Suzuki Club UK

I dont think the service manual bit I'm looking at requires the diff to be apart?
It shows a pic of the flange with a spring balance (aka newton meter) pulling on it while tightening...

Looks to me like you dont have to take the diff apart to do that and it might be worth doing as a spring balance can be had for about £3 off ebay

""Or you could count the amount of turns it takes to undo the nut and do itt up the same amount ""

this was my initial plan. tweek it by feel as compared to another diff was the way my friend suggested. thats how he would have done it , but hes a landy diff / running gear specilist doh.

ill drill the new one now as thats the simpler way. and ill have a play with the old diff. the old diffs flange can be pulled out quite a bit and wobbles about

Right, on closer inspection of the manual... it says that the procedure with the pic above should be done after the carrier is re-installed, so I guess you should be able to do it without taking the carrier out in the first place...

I'm just overly cautious about diffs... no point in accidentally ruining one if that's all it takes to get it to manufacturers specs

Trust me the pinion bearing preload is set without the diff case in the carrier, (prob would help if we weren't calling the diff case the carrier )

Where does it say that it should be fitted?

From the diff sticky...
Right hand side, says to do it after assembling the diff

Nope doesn't say install the differential case into the carrier, just pinion, bearings, crush collar, seal and the flange your imagining things twiss

It says in the section after you what the starting torque should be with the diff case fitted when adjusting the side bearing preloads, however you need to know the starting torque without the diff case fitted first.

You could however measure that starting torque with the diff whole diff assembly removed from the axle before removing the flange and then reset it to that with the new collar and seal fitted, that should do the trick.