Lara

Hi Serge, In short but without describing every single breakage as there honestly have been about 20 Most except the KAM stub shafts were under quite hard load. Fitted Quaife Diffs and half shafts from the start, Fitted the "Big" LR CVs (can't remember the part number now but am sure you know what I mean) again from the start , As soon as I fitted the Long stroke engine (370ftlb torque), Auto box, and 35 Mickey Thompson's I started getting trouble, Shaft breakage in various conditions, used to drive a bit gung-ho so not necessarily blaming the shafts but they did seem to break too often! Fitted Maxidrive in the rear after that, Snapped one on a rocky section while on the winch, under wheel assist, Heavy load, again not saying it was anything negative with the shaft, but it still Mildly miffed me off as everyone said they were indestructible even with 5000bhp ;o) Cracked a few inner rings on the CVs but always found on inspection so no "failures" as such. (you can imagine I had a lot of inspection time due to half shaft breakages) Spoke to KAM, they were very helpful indeed, sorted me with a full package and assured me that all would be ok, so changed Shafts and CV's to KAM, machined ABS rings etc for the CVs also. Snapped front fused stub shaft immediately of road, Instant break climbing sand hill, changed that, and instantly broke another, Mildly miffed off and went home, Got another 3 with stronger fuses, broke those 3 in same scenario, instantly! got another 3 with no fused sections, Broke one of those after 10 minutes, again in sandy conditions on steep climb, changed that, Snapped that also! Changed and then Snapped a rear during a severe section on hard but wet clay, launching off of the transmission stall, so max load! That shaft had been in all of 1 hour of driving in total! Needed another, Shaft not available at time for a couple of weeks! Removed other shafts to find the other rear had twisted 180 degrees, nice picture of that During that last conversation with the (very helpful and friendly) Gent at KAM (Kevin I think his name was) he said some things that made me think he was not quite so hot on metal specs / types and heat treating that he was making out! He confused several very different grades as the same thing, Easy to do I know but HE, in his position shouldn't. confidence gone and I also had traction control problems due to the design of the KAM CVs and the lack of positive location so All removed and New Maraging 300 shafts etc made! I knew I wanted Maraging 300 as we have made shafts for some of our racing cars from this before, Wonderfully strong! and that was it, Money no object I am afraid, I was in that frame of mind!!! Chatted with Geoff (name in my earlier post) who is not only one of the best production engineers in the business and does a lot of my small batch / high quality work, but a very close friend and a mine of information, We chatted for quite a while, or I listened and then we went for it. During the down time I fitted a set of Maxidrive 30% lower low range gears also. Fitted initially with LR CVs or Great Basin Can't remember now, but changed to ashcroft CVs as soon as he had them available, in fact I had them on test quite early so probably before they were available, with not even a mark so far, I inspect regularly and shafts and CVs are "AS NEW" Happy puppy now! New VGT Big turbo fitted and re-chipped, 1.8 Bar boost. 430ftlb torque Crown Wheel and pinions went as follows, Rear, Three Peaks, Ireland, last October. Oil checked and changed, Diffs checked for play before I went, first section, very easy rocky bit and bang! Don't know why! Possibly Bolts on caps stretched but had to change it in a rush so no time to Analise! Front, Same event, next day, first section, Heavy mud run, winch over fallen trees, up into woods, Jammed between three trees, two with large roots between my front wheels, one attached invisibly to my rear bumper 3 winches attached, My hydraulic, and 2 fancy 8274s all stalling!!!!!!!!!!!! Wheel assist and Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr stoped wheel assist and then rear bumper ripped off and we were free Drove through mud and rock section in a beck and full gas to exit up a steep (too steep but you have to try ) dirt bank, that's where it gasped it's last breath Winched out and drove out to remove shafts and prop etc in order to drive home to Belgium, Rear prop went on motorway home! That was also checked before the event!! Ashcroft Ring and Pinions fitted now and Ring gears Pegged, also by Ashcroft, bloody good value for money!! Fingers crossed for now Landrovers

Agreed, Someone is bound to be sticking 44s or bigger on the end and powering it with a Blown Big Block or something just as daft All people will see though is that someones indestructible shafts have broken Lara

Yes I know, VERY expensive, But I must have replaced 20 or more halfshafts before doing it so was just fed up with forking out and not going anywhere! I have no choice over here in Belgium if I want to keep it fully legal, we can't change the axles, (visibly anyway) I thought about Longfields etc but one of my mates runs a Toy on Simex and does brake them, so wasn't so sure. I also wanted my truck to be a "jack of all trades" for expedition and competition, which it did fine until needing to compete in competitions designed for and against Tray backs Too much body damage now! I use Ashcroft CVs and to date have not had any issues, I run Quaife Diffs that argument the Traction Control perfectly, But probably help the life of the CVs compared to ARBs, although it didn't seem to help the half shafts, I also refrain from full power on lock if I can help it. CW&Ps are now Ashcroft 3.5:1 Pegged, I had std 3.5s until recently but just blew both front and rear last November within 30 minutes of driving from one another! Was to be expected though as I had just got the VGT sorted Back on thread, I think Hy-Tuf, 300M and 4340 are about as good a materials you will ever get for commercial use, As you see the use of Maraging is just Silly Money. Lara.

Hi Serge, Yes, mine were made in Maraging 300, They cost 3500 Pounds for the four 1500 of that was just the material cost!! BUT I saved a lot of money compared to the amount of time and expense I was spending on changing others every single outing Yes, mine is the stroked 2.8 TD5. Thank you for your compliment, but think I have no more skill than a lot of people on here, just maybe access to more Your comments are absolutely spot on though, I too would say that Maxidrive are as good as you get, Never tried Ashcrofts as they were not available at the time but these too seem very good, and as you say, NOTHING is indestructible, not even mine I am sure. I have my own business to run and don't want to get into Landrover parts, especially as Mr Ashcroft is doing a fine job of shafts etc at the mo and no need to make everyone's job harder with unneeded competition. OK it may not be that simple but it is a fairly straight forward engineering design / production job, "Cost" is probably the limiting factor more than anything though, As always, materials are not cheap at the moment, and keeping stock takes a fair investment. And of course, the more suppliers the more the customers get watered down! Can sell you some Lagonda shafts though, they are 1 3/4 thick Regards, Lara.

Quote of the year Impressive restraint Mr. Ashcroft

Serge, Halfshafts are not rocket science! believe me. Any well trained and properly experienced engineer will be able to design a good pair of halfshafts, and make them for that matter, Heat treatment is one of the major factors and this is the one point that it is better to take advice on if not 1000% sure. The big question is the bit about "well trained and properly experienced" I got so Mildly miffed of with breaking halfshafts, including Maxidrive (now Hi-tough) and Kam etc etc that I designed my own, spec-ed the material and had them made by the gent in my last mail, and we then had them heat treated by the guys who do Mclaren's and Williams's drive shafts, and to the same specs as they are made from the same material. Had them in a long time now and not even marked them! And I am no rocket engineer! If you read my post, I didn't say "use any design and any material but heat treat it correctly" My advice was this. Design them or have them designed by any reputable machine shop, get the heat treatment correct (and as this is usually not done by the machine shop themselves) make sure the heat treatment is up to quality and completely reliable. The materials you quote are all fine, 4340, 300M (which is actually a slightly modified 4340 VAR) and Hy-Tuf (AMS 6418) And all would work on most vehicles, even if the design was not perfect, But all are totally useless unless heat treated correctly. Not trying to get into a battle of "who is the best engineer" I am sure there are far better engineers on here than me. Just trying to give sensible advice from quite a lot of experience in engineering production. Lara.

Get an Ally CO2 bottle and power everything you will sensibly need, Lara

Over to you Will, Or do you need a loan

To be honest, ANY good reputable machine shop in the UK can make halfshafts, just spec the material and heat treatment you want / need and of you go! No reason you need to go to axle or gear specialists! Just make sure they make it out of what they say and the heat treatment is perfect. Lara. Geoff Harris 01189 344140 Tell him Julian Messent sent you Ask his advice and trust him

Go to a shop with a modern rolling road, no problem with an auto box! Mo, Vapour is a game of bluff, Will has the best hand in the game for that Lara.

Would agree with that last statement, Would not call Kam halshafts anything better than "fossilised Marshmallow" either though! When I used them and spoke to them, it was quite clear that whoever I spoke to had read some specs on materials but had no idea on what they were really selling or making their shafts from, I broke and twisted so many I lost count! Lara,

Best and cheapest on the market!!!!! http://www.safetysupplies.co.uk/trolleyed/4/ Lara.

Easy way to check clutch slip as follows. Drive car at about 30mph in 5th gear, Give full throttle and wait for car to slowly accelerate, Dip the clutch to raise revs to say 3500rpm, Then "drop the clutch" ie, take foot of as fast as possible while still keeping other foot on full throttle, The engine should immediately "bog" to regain the same revs as before you pressed the clutch, There should be almost zero slip. Any slip from the clutch will show it as being faulty and on it's way out. Lara.

Why don't you just call Simon and exchange it for a smaller size battery! Or fit an Odyssey battery, crazy power and standard size. Lara.

Haven't you just answered your own arguments? If no one wanted, posted or responded to (what the mods feel is) OT posts then there wouldn't be any, and this whole post wouldn't be here and we would not be wasting time discussing it! Thing is, that we are, and there are good OT borderline topics in general and the ones that no one wants show up rather quickly, perhaps we should be very careful not to jump in "all guns blazing" here? Besides, Jim's intercom is surely ON TOPIC! it is for Landrover drivers use, although it is a bit of a reinvention of the wheel just brought up to date! ( What do you mean "not real" ) Lara.

Hi, A VNT exhaust (turbine) housing will always look much bigger than a non VNT turbine from a similar engine. do not try to use that as a guide on the turbine side. Fine for the compressor. To gauge it by site you need to compare the flow of the VNT to the flow of the normal turbo with the waste-gate wide open!!! Very hard to do. Remember though that a diesel producing 200 bhp will (again within reason) need both the same amount of air and will produce the same amount of exhaust gas as any other producing the same power. your 500cc super efficient 200bhp factory race engine will need the same ammount of air as my 5000cc old slugger due to probably more revs and deffinately more efficiency, if you can't get the air into the engine due to it being inefficient then you can't produce power and the exhaust gasses are reduced! Size does not matter, efficiency and the whole package do! Obviously different power curves will dictate a different setup, but not "nesesserily" engine size. A 5000cc engine that runs at 10% efficiency only consumes 250cc air/rev a 500cc engine at 100@ efficiency consumes the same, and therefore burns the same fuel and produces the same exhust entropy. Sorry if sounding patronising, not meaning to My engine uses a modified Garrett 2559v which is about as big as they come for automobile use, I have 258bhp and 430ftlb torque and a big pocket I would suggest a 2256v would be perfect and should be fine for about 160 to 170 (honest) bhp and Loads of low down torque! The BTN catalogue will list this turbo and you can pick them up at very reasonable prices. Don't over speed it though as the bearings are rather small. Lara.

Jim, Firstly congratulations on producing another first class product! BUT! do you have a water cooled version for people who drive with their partners in tow? I think the heat generated during an ear bending session could cause the Plasma to get dangerously hot and melt!!!! Mind you, maybe you could market that as a "fuse" for matrimonial harmony Lara.

IHI looks about right, BW is miles too small, But to be sure contact IHI or BW and they will send you flow charts for the compressor housings and wheel combinations etc, and the same for the Turbines, you will be completely confused then, if you are not already Easier way though is to find something with a similar engine size and characteristic to your aimed result and go for the same unit, Remember that a turbo only knows how much exhaust you expel and not what your engine size is! (within reason and within our context here) so a 200hp engine will need a turbo sized for 200hp regardless of engine size. you can usually find info like this from someone like BTN Turbos etc, http://www.btnturbo.com/ download their catalogue with all part numbers etc in bottom right hand corner of home page. Good luck. Lara.

A landrover in Centre Diff Lock and fitted with Locking or limited slip diffs HAS ABS!!!!!! Think about it, or try it You can lock the lot up ok, but you can with ABS also, but you can't lock just one wheel etc, ABS No problem Lara.

Hi Pugwash, It seems like you have asked the question, you know the answer in the back of your mind, you have heard others tell you but you don't really want to hear it Please listen, YOU DO NEED TO CHECK THIS! A wheel bearing total failure can easily cause you to crash!!! I have seen this and it is not funny, and some times you get no warning! For the amount of work involved just change it again, and do it properly this time, If you knew as you say that you should have double checked then you were just being lazy, (something we have all been guilty of, and been burnt for!) But please change it, after driving 1000 miles and have that much play then it must be ****ed, even if it sounds ok at the moment. Lara.

Tight arse I don't even know the price of fuel these days let alone how much I use! probably better not to know in my case Lara.

Don't worry about them, Had my Td5 now for 6 years and although have knackered 2 starters, I wade seriously deep (as in sat still, water over my seat) and recon 1 every 3 years is not too bad Lara.

Have a read of this! http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~rutland/res...000-01-2938.pdf On a less techy front, Be conservative with the amount of water you inject but you will notice a performance increase if you are running on or near the "smoke limit" of a diesel engine, You will gain nothing if injecting 100% water and running lean as most standard diesels are setup from the factory, usually about 20% lean so you need more fuel not Oxygen, If you do a 50/50 Methanol mix then you will see a power improvement in both scenarios, due to the much higher latent heat of vapourisation on the Methanol lowering the intake temperature significantly more, and the added fuel value of the Methanol its self. Complete Kits are available from Summit Racing in the states for about 200 GB. Good luck, Lara.

How about a Landrover powered by Szilard's engine, and with Maxwell's Demon sat in the boot! Look it up!! Lara.

Will, you know how much it pains me to say this But, there is nothing wrong with the welding on your diff pans what so ever!!! Al is either pulling your leg even more or has eye sight problems The brake line protector welding though is carp Lara.