First, YES I searched but I din't find exactly what I was looking for.

I have an 01 Vitara 2.0L. I plan to put it on 31" tires and use Sidekick 5.13 third members to lower the diff gearing. Today I went to the wreckers and pulled the front axle out of a 1995 4 door Sidekick. Now I've been doing some research, and originally I thought all I needed to do was just swap the 3rd members, but from what I've read, it is actually much better to just use the whole front axle out of the Sidekick instead of putting the Sidekick 3rd member in the Vitara housing. The reason I say this is because the Vitara uses some sort of air-actuated axleshaft disconnect which sounds like it does have some problems for a few people. I read an article in the tech section saying you have to use a 1996-1998 Japanese built Sidekick third member, but I don't really see why...I thought they were all the same from 1993-on. Hopefully I didn't waste too much time yanking that diff out of that Sidekick.

I guess if push comes to shove I can just take the diff out of my 97 Sidekick, that's just a little more work I guess!

What I'm trying to ask is, is there any reason I CAN'T use the front diff out of my 97 Sidekick? Why does it have to be a Japanese built unit?