Over the years, a number of different diff drop kits have been developed initially for the Toyota Hilux and more recently for other Utes. Let's have a look at some.

The 1" spacer style Diff Drop

This is to explain to anyone what the 1" diff drop spacers are and what they do. There are a lot of rumours/fallacies when it comes to using these spacers and I hope to clear up some confusion regarding the topic. The 1" diff drop spacer are exactly that - spacer that is 1" in height that fit between the front two differential mounts and the cross member that mounts bolt onto. This here is a pic of what the kit looks like -

The 1" diff drop kit does drop the front mounts an inch, but because of the position of the CV shaft it doesn't lower the diff by 1" due to the rear mount still being fixed above the rear crossmember. A quick CAD  sketch using the dimensions above shows that the actual diff drop achieved is only 9.53mm so that is all of a reduction in CV angle achieved. with this type of kit which is hardly worth bothering with. Who in their right mind would give up 25mm of clearance to gain a CV reduction of just 9.5mm? Surely, you would be better off lowering the suspension lift by 9.5mm which would give you 16mm more clearance overall.

The Arm or Cradle style Diff Drop

The next iteration of diff drops that proved quite popular for several years was the cradle or arm style diff drop.

This style replaces the diff mounts and allows the diff to be relocated by around 30mm. This design has a weakness because of the single ended mount shown on the left side of the photo above. The factory bash plate cannot be refitted after this style of diff drop is fitted and requires fitment of a bash plate with a hump protruding below the bash plate to protect the lowered diff. Some designs of diff drop bash plates are quite chunky and leave your rig exposed to getting hung up. Look for a nice tapered design with a minimal diff hump for best offroad performance.

In recent times, this design has fallen out of favour becasue it has been prone to bending of one of the mounting arms in off road conditions.

Double mounted  Cradle style Diff Drop

To compensate for the weaknesses of the single ended arm style mounting system several suppliers have recently developed a double ended mounting system as shown below. The one shown here has been machined out of billet steel which adds to cost and weight. This also drops the diff by about 30mm. Unfortunately, a complex mounting system and billet steel design adds significantly to weight, about double its competitors.

The next iteration of this style of diff drop was made from folded steel. This poses some manufacturing difficulties becasue the angles required exceed what can be achieved on a press brake. One solution is to use a 2 part design and weld the pieces together. It is difficult to achieve full penetration of the weld becasue of the thickness of the material. Our advice is that this can cause a weak point and potential fracture line.

The latest diff drop design and in our view the best solution out there is this one. In our view its by far the best engineered solution seen to date.  Weaknesses from butt welds has been avoided by using advanced manufacturing methods allowing the full thickness of the steel to be retained. 

Whilst still a fabricated solution, by use of meticulous attention do detail to the design which includes low profile custom Australian made urethane bushes and countersunk bolts, This kit achieves the highest diff drop in its class at 35mm. So in summary, this diff drop avoids previous weaknesses and features:

  • Low profile slim line design
  • Industry leading 35 mm diff drop 
  • Best clearance by far.

Some misinformed people have stated publically that the extended diff drop will lead to problems on uptravel and the CV might possibly disengage on uptravel. VMN has tested this and found that when fitted to a N80. With the bumpstops removed, the UCA hit the body on uptravel 215mm above ride height. Even at this acute angle., the CV was not binding and the wheel hub could be turned by hand. However, with a trye fitted, there are a number of other limits that prevent this extreme CV angle.

  • Travel of the shock (measured 50mm at ride height)
  • Bump stop limiting travel  (measured 40mm at ride height)
  • the tyre hitting  the body well before the UCA.

You can get your diff drop from VMN here