09/01/2024
Back in June we headed out for some unicorn 🦄 fun with and
A few km down the trail we heard a clicking noise in reverse and there was a lot of movement underhood. Not wanting to take any chances we winched our way back out of the trail...
Back at the shop, we discovered the root of the problem. One of the mounts on the front diff had cracked off, and the diff had smashed a section of the bellhousing out of the transmission and dented the oil pan pretty bad.
We fabbed up a patch for the bellhousing and welded it in, helped us drop the trans, swap a new front differential in, and put the ridiculously tight and tedious new oil pan in.
Then we discovered the motor mounts were completely torn... these things are supposed to be in one piece, but were in two. So we fabbed up some new mounts with polyurethane suspension bushings (the transmitted vibrations are like driving a massage chair now, 🤣)
Everything is back together, and we're back on the road. Next up is a rear half roll cage, for the kids in the backseat, as the vitara does not have any rollover protection back there.