uninformed

Nothing particular other than it’s the late carp type. One of the pinion gears welded to the cross shaft. This a well maintained vehicle, the owner of many LRs stock to highly modified. These are just poor design and poor quality.

Great work 👍

Add another one. A mates 2012 (I think) 90, completely stock standard, daily driver with VERY little off road use. He found the tcase making a grinding noise when he had the gearbox out to do the clutch.

I heard back from a mate here in Oz that is in the game. No 4 pin diffs factory fitted to 110/130s

Yes, a Rover hemisphere is the same front or rear. So all factory Rover 4 pin hemispheres are the same.

The original Defender used long nose Rover diffs until it’s death in 2016 ok, let’s ignore the rare variants with Sals front for this discussion The 4 pin HD hemisphere was an option for a VERY long time ( just like ENV, then Sals rears were an option on Series before their standard fitment) I can not confirm if LR factory fitted the 4 pin front diff in 110/130 from 2012 onwards. I personally would be surprised as LR were cutting corners everywhere on the last of the old Defr’s But anything is possible.

Brakes are an interesting topic. My 98’ 110 cab chassis does not, nore ever had a proportional valve. I think that’s true for a lot of 110s? No idea on the 130 but I’d assume the same given the affect longer wheelbase has on ‘pitch’. I can’t speak for the earlier 110s but when they went to discs all round, the front calipers have exactly double the piston area of the rears. Obviously pad area and rotor dia also play a roll in brake bias, as does the ‘locus’ point , which in our case of AWD is the centre of centre diff. Add to all that, you will get more pitch in a shorter wheelbase than longer.

Yep, Rover housing style flange, and they had the spigot for ABS. They also require the matching Rover style stub axle (male spigot as opposed to the flanged original type)

Have another look at the first photo I attached, showing the two different intermediate shafts and their respective bearings. The shafts are different diameters so it’s impossible to fit TRBs onto the LT230R version that suit the LT230T intermediate gear set. On top of that, the LT230T intermediate shaft is smaller dia at both ends where it is supported in the case. So shafts and cases can not be mixed and matched. This is referring to the dog teeth only. Ashcroft do not make a 1.1-1 high range output gear with early wide dog teeth. (I asked lol) So since that’s the ratio you wanted you would have had to buy the intermediate gear set, high AND low range output gears and hi/low hub with selector sleeve at the least. Unfortunately this doesn’t help the OP regarding swapping LT230T gears into a LT230R case and using bigger shaft with the roller bearing set up. on another note, if your old hi/low hub and selector ring are in good condition I might be interested to buy it from you.

Are you saying your 1.4 box was a LT230R with roller bearings on the intermediate shaft and you changed it to 1.1 with an Ashcroft gear set which included TRBs on the intermediate shaft?

The 43D should be a good option to rebuild. It has some advantages. If I’m correct that is a TD5 era case, it will have a stronger main case due to thicker ribbing in areas. It will also have a wider input gear (and corresponding intermediate gear) The input gear will be cross drilled and the bearing separation is greater than previous versions. Id definitely get the case sleeved for the intermediate shaft. Ashcroft sell the sleeves and they are a top hat design which IMO is important and definitely better than others that are not.

In these two photos you will notice the high range output gears have different diameters and tooth count, and the corresponding gear on the intermediate gear set also has a different diameter and tooth count. That should tell us, we can’t swap a high range output gear between different intermediate gear sets. On another note, the early input gears are not cross drilled. This was a problem that caused fretting corrosion on the input splines. You can drill them yourself though. 1.410 1.667

The LT230R definitely has a larger diameter intermediate shaft as seen in this photo A friend who is very well versed in gearbox design and built more highly modified LRs than most of us, prefers the LT230R over the LT230T The problem I see will be the availability of parts and especially aftermarket parts like ratio changes. For one, the earlier high/low hubs and selector rings are unavailable and are not the same as later versions. This immediately reduces ratio change options as the dog teeth are integral on the output gears, which are matched to the intermediate gears. I highly doubt (99.783%) you can change gears. The transfer case final output ratios are a combination of input, intermediate and output gears. The high and low range output gears are matched to their corresponding intermediate gears. The 1.410 high range would have a different corresponding intermediate gear (size and tooth count) than the 1.667 gear set. Not only will the later 1.410 intermediate gear not install in the earlier LT230R case, it would cancel the reason you are choosing it (intermediate shaft strength increase) You would have to find a 13D case which is apparently the 1.410 LT230R

I should probably just 2wd convert my 110…

I personally wasn’t twisting any of your comments, simply explaining some of the questions you asked regarding my reasoning. I think we actually agree on more things than not.

I absolutely disagree with your first comment. As someone who has spent the vast majority of their off-road driving experience on factory size tyres, locker’s definitely help get through conditions that would leave non locked bogged and don’t lead to more digging if standard common sense driving is applied. One example I can share was the demonstration of a 100” coil sprung rig bogged to its axles in soft river sand (750-16 tyres) no forward or rearward movement just one wheel each end spinning sand flying, digging in. Lockers engaged, low 2nd and light revs and the vehicle slowly dug itself out. You are much more likely to lose forward momentum and start digging unlocked, regardless of tyre size. Id also argue that remote touring is more serious than competing given what being stranded can mean. Often no help, and far from resources. I’d not take those risks on some of the stock components here in our outback.

Some people would argue that they could get a HD 4 pinion for cheaper or that an ATB in the front affects driving characteristics…. Personally I just use full lockers, end of story. For the OP I was trying to keep it simple. Regarding the rear , I already said my preference was for a full locker but apparently they are too complicated and unreliable for some 🤦🏻‍♂️… so again I offered the cheaper and more simple idea of the ATB. The Salisbury hemisphere is strong but doubt it stronger than a Jac McNamara locker hemisphere. MaxiDrive used the standard factory fitted one so they are equal. ARB I personally would not run but the number of Dana 60 lockers being abused in the USA suggests they are fine. Unless the Ashcroft ATB is noticeably smaller in size I’m not sure it would be automatically weaker. The only reason I would not recommend the MaxiDrive Salisbury locker for the OP is it requires cutting and welding of one of the axle tubes. Some aren’t capable to do it themselves and I can not say it won’t create a stress point given his current situation and the conditions his vehicle is used in. Pegging will only help crown wheel deflection and this seems to be the least of his problems, not to mention you have to machine the hemisphere CW support flange down to fit the support bolts. But we can agree that anyone suggesting that the front differential is NOT the weak link in the OPs vehicle has rocks in their heads!

A couple of points from Australia where we have somewhat similar conditions but maybe not the supply chain issues. MaxiDrive was born out of remote outback touring and off roading on roads that were horrible, not competition. These upgrades were based on vehicles that ran factory size tyres or close there to. The idea was to create reliability in parts that were unreliable and failing. Their diff locks came about for the same reason. These greatly improved hemisphere strength and reliability whilst also offering better traction and in the hands of a sensible driver can reduce damage or fatigue done to other parts. Ashcroft essentially offer the same products. Unfortunately there is no factory 23/24 front inner shafts. Im fairy certain the McNamara old manual locker is rear only (can’t see how it works through a CV etc) For remote touring I personally would not hesitate in upgrading the axle assemblies and in fact would hesitate to run anything factory. while my personal vehicle is being built more radically, it is still based on reliability in hot and rough conditions. At a minimum, and for simplicity, the OP could install an ATB in rear and a front 4 pin HD hemisphere, The ATB will be an improvement traction wise, but not that of a true locker. I think his biggest concern is getting the rear housing sorted properly.

Adding tube inside is not the strongest way BUT has some advantages. given the external bracketry, internal probably has a better or easier chance to create less change in stiffness (abrupt change in stiffness is BAD) It would also allow good alignment. You want a thought out procedure not only for the structural implications of the finished welds but the inherent distortion you get from welding. If your housing is bent, you are much more likely to strip splines or shear bolts…. Trussing like the Americans do is tricky. Firstly their housings have thicker tubes to start with so the relationship regarding stiffness is a little different. They also mostly are seen on fully built housings where the truss runs further outboard, coil overs and even upper control arms mounted off the truss. This is important as it’s taking the increase in strength beyond the highest stress point and not stopping at it! While it might not be the cheapest a good 130 housing would be the most simple.

My preference for a rear locker in your Sals are , in order Jac McNamara, then ARB. If Ashcroft did an Ashlocker for the Sals that would replace the ARB. The ATB won’t help you much in your situations Re oils, you might want to do a bit more research for your climate, and I’d advise that the optimal oil won’t be the same as the front diff.

The weld on the edge of the bumpstop pad has created a stress riser. The forces at the wheel, which are resisted by the trailing arm, coil spring and bumpstop pad (when it comes into play), created a bending moment. This is exactly why strengthening an axle housing between the bumpstops is a BAD idea. Good work in getting it back on the road. Unfortunately it has not lasted longer. If you get a new housing, make sure it’s from a 130 as these have thicker walled tubes. LR in their wisdom took the Series Salisbury housing and extended to tubes without increasing wall thickness. This along with a combination of the link suspension (changing the dynamics from the former leaf sprung set up) has lead to failures in 110 housings. More often they pull tubes from the cast centre section, again a result of the bending moment and too thin a tube. I would check your tubes where they insert into the cast Centre section before attempting any repairs. if you do repair it, I’d make sure the tube is welded properly first before sleeving or overlaying it. Be aware that how and where the overlay finishes is important as it creates a change in stiffness that can lead to more cracking….

A well know independent LR specialist here in Oz has seen much high % failures of the later Tdci than earlier versions. And given they are failing in less harsh conditions than the usual LT230 failures I’d say that shows something. They also suffered from the Q gears as the Tdci is 1.2 ratio. Another point of failure was the brainiac that decided friction welding the end flanges on the front housing was overkill and a GMAW joint (NOT full penetration mind you) was good enough… the failures , recall and bodgie fix would prove otherwise.

Yep very frustrating What I don’t understand is how it’s actually economically beneficial considering LR low volume (comparatively to big auto) to make changes that not only need new tooling, but to implement new trailing or procedures, new part number logging, etc etc. ok so a shorter stub axle can start out a smaller forging at a little saving, but those dog teeth on the gear blank are not going to save more material, only increase machining 🤷🏻‍♂️ They really did some silly backwards step taking, though I will applaud them for improving the LT230 case structurally and improving the input gear ( gear width, cross drilled and then more bearing separation)

I’ve just started doing a couple. We are lucky to have guys like Mike from Britannica Restorations who have a huge range of LR videos which is a great resource for us. I’m only doing specific bits of things LR related that I haven’t seen covered. It’s definitely amateur hour lol

There is play at the input shaft to input gear. There is play between the hi/low hub and the hi/low selector ring. There is play between the hi/low selector ring and the dog teeth on the respective output gears. There is play in the centre diff gears, especially on/off throttle. While there is play in the output shaft splines into the side gears, (not so much the output flange end due to the big nut and big torque to fasten) this is not that much. I can tell you from very recent experience not only rebuilding multiple LT230s, but factory centre diffs AND Ashcroft ATBs, the ATB has little to no output play due to the pre load (by design) that the shaft has to overcome. Ill be doing a video soon to show this as it makes installing the front output housing a bit tricky, so I’ll also do a comparison between the factory centre diff and Ashcroft ATB. There has been 3 basic variations of the LT230 Centre Diff. The original had forged and ground gears. Then in 98’ they changed the gears to what seems to be made by sintering (not as good as previous) They also changed the hi/low hub spline to slightly bigger OD (I can not see an advantage either way) Then at some point in the Tdci version they changed the hemisphere to an open cast design (think Rover diff) with only one cross shaft and two gears. 🤦🏻‍♂️ As a side note the pre 200 Tdi era LT230 had thicker, stronger dog teeth and corresponding splines for the hi/low hub, selector ring and output gears.