Changing defender diff to a salisbury (front)

[FridgeFreezer]

A few folks have shaved the bottom of Salisburys to bring them back to Rover levels of clearance, I'm fairly sure Moglite did it on his Ibex if you look back ~10 years.

[garrycol]

Shaving does improve clearance a bit but remember that many of the Landrovers with front sals like the one ton and 101 ran 9.00x16 tyres so there was already extra ground clearance by way of the much larger diameter tyres.

[uninformed]

On 2/11/2021 at 10:41 PM, FridgeFreezer said:

I think the the casing is rated for a higher weight too, hence why 109/110/130 get them on the back axle. So yeah, a very long-lived diff centre but not much of an upgrade over a Rover with a decent diff in it.

Interestingly LR (as you will know) went back to a fabricated housing, driven partly by MOD vehicles bending/breaking rear Sals housings.

I think the main reason the SIII got the Sals standard in 109s was due to differential not housing failures. I’m sure there was conversations between LR and their supplier (Dana Hardy Spicer/GKN what ever guise it was at the time) and that’s what they could offer them in a here you go package) It has been known, and I have seen a few myself, for the Salisbury housing to fail where the tubes meet the cast centre section. Mostly on 109/110 housings (HD110/130 have thicker axle tubes) 
 

To me they just aren’t great housings (in general regardless of brands) , you can make a Rover housing stronger (when talking end to end) easier and lighter than a Sals, and the Sals offers nothing but a differential upgrade over Rover stuff, and regardless of shaving will not get the same clearance. 
 

I will add however I would think the Sals centre section better at taking a explosive blast and they are probably good for that roll.