets, so i suppose i'll install a diff brace at the same time. has everyone designed and fabricated their own brackets, or is there a common solution?

 

loren,

will extra bracing be part of a new kit, and if so, would you be able to make the braces available to all of us ultralite owners who have not yet done this mod? surely there are a few people who would be interested. it would certainly be much more efficient for me as unfortunately i don't have a machine shop in my garage.

 

I recommend the diff brace as well. The diff wants to twist under hard acceleration. It can and will tear the front diff support out eventually. When you take the diff out where the front bolt mount is I take and weld and 3" by 6"x 1/8 steel plate on top to reinforce that area and then use large washers on both side to spread the load out. Be sure to check and make sure you have clearance for the rear u joint.

 

It is important and Mondo needs to do this as well. Where that rear brace is attached in the picture supplied by Mondo those tabs on the chassis are extended off the chassis and can flex and break over time. You need to put a long bolt in the top mount where upper control arm is attached and then sleeve spacer that fills the gap in between so that the brace is tied into upper brace. This locks everything together and makes it very stable. I have a few diffs at the house I will see what gear ratios I have if your interested in another diff. It is usually cheaper to by another rear end than to buy a gear set and rebuilding it.

 

I also recommend to replace the rear bushings with a ABS plastic bushings or Urethane material like used in aftermarket suspension bushings. I bought some ABS rod material from McMaster car and machined it down to replace the rubber bushings that come with the kit.

[WestTexasS2K]

I can make you one. I think I will make up 3 or 4 if someone else wants one

[WestTexasS2K]

On the new chassis I want to make it where the diff can drop out of the bottom. It will have a subframe The diff bolts to the the subframe and the subframe will bolt to the chassis.

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WOW, that's service. Loren, you are the man!

 

I can make you one. I think I will make up 3 or 4 if someone else wants one

[JohnK]

On the new chassis I want to make it where the diff can drop out of the bottom. It will have a subframe The diff bolts to the the subframe and the subframe will bolt to the chassis.

 

As you consider this change, have you looked at, or are you using bits of the production Subaru setup? There are some pieces that bolt to the fwd part of the diff shown on a parts diagram I have (dealer provided) that look like they'd aid such a re-design.

What you describe would be a GREAT help - the diff is such a pain to change with a tunnel rather than a gap to fit through.

 

(Unfortunately, I put hard lines in and would have some work to do to cut that out. I'm certain that all the mental gymnastics involved in figuring out where to run and how to fit things on a Seven prevents Alzheimer's.)

[RossD]

I have a nifty excel file for determining how tire size, transmission ratios, final drive ratio, and rpms affect vehicle speed. I'll gladly offer it up since I didn't create the file but I did, IMHO, modify it to work better.

 

Since I can't attach an .xls file, I changed the file suffix to .pdf

 

Just rename the file with .xls at the end and it should work fine.

gearing.pdf