Sierra Cosworth diff into GT

[danburger28]

Hi all, could use some info.
Ive bought another Sierra GT.I really want to put a Cosworth diff into it, so I have the LSD. I don't want to weld the diff at all. Question is, my car I'm sure has push in drive shafts. All cosworth diffs ive seen on ebay etc seem to have bolt in shafts.So, can I simply buy a cosworth diff, and shafts, the put them on my car?Or will the wheel end be different?My car is a hatch, cosworths saphires, so will this be an issue?I know that estates have different suspension on the rear. I know I could also use the lsd unit out of a xr4x4, but havn't yet measured the mounting plate on my diff, as there are two sizes.
Any help very much appreciated.

[stealthstylz]

I thought all Sierras has flange driveshafts on the rear. All the ones I've ever seen have.

[daddy]

You can't directly fit a cossie diff and shafts directly into a push in (tripod type) sierra

you will need to change the rear hubs to the flange type.

Cheers

[popuptoaster]

just change the whole rear cross member for a 2 litre XR4x4 one, it'll be cheaper than a cossie diff and easily strong enough.

[Lopez]

This is what I did on my old 1.8, just put a complete XR4x4 rear bed complete with LSD onto it.

[danburger28]

Ok, so I find a 4x4 rear set up, beam, shafts, the whole shebang.Got it.Make much difference if its from a 2.9 or a 2.0?Ratio wise.

[popuptoaster]

yes V6 ratios are different, get a 2 litre one if you can. V6 one wont ruin it but it will knock the edge off the performance and as your after a LSD I guess thats pretty important.

[danburger28]

Ok, I best get searching then!Think this may take a while!Another thought I had, is my car has drum brakes at the back, and I'm guessing any xr type spec car will have discs like my Ghia estate.This shouldn't be too much of an issue I'm guessing, as I can just swap my drums onto the xr set up?

[Robinxr4i]

I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying all drum brake Sierras had push in shafts and all disc brake Sierras had bolt on shafts.

A Cosworth diff is 7.5 inch and wont bolt into your beam, well not without a lot of hacking about! Trust me I've tried not pretty. As Lopez said the best idea is to get a whole beam setup, diff, brakes, the lot. It will make your life much easier. The XR4x4 diffs ratios are 3.64 for the v6 and 3.92 if you are lucky enough to find one out of a 2.0 twink XR4x4. Most 2.0 Sierras came with 3.64 diffs anyway so a V6 XR4x4 setup shouldn't dent the performance.

Regarding the retaining drum brakes with push in shafts, I did it on my old NATO green Sierra. I ended up using.......

Push in driveshaft arms, with the drum brake backing plates reemed out slightly to allow the use of the bolt on driveshaft bearing carriers (which are different to the push in type). The bolt on bearing carriers have little ears on that the caliper bolts to, these need to be cut off to allow the carrier to fit inside the brake shoes. Other than that it was pretty simple, but this is from memory.

[scimjim]

I believe you can split the CVs and fit the bolted flanges (inboard section) to a tripod shaft?