Volvoc303 axles onto defender

[Muddysteve]

Thanks to fridge freezer for replying to my pm i am looking for further info from anyone about fitting the above axles to my 110 i have some 5.99 ratio ones.What i know so far;

Use 1 to 1 transfer gears,orientate rad arm brackets to make diff flange angle same as rover axle then;i have read you then redrill swivel housing 12 to 15 degrees further round to get castor angle correct? Reposition panhard rod chassis bracket? Disc brake conversion?any info i would be gratefull

 

[FridgeFreezer]

I may have the drilling jig for the ends but not sure about the castor, mine's on leafs so I didn't change from the Volvo standard. Some measurement and thinking are the answer to this one unless someone chimes in with info.

Some people run the stock drums and they work OK on the original trucks, but discs are obviously a nice to have - conversions are expensive though and there's some quite nasty ones people have done. The sort of thing I'd only run on a truck that gets trailered everywhere.

[Daan]

I can share a picture of a converted 110 from my dutch friends, taken during the Croatia trophy:

It relies heavily on discovery TD5 components, for brakes, radius arms and wheels. The TD5 arms have longer spacing between the 2 mounting points for the rubber bushes. This makes it easier to fit them to the much larger square axle tube of the volvo axle and does a better job of reacting the forces of the portal axle. The disc conversion was deemed the cheapest possible way of doing things, and can all be achieved with minimal machining effort. I think they are rear calipers, doubled up at the front, and single at the rear. Not sure what was the reasoning for this. The conversion worked, but they were eating steering boxes for breakfast, even with a hydro assist system. So that is something to think about. The rear was pretty much standard defender bracketry welded to the axle casing. 

[Stellaghost]

Good into but not for my mogs unfortunately however one thing that has caught my eye is the longer spacing for bushes on td5 arms, could any one possibly tell me what this is as my d1 arms will not fit around the mog axle tubes and the td5 arms might be a good work around thanks regards Stephen

[FridgeFreezer]

6 hours ago, Daan said:

The disc conversion was deemed the cheapest possible way of doing things, and can all be achieved with minimal machining effort. I think they are rear calipers, doubled up at the front, and single at the rear. Not sure what was the reasoning for this. The conversion worked, but they were eating steering boxes for breakfast, even with a hydro assist system. So that is something to think about. The rear was pretty much standard defender bracketry welded to the axle casing. 

I'm curious as to how they did the disc conversion?

Also curious as to why they're lunching steering boxes, given I've been running on Volvos and 37's for over a decade still on my original D2 steering box.

[Daan]

8 hours ago, Stellaghost said:

Good into but not for my mogs unfortunately however one thing that has caught my eye is the longer spacing for bushes on td5 arms, could any one possibly tell me what this is as my d1 arms will not fit around the mog axle tubes and the td5 arms might be a good work around thanks regards Stephen

I think it is about 200 mm vs 160 mm of the defender version. But check with a tape measure before you splash the cash.

[Daan]

2 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

I'm curious as to how they did the disc conversion?

Also curious as to why they're lunching steering boxes, given I've been running on Volvos and 37's for over a decade still on my original D2 steering box.

They just turned down the Volvo hubs and drill and tapped for the studs from memory. The TD5 stud pattern is on a much smaller PCD compared to the defender one, and on this PCD there is more material available to make a strong solution.

They were usualy aiming for a top 5 position, which means 8 days of flat out in a rock and tree stump infested forest. Resulting in Carnage, usually.

[FridgeFreezer]

13 minutes ago, Daan said:

They just turned down the Volvo hubs and drill and tapped for the studs from memory. The TD5 stud pattern is on a much smaller PCD compared to the defender one, and on this PCD there is more material available to make a strong solution.

Clearly it's working for them but I didn't think there was THAT much meat by the time you've turned down the (concave & rough-cast) Volvo hub faces... I've seen plenty of conversions do similar but they end up looking less brilliant than I'd fancy having to explain to a policeman or court

[uninformed]

The RRC/D1/Def Radius arm bush separation is 6.5” or 165.1 (sound familiar 😉). I’m not sure of the D2, but while it is greater, the bushes are a larger dia so the difference in bush separation won’t equate the same difference in gap between the forged eyes.

The D2 arms are about 100mm longer so will improve geometry over the RRC/D1/Defender arms (and they actually articulate better even though more bush separation) . But with portals and bigger tyres Anti lift will still be very high.

Id mount then below the chassis rail like the D2

 

regarding double calipers at front vs single at rear, it’s  simply brake bias due to weight transfer. The later Defender had exactly double the piston area in front than rear.