uninformed

im guessing the cvs you fitted were AEU2522, landrover did make bigger cv's for the 101forward control, but these would not fit inside your swivel balls. well i am jealous of your fabulous engine B) so the only maxidrives you fitted were to the rear? and im guessing that when it snapped it was under full load? you were winching up hill? i know even Mal Story would laugh if he heard someone say his shafts were good for 5000hp especially running 35's. to put things in posective, when Mal started making shafts out of hytuf the biggest tyres running on rovers would have been 33 inch and that would have been very rare. and that doesnt take into account the increase in HP and the decrease in gearing that has come since then. the fact that for the most of it, his shafts have stood up to severe abuse says something to me. i wasnt to keen on Ashcrofts original shafts, but there new ones seem to be a good product, although id like to see them made from 4340 300m, maybe they could do a batch of 300 marging for competitors. sure they would cost more, but at that end of the scale it would be worth it. i still think a cv for rovers can be made better, but i dont have the money to do it. if you do come into trouble with your ashcroft cv's you should be able to make a longfield fj80 fit. im sure you are more than capable of that small machine work. I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY DEALINGS WITH KAM, but after speaking to people that really do know what they are talking about, i am not impressed with what they do. and quite frankly if you want a cv with a fusable shaft, just fit early range rover cv's R60665, these have the seperate 10 spline stub shaft. alot of the guys competeing in rovers over here run these, the stub is the first to break and it is very quick to replace. it sounds like you have taken the rover axle pretty far, and it says they are capable of something. they will never be as strong as a toy,nissan ford or dana built to the same spec. but LR dont come with those. i have a LRdef110, with sals rear. for my needs i wont need to go to another brand of diff. i do not compete. Serg

Lara, can you give us some more info on what you were running and doing when breaking your shafts? what cv's? what size tyres? what r+p? what sort of driving conditions? the reason i ask is because it seems that shafts are generally last to break(if running good ones). you mentioned Ashcroft not being available at the time, does this also mean you were not running there cv's at the time? your truck would have had 32spline cv inputs from factory yes? i know you have said Quaffie diffs, Ashcroft cv's and your shafts, but this is where you have evolved to. just wondering what package/s you have tried and what was breaking. cheers, Serg

i personally think the longfield/ashcroft cv, which are made by the same company, are good but could be made better. im not a fan of the small ball, and they should make the whole thing from 4340 300m or hytuf, not just the star. for the landrover they should have just got an aeu2522 and made the OD of the bell as big as possible to still fit in the swivel housing.... keep the balls the stock size and waist the stub shaft. i actually contracted a company to make 4 cv's for me, turned out they were using the same manufacture as longfield, Ashcroft wasnt available at the time, but in the end it didnt happen, i guess i should be lucky that i got my $3000 back. these were going to be like the r60665 as in they would use a sepperate stub shaft. but be as big as possible, 23 spline input and output. totally made from either 4340 300m or hytuf. the idea was that if in production, one cv was made and the stub shaft just changed to suit the different applictaions.... and back to the thread, my point is simply that there has been good axles available for along time that it seems strange when companies make them not as good. if the original poster is getting mog axles custom made, make them atleast out of 4340 300m or hytuf, sure they are much bigger and stronger, but for christ sake, do it right the first time.... Serg

the other day, my mate made comment on how good/easy it was to remove the bonnet on my 98def110 was, i told him that rather than design a good engine, they just made it easier for the mechanics.............. serg

well 3500 for 4 axle shafts is Au$8750 thats alot of Maxidrive or HI-TOUGH Alxes, and i think we are not comparing apples to apples! your playing with the pinical of motorsport there. im sure Ashcroft or HI-TOUGH could make comp axles using top tear exotic material and heatreating. you have proven that. BUT would it be commercially viable, probably not..... for that sort of money a person could build custom axles like TRU-HI9 35spline shafts and longfields monster cv..... or even maxi portals are near you cost! what diff's are you running? what cv's are you running? i think that id like to know just the knowledge you have forgotten, but for must of us we can only read,and drive. leave the building of components to the pro's.... i like landrover's, its all i have ever owned, but if i was building something to compete, or play real hard in, it may start out as a rover but would be not very rover by the end. there diffs/axles have limitatons, probably something to do with the fact that the original LR stole parts from rover cars to get things going, then the landrover engineers stuck there head in the sand from then on, and in many other areas other than driveline. im still to be convinced that the english have a basic understanding of electricity Serg

i would have thought that the body mounts could be cut and strengthend to do there job and maintain clearence. drop boxes would have to hang down and become a issue for clearence well it sounds like that longer radius arms with a bit of thought could be a good option for lifted vehicles. even if only 2 inch lift. maybe not the out right flex of a 3 link but for a road going vehicle i think they might work. Serg

Hi John, i just saw your reply. yes i ment anti-dive and thats what i reffered to in my first reply. Bill referred to anti-squat so i went with it... i didnt know any better and to me its all the same. vehicle wants to sqaut down on the chassis. but im guessing there is more difference than that. also whats it called when the chassis mount to contact patch is steep and you are travelling forward, hit a bump and the axle wants to climb back under the vehicle? because this will be helped when the arms are longer. Serg

im think more along the lines of a 110defender so swb wont play in too much. sounds like anything with a 3inch spring lift or something running MD portals would benefit from longer arms. the reason i think its a good option is: uses all stock bushes, no axle moddifications. also are people rasing the panhard rod mount on the axle on lifted vehicles, to bring it back to level, im thinking you'd also need to bring the front steering link parallel with the panhard.... Serg

thanks Bill, i'd love to see your libary, let alone understand half of it with regards to the crosswind stability: wind hits side of vehicle, trys to push it, tyres have grip so body gets pushed, which results in compression on the left side as the right is raised. this compression of the suspension makes the arms travel up becoming more level, which pushes the axles away from there location.opposite is happening on the right, axle goes into down travel and gets closer(shortens the wheel base) so although the body has leaned to the left the car wants to steer to the right. is this correct? so as an example would you think that an arm 50% longer would be dangerous with regards to antisquat? dont worry i wont hold you to it Serg

anyone else? would like to here Bill and John's input. what about anti-dive? Serg

because they are getting axles made anyway, you may as well do it right and use good design and materials. or you could just get them made from mild steel.... big wont solve all your problems Serg

i have always been under the impression that Ashcroft make there own shafts, and Kam, a different company, make there own. Ashcroft have changed the material in the shafts and now are better than before. i didnt think there original shafts were that good, i heard that hey were breaking BEFORE stock OEM cv's. Dave correct me if im wrong. there new shafts seem better now. i see the pic of the mog vs rover, of coarse its going to be bigger, but if you are going to the trouble of making them, get them made from as best as materila as possible, like 4340 300m or ams 6418 then the design and heat treating are a large factor as well. for those looking for top quality series axles HI-TOUGH Engineering in Australia make them. Serg

i dont agree, if that were the case alot more would do it. axle design has alot going on even though they look simple enough. and a maker needs a complete understanding of the end result to determine material choice, production methods and heat treating, just saying make sure its heat treated properly doesnt make it so.... Serg

im not overly impresed with kam's work. but if your happy with what they are making for you that is all that is important. Serg

what material are your half shafts being made from? maybe post some pics of your work for all to see. good luck, dont be affraid to look world wide for ideas and techniques. Serg

any reason you wouldn,t run the Mach 5's? Serg

just wondering why you wouldn't buy something from the UK? like the Mach 5's, i believe you can get these in alot of widths and any offset...... even bead locks Serg

thoughts from a carpenter: something i dont see being addressed is the relation of the chassis mount and center of contact patch of the tyre. this only gets worse on lifted vehicles and when bigger tyres are fitted. what do you all think of this? looking at a stock coil rover front end, stock wheels and tyres, what effect would increasing the lenght of the radius arms by 50% and mounting the chassis end of the arm at the same height as the stock mount have on off road and on road characteristics? Serg

Ratio's are 1st = 5.443 2nd = 2.839 3rd = 1.721 4th = 1.223 5th = 1.000 6th = 0.742 rev = 4.935 transfer ratio = 1.211 and 3.269 finally a good first gear, great for towing hill starts and offroading. but imo 2nd is too big a gap and all the others to close. but i'm no gearbox ratio designer. at 66-1 1st low stock axles and cv's should snap like bread sticks. hope you have lots of replacements in stock dave. should be on a winner cheers serg