Axles! And what has been tried and used.

[RangeyRover]

Hi guys,

Had this random thought in my head for some time now and been meaning to pose the question.

We seem to talk a lot about the quality or lack therof of the rover axles and with good reason.

I was looking under a transit the other day, four wheel axle type and found myself thinking that it looked like a salisbury housing.

Are the transit axles related to the dana series? Is that a way for us to obtain cheap strong axles?

Are they compatible with the lovely yank lockers?

Or are they made out of chocolate too?

are any of the large van axles worth looking at like Mercedes vario, sprinter, ldv sherpa etc

What do you know/ think?

[andyb]

Some of your question may have already been covered here.

[RangeyRover]

Some of your question may have already been covered here.

Thanks

And an interesting discussion.

Bill talked of using transit diffs and axles but never really went into any depth about what he had done previously.

G wagon axles are popular in the discussion but are difficult to fit in a LR capacity

[plasticbadger]

Reading that thread there seems to be a lack of mention of Toyota Landcruiser axles.

As many will know I'm massive fan having fitted them to my Discovery, but before I did I looked at all the Yank options - Dana 30,35,44,60, Ford 9", GM 14 bolt etc. and the LC axles having the following advantages:

They're cheap (£50 to £200 each)

The 80 series has the right diff offset

The 80 series has a good ratio, 4.1, as standard

The 80 series was fitted with factory lockers

and finally they're tough, I know Roguevogue on here has broken a couple of CVs in his, but nothing like LR or even Salisbury failures in the same use.

[Orgasmic Farmer]

Many Austrialians fit an Yota 80 series rear axle and a Nissan GQ front. Both 4.1 ratio so ideal for 35-37" rubber (brings back standard gearing) The electric diff lock is easy to install and the rear offset is correct. The Nissan front axle is essentially a straight swap/bolt on with only very minor fab work, and if you fit uprated CVs and shafts is probably the strongest set-up out there short of paying massive money. Downside to this arrangement is that you need to fit an ARB to the front to get a locker and the diff in the GQ is bigger than the Yota so you lose a bit of clearance at the front. But that said the Nissan front is generally acknowledged as being the stronger of the 2.

I have Nissan GQ front and back under my Disco but would not necessarily recommend it if you intend to use the truck on the road. Offroad it is a great set-up and I'm very happy with it.

[Orgasmic Farmer]

Oh and I have a complete G-wagen here with front rear lockers if anyone is interested. Make me an offer (bearing in mind its worth over £300 to me in scrap!)

[RangeyRover]

Reading that thread there seems to be a lack of mention of Toyota Landcruiser axles.

As many will know I'm massive fan having fitted them to my Discovery, but before I did I looked at all the Yank options - Dana 30,35,44,60, Ford 9", GM 14 bolt etc. and the LC axles having the following advantages:

They're cheap (£50 to £200 each)

The 80 series has the right diff offset

The 80 series has a good ratio, 4.1, as standard

The 80 series was fitted with factory lockers

and finally they're tough, I know Roguevogue on here has broken a couple of CVs in his, but nothing like LR or even Salisbury failures in the same use.

I have looked at your conversion many times and hats off to you for it. In my estimation complete axle replacement is the way to do it. Finding the Toyota axles with the lockers in is the problem, can never find any on eblag.

The guys on pirate have replaced the diff and shafts for toyota units, and I really like that option, but I can never seem to come up with a definitive parts list, especially at the front when they lose me with the different names for components.

I don't mind paying the money. up to a point, but not knowing what you are getting into with that kind of a swap is what worries me.

The cost for the ashcroft + ARB route is more than the worth of my whole outfit, and I struggle with my yorkshire upbringing to spend that much.

Is NONE of the american ford stuff in uk vehicles?

[Steve 90]

But that said the Nissan front is generally acknowledged as being the stronger of the 2.

Your having a laugh, The more I look into this the more it becomes clear the GQ C.V's are well known for breaking, Even more so than the Toyota it would seem. The Toyota rear is known as pretty good, Granted not as good as a Nissan rear but will out last a GQ CV many times over.

Ive been looking into this a lot over the last few months and the choices worth considering are either GU front and rear, Or 80 series front and rear with Longfield front shafts and CV's.

The GQ CV's aint much bigger than the LR ones, Granted the rest of the axle is massive but theres little point in that when the CV is small. Even with uprated units its still not going to be any better than an Ashcrofted/ARB'd Rover axle although it would work out cheaper untill the Nissan CV breaks.

The std yota CV's aint great (as im sure Nick will tell you) but with Longs they are known to be pretty bom proof.

Gu Axles are very hard to come by, If you do find them they wont be cheap, They wern't sold much in this country but Yota's are everywhere. Yota axles are cheap and the Longfields will cost you roughly the same as a front ARB for the Nissan.

[Steve 90]

I have looked at your conversion many times and hats off to you for it. In my estimation complete axle replacement is the way to do it. Finding the Toyota axles with the lockers in is the problem, can never find any on eblag.

Try doing a Find-a-part style, on line, breakers yard search. I did recently and got replies for around 10 sets.

Is NONE of the american ford stuff in uk vehicles?

The American ford stuff is a bit of a mine field, Theres so many versions, Only some of which is worth using and nobody seems to agree on what you will find the right stuff on. In this country you wont find it.

[RangeyRover]

Try doing a Find-a-part style on line breakers yard search. I did recently and got replies for around 10 sets.

I will!

Give me an idea of the average price per axle while your thinking about it?

[plasticbadger]

I bought my Yota LC axles from eblag - £100 the pair, because they'd been chopped about to fit a chevy pick up. Didn't bother me though 'cause I was going to cut everything off them anyway

In finding the various other parts to do my swap (over a period of about 9 months) I came accross at least 2 other sets on eblag, both for £300 the pair and quite a few more people breaking trucks asking between £100 and £250 an axle. I also found some people on the find-a-part websites. So they are out there...

As for strength, I've been running mine with 37" tyres and a tuned Tdi (not exactly LS7 torque levels) for about 6 months now and so far I've not broken anything, even rock crawling in reverse, up hill, with the front locker in.

[pugwash]

have a LC80 with longfield CVs- the engine has almost 400lb/ft of torque and the truck weighs close to 2.5ton

ecven under proper abuse- ie nose down, full lock with locker in and full throttle starts i am yet to break anything.

for light LR vehicles they are a very very good choice in my opinion.

[bill van snorkle]

Hi guys,

Had this random thought in my head for some time now and been meaning to pose the question.

We seem to talk a lot about the quality or lack therof of the rover axles and with good reason.

I was looking under a transit the other day, four wheel axle type and found myself thinking that it looked like a salisbury housing.

Are the transit axles related to the dana series? Is that a way for us to obtain cheap strong axles?

Are they compatible with the lovely yank lockers?

Or are they made out of chocolate too?

are any of the large van axles worth looking at like Mercedes vario, sprinter, ldv sherpa etc

What do you know/ think?

Ford Transit diffs are not made by Salisbury but they are very strong, beautifully made and give a tad more ground clearance than Rover diffs. I fitted a set to my series 2a many years ago but it was alot of work involving grafting on LandRover hubs and swivel housings and having custom halfshafts made. No difflocks were or are available for them but they are a 4 pin diff so a Lockright or Detroit locker can be adapted to fit.

Mine had home grown difflocks whereby the left hand side halfshafts with extra long splines, controlled by a shift collar, fork and cable assy could be slid across to engage with the right hand side gear and displacing the right hand halfshafts by about 13 mm. Like I said it was a lot of work, and these days not really a practical conversion, especially since Niss/Toy axle assemblies including difflocks have become more readily available at reasonable prices.There's not much wrong with LandRovers own Salisbury rear diff either. Yes I know Rover screwed the pooch with the 300TdI Defender versions with licorice halfshafts and drive flanges, but the earlier 110 and 200TdI Defender versions were very reliable and long lived.

Bill.