CV angles with lift, spacer and diff drop

[jdud]

Hi,

I bought my 200 a couple of years back and was really unhappy with the the big CV angle. At the time the mods were:
- 2 inch lift front and back with bags (raw 4x4)
- 25mm diff drop
- bull bar with bars
- winch
- spot lights

I was living on the coast and doing mostly beach driving and no hard 4wding. Pics of the CV angle.

After some more spirited driving I managed to tear a boot on the passenger side CV. There were no cv boot replacements in stock so I bought some aftermarket CVs and replaced them. 200kms later the boot had failed on that one too.

The aftermarket CVS have a reputation for being not as good as OEM but I had to test the theory…

Next step was to put a larger (40mm) diff drop in to lessen those CV angles. The reduction in angle wasn’t as significant as I thought and my CV angles were always greater than other cruiserswith the same lift.

12 months later I have moved to FNQ and do quite a bit of towing and 4wding in the cape. I still wasn’t happy with the CV angle so over the weekend I pulled my coil overs out to measure overall height. What do I find? A 10mm strut spacer sitting between coil over hat and strut tower. I pulled these off both sides and the CV angles have dropped to a level I’m comfortable with.

In summary the CV angles dropped roughly 4 degrees when the larger diff drop (40mm vs 25mm) was installed and a further 4 degrees when the 10mm spacers were removed.

Interestingly the car lowered 20mm in the front after removing the 10mm spacer. That’s a compromise I’m willing to make for some piece of mind that my CVs aren’t going to blow on a track!

 

[kcjaz]

For right or for wrong, I haven't worried too much about my CV angles. This is mostly because the BP-51 lift I have has been used my many here (I'm in the US) and I also believe in Australia and while some CV issues get reported, there doesn't seem to be a lot that don't involve front lockers or some other factor like trying to run 35s or larger or lifts > 2". I have had my lift for 4 years and have beat the snot out of it on rocky trails and have had no CV issues. That said, I do think it is a weak enough point that I will add a complete spare for next season after my new gears and lockers go in this winter. I've not bothered to measure my current angles but now I'm curious enough to do that. I'll be able to get a good inspection when we take things apart to do the gears and lockers.

Maybe I should consider a front diff drop while "I'm in there". As long as I can still use my Bud Built skids, my ground clearance wouldn't be affected. I haven't looked at it close enough to gauge how much room there is to drop the front diff. Is there a downside to a diff drop other than ground clearance? Anyone done a diff drop with BB skids?

 

[tbisaacs]

I can count on one hand the 200s on this board running diff drop. It doesn't seem to be the problem like it was for 100/120 series.