larryowner

Tuko, on level ground the rear prop is 580mm long, and has 50mm movement either side of that as the slip joint is around 100mm long.

Update. I tried turning the rear prop one spline at a time as suggested by Hurbie, but made no noticeable difference to vibration, thanks for your idea though. So decided to purchase a ready made shaft. Dunning + Fairbank made me a double cardan shaft with standard L/R flange sizes, fitted it today and happy days, all vibe's and strange noises gone.

As suggested I think the adaptor plate would be the easiest way. On the original donor vehicle the transfer box flange was facing down app 6 degrees and the diff flange up the same amount, so in phase, no vibe's. However the T/box flange is now vertical and so out of phase with diff flange. All 90's and Disco's are out of phase on the front prop, but can be improved by fitting a double cardan to the shaft, which i have done. So want to try same on the rear.

Wanting to fit a double cardan prop to the rear of my D1 based RTV trialer. The phasing of flanges on T/box and diffs is not right any more, at the front I have fitted standard D2 front prop and larger T/box flange. But the rear is not so strait forward, changing to the larger flange would require machining of the hand brake drum etc. So apart from spending around £500. with Gwyn Lewis, is there another way. I see a lot on the forum about front props and double cardan joints but can't find much on rear's. Although for trialing the set up fine I drive to events some times, but vibration between drive and over run above 30mph is worrying.

Yes I think that's the best way forward. I'm hoping to convert two of these diff's for my ex military trialer.

I have machined off the ribs on the crown wheel carrier side, taken a small amount off the bearing cap etc and with the correct pinion to c/ wheel back lash it all turns freely.Also machined bearing carrier 2.5mm to allow the bearing to sit further in, but the bearing adjuster nut still protrudes a little to much to get locking pin in. What I am concerned about is the thickness of material in the bearing support area if I machine any more off to move bearing in another 1.5mm. As std I make the thickness at this point 11.5mm (see drawing) I have cut into this by 2.5mm already leaving me with only 9mm now. I see plenty of people have done this mod before, one of the best write up's being on this forum. Would anyone like to give me the benefit of their experience of doing this job, I would like to move the bearing in another 1.5mm but fear I will weaken the area to much. What do you think ?

I have machined off the ribs on the crown wheel carrier side, taken a small amount off the bearing cap etc and with the correct pinion to c/ wheel back lash it all turns freely.Also machined bearing carrier 2.5mm to allow the bearing to sit further in, but the bearing adjuster nut still protrudes a little to much to get locking pin in. What I am concerned about is the thickness of material in the bearing support area if I machine any more off to move bearing in another 1.5mm. As std I make the thickness at this point 11.5mm (see drawing) I have cut into this by 2.5mm already leaving me with only 9mm now. I see plenty of people have done this mod before, one of the best write up's being on this forum. Would anyone like to give me the benefit of their experience of doing this job, I would like to move the bearing in another 1.5mm but fear I will weaken the area to much. What do you think ?

CR88, fitted Spax coil overs to my series one trialer many years ago.

Thanks for your idea's, if i went with the Defender LT77s box how would i ID one, would it have 'S' as a suffix to gearbox number ? Or can anyone suggest what prefix and suffix this 'S' box should have. thanks.

Just started on a 88'' trialer useing a Disco 300TDi chassis ,engine, etc and a Defender R380 gearbox, with Lightweight body parts. I can see that i'm going to need to move the engine back just 100mm or so, but i want to keep the gearbox in the same place. As all the R380 boxes have a long bell housing i was hoping to adapt one from an LT77 to fit between the 300 engine and the R380 as a way of moving the engine back. But after many hours of checking part numbers and reading threads, i can't find a definitve answer as to whether there is an off the shelf primery shaft that will fit in the R380 box and be the correct length for the LT77 bell housing. I know that Ashcroft do a stumpy bell housing, but this would bring the engine further back than necessary.Do you know if this can be done,thanks for any help.

I had been running with 5 leaves in the front springs, which made the front suspension flexable for trialing, but still kept the normal ride height. Then I removed the V8 and fitted a 200TDi which of course is much heavier. So I decided to fit coilovers to help with this extra weight instead of putting back loads of leaves and making the front suspension hard and stiff again. As a bonus the coil springs encouraged the axle to droop further, giving slightly better articulation. I mounted the shocks on top of the axle where there was more space.

Soren Frimodt, The disc brake conversion on my series one is home made and not an off the shelf kit. The coilover s/absorbers are mounted on top of the axle casing, not enough space in the normal position.

Update on above. The swivel housing's can be swapped side to side, to bring the filler plug to the front, If you should want to for any reason. This is my series with housings changed around.

Thanks for suggestions, I'll be calling on local tyre shops next week with a list,to see what I can find.

Luky me, the wife is buying me something I actually want for Christmas,a new set of tyres for my 88"series one.I only use the vehicle for RTV trials and a bit of green laneing.The front and rear axles are series 3, which brings the 7.50 Firestone Super All Terrain (SAT's)out level with the wings/bodywork, while still giving reasonable steering lock.Off road tyre design has moved on since I fitted the SAT's about 15 years ago, so can anyone recommend a good off road tyre which is fairly narrow.Don't want to have less steering lock or for the tyres to stick out past the standard bodywork,Thanks

I'm working on a disc brake conversion on my 88'' series one and the swivel housing oil level plug is in the way of the caliper.I read somewhere that the two swivel housings were the same apart from position of the level plug, and that they could be changed side to side to put plug at the front.Has anyone done this,is it feasible. I had assumed that the front wheel caster angle was formed by the position of the top and bottom swivel pins in the swivel housing. If this is not so, is the caster angle formed by clocking the swivel ball a little back from vertical,where it bolts on the axle casing,Or maybe neither off these. Am i likely to cock up the steering geometry by swopping the swivel hubs around?

I have spent some time looking into the causes and possible cures for front axle hop/tramp. I have taken a lot of measurements of the front axle movement on my series one.During its travel from full droop to full up(against stops). The axle moves vertically app 130mm, but also reawards app 40mm (80mm at shackle). I found it was not possible to fit a single bar without a bind at some point of the axle movement. With the bar fitted horizontally to the top of the axle case facing rearwards and a pivot on chassis or cross member, as the axle lifts the bar gets shorter scribing a circle around its rear pivot, so far so good.But I have not been able to find a bar length or pivot point which shortens and lengthens the bar to match the axle movement as near as dosn't matter.

Thanks for all replies.As suggested I may spend a bit of time looking around scrap yards. I'm using the standard disco thermo housing, mainly because it has a place where I can tap a thread into for fan switch. Posted pic of space for top hose.

I'm part way through fitting a disco 200tdi motor in my series one 88''. Engine in with disco mounts and exhaust all sorted, but top and bottom rad hoses are proving more difficult. I'm using the disco rad,but as its higher and closer to the engine now the original hoses are not suitable. This is quite a common conversion right now, so I'm wondering if anyone has found off the shelf hoses that will do the job. I would prefer not to make up hoses from bits of other hoses if possible.So thanks in advance for any help you can offer. It seems I can only post one pic, so here is the bottom hose situation.

I've searched gearboxes and found some good info.What I'm not clear on is the sequence of suffix letters.My question is did suffix letters start with"A" in Series one vehicles and progress through to suffix"F" with late Series three motors. Or did each model range have its own run of suffix letters. ie Series one with A B C etc. Series2/2a with A B C etc. And then Series3 with a range of gearboxes,suffix A through to F or what ever the last box was. I have a Series three with what I beleave to be the original box and the suffix is "A"?. Also I'm fitting a 200tdi in my 88" Series one and want to put a D suffix box behind it. So again Im not sure if the main box(not transferbox or bellhousing etc) suffix "D" from a Series2a is the same as a suffix "D" from a Series 3. anyone help please.

Phil, thanks for reply.Its quite heavy then, I have a V8 fitted at the moment which I beleave is about half that weight.

Can any one tell me the actual weight of a 200TDi engine.thinking of putting one in my series one.