So the question is ............... what would it cost to convert one of these to 4WD ???
if its just the pinion it could be a good deal ?????
The pinion is still there - Bell remove the 'guts' behind it.
GG, I'm not getting at you - in your jurisdiction area you've done what you have to do to to get on in life, and I applaud that. As I say, I probably would have done the same. My views come from a UK perspective.
I s'pose we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, then: I disapprove of this product and can't see a need for using it as opposed to just removing the props +/- fitting a blanking plate, at least in the UK. Even Bell's description says it gives 'the appearance from underneath the car that [the] car is still running in 4wd'. No engineering advantages cited, even from transmission engineers. For who's benefit? Yours? No, you know it isn't 4wd. MoT man? He doesn't care. Prospective buyer? Hmm...
I'm a great believer in 'caveat emptor', buyer beware. I think it's stretching this principle a little when a company offers a sham setup like this that would fool even an experienced, observant buyer. I bet this would fool a pre-purchase vehicle inspection, such as the AA offer. Many non-mechanically minded people rely on these. I don't think that it should be offered just because others offer it - reputable companies should rise above such things and, in the long run, they should benefit from that honesty.
Here's a story for you - a mate of mine once bought a FL from an auction. Knowing the usual tricks, he popped underneath beforehand and checked for the prop. It was there. When he got it home, he jacked it up only to discover that the prop ends were disconnected from the pinions and were slung there with bits of fencing wire.
Should he have checked more closely? Yes. Should the seller have bodged the prop like that? No. It takes all sorts to make a world, and buying used cars from those allsorts can be a minefield. I just can't see it's right that a company is offering, effectively, a neatly-presented version of this bodged FL.