Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Being the budget concious builder that I am, I want to try and build up some reasonably strong axles but based around my Early Disco 10 Spline Axles. I know conventional wisdom says get 24 spline axles and ring Ashcrofts, however, I can't really justify the resultant bill.... I have already acquired a pair of 10 spline ARB Diffs, which is another factor constraining me to stick with 10 spline, so I am really after suggestions as to what the best way to go would be in terms of shafts and CV's. Front: I have acquired a set of GKN Flexy front shafts, and will be using these. Currently I only have the standard Rangie/Disco CV's which use a seperate stub shaft. Is it easy to fit AEU2522 CV's to disco hubs? I am assuming that I would also need to change over to drive flanges as well as the 2522 CV's have an integral outer shaft? Does the machining required to fit AEU2522's mean I could fit Ashcroft CV's at a later date? Rear: My intention was to stick with standard 10 spline mushroom headed shafts, as they are cheap and there are plenty around. However, I do wonder if there is or ever has been a strengthened rear shafts for 10-spline axles? I would far rather the shafts did not break in the first place... Any help, or offers of obsolete kit much appreciated... Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 dont GKN do rear shafts? think TJ is running them in Nick Walkers old rangie Ashcroft CVs get my vote up front too, what size tyres are you running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 The plan is to run something along the lines of a 35" BFG MT pattern - large, but not hugely aggressive... Didn't know GKN did rear shafts too... I know the fronts are like rocking horse manure to find, so I suspect the rears are similarly scarce.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Didn't know GKN did rear shafts too... I know the fronts are like rocking horse manure to find, so I suspect the rears are similarly scarce.... try Uncle Buck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 hmmm.... will give him a ring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will_warne Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 IIRC Gwyn Lewis also stocks them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Fit an auto box. No I am not joking - must be the most effective way of protecting your axles. Ok so there's a teeny bit of work involved but........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young bobtail Rhys Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I agree with Bish, I have an auto and haven't broke one halfshaft or cv, and I run 35" simex's..............I just keep blowing up diffs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 Hmmmm Auto would be nice, but that pretty much means buying another car and basing the new truck on that. I already have too many cars, so for now I am going to stick with an axle upgrade for the moment... I will give Gwyn a call in the morning and see what he has to say about them. Having said that I need all this, I have yet to actually break a shaft or a CV, only Diffs. But by strengthening the diffs, the weak spot just moves to a different area, so while I have the opportunity to build the axles up from scratch I might as well build them as strong as the budget allows.... cheers for the comments, please do keep them coming. ta Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upnover4x4 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Are you thinking of fitting arbs or the like? If not why not go for 4 pin diffs which are significantly stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young bobtail Rhys Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I spoke to crown diffs the other day and he assured me that as long as you run open diffs, the diff upgrade (4 pin) will not move the weakness onto, say a halfshaft etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 I have already acquired a pair of 10 spline ARB Diffs, ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 @ Rhys well it will wont it, if the diff aint gonna bust then a shaft is gonna break on the rear or possibly a cv on the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 I spoke to crown diffs the other day and he assured me that as long as you run open diffs, the diff upgrade (4 pin) will not move the weakness onto, say a halfshaft etc. Rhys, I am not really sure that makes much sense... Whilst I agree that a 4pin diff is stronger, you are essentially saying that they are still the weakpoint in the transmission, so they will still break before a shaft? which seems like a lot of expense for little gain? possibly I have not understood you, but as I have the ARB's sat on the shelf, it is less of a problem.... Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv8 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 how about early 110 cv's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 Hi Kelly, The AEU2522 CV's are early 110 ones. I am curious as to what needs to be done to get them to fit a Disco axle and if the Ashcroft CV's are a direct replacement for the AEU2522's.... Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 Ah, just answered my own question.... Ref the 'Early CV's' page on the Ashcroft site: This design is made as a direct replacement for those that have the AEU2522 fitted currently Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young bobtail Rhys Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Nope I don't understand it either. However, give him a call, maybe there is some method behind his madnesshttp://www.crowndiffs.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrHT Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hi Kelly,The AEU2522 CV's are early 110 ones. I am curious as to what needs to be done to get them to fit a Disco axle and if the Ashcroft CV's are a direct replacement for the AEU2522's.... Mark You'll need the stubs and hubs with discs from the same motor you get the cv's from. you may need the calipers as well so the easyest option is complete swivels and just bolt them straight on should save you hassel swapping them. the main tubes are the same. Think the early 110's have bigger discs but I'm not sure. As for fitting 4 pin you can still break them it's just harder but my simple answer is learn to spin your wheels less as this is what causes diff's to blow. If you master that then you'll start snapping halfshafts instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Can you uprate the nut behind the steering wheel? That can prevent a fair bit of breakage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 another option is to convert the rr diff to 24 spline and fit 90 v8 shafts. That might be a good budget solution, although I am not sure what the arb gears cost to do this. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 You have to do some machining to fit the 90/110 CVs, once done then ashcrofts equally fit, but its aggro, swap the ends over for 90/110 assemblies is faster. The axle you have - if it has the virtaully "No Nose" CV and the stub shaft the CV is very strong, you could (as I have) fit Quaiife outer shafts and flanges, or fit 90/110 CV and GKN overloads hubs front / rear or both Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredenewman Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 the early 110 cvs are 23 spline cvs your shafts are 32 spline[if they fit your rr cvs] so i think its back to square one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will_warne Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Rhys, don't trust everything you hear especially from people trying to sell you things Mark, as Nige correctly said, what CV setup have you got at the moment? If its the mushroom type separate stub shaft job then these are very similar in strength to the AEU2522 (incorrectly referred to as early 110 CVs by some of the export markets who didn't get early 90s - you will find 90's fitted with AEU2522s) plus you have a separate stubshaft which can be used as a fusible link if you have uprated half shafts. As far as converting a later RRC/Disco axle to take these CVs it can be done. You will find you need similar parts to those needed to convert a later Defender axle to use these CVs. Maxi Drive used to do a kit (I used to run one) which basically consisted of a phosphor bronze bush that replaces the bearing in the end of the stub axle (this supports the outer end of the CV bell) and a deeper drive flange (due to the increased length of the CV stub shaft). If you have the kit there would be nothing stopping you from machining up the conversion bushes and making up some spacers to space out standard, early drive flanges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 I now have the drawings from Dave Ashcroft (Thanks Dave, much appreciated )which show the modification needed for my stub axles to take the AUE2522 CV's, and to be honest, it's very simple (so long as you have access to a decent sized lathe) - pretty much as will describes above. I have never heard the RR CV's described as strong before - it has always been the AEU2522 CV's that have always been hailed as the strongest of the Genuine CV's. I have heard of people using the outer stub shaft as a fusible link on these axles though, thus saving the inner shafts and the CV's but creating a weak point on the easy to get at shafts - This does seem like by far the cheapes option! To those who feel driver education is required, I can sypathise with the sentiment, but this is more about having the opportunity to build up good axles from scratch but with a limited budget. Given the general talk of 24 spline everything, and sadly the bills to go with it, I thought this might be of interest to quite a number of people on here. Thanks for the comments though chaps. Any more ideas for rear shafts or are the GKN ones the only after market ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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