seven Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Hi! I am new on this forum and found already a lot of interesting stuff (like changing to brakes with disks). About a two years ago I bought a UK 109' stationwagon and well it was a mess and now I am gatering everything to start rebuilding my 109. Now to the topic; once I get a replacement for my completely rusted and leaky salisbury (rear)axle I would like to upgrade the differential with a detroit locker, therefore I need to remove the old diff with an axle-spreader-tool; does anyone know where to buy it or has anyone the specs to make one? Same for the drivepinion. And ofcourse any advice on replacing a diff and 'do' things while you are at are welcome! thanks. ciao, maarten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill van snorkle Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Sometimes you don't require a spreader tool to remove the carrier assembly. In many cases they can be winkled out with a couple of tyre levers, and refitted by carefully tapping the bearing cups with a soft blow hammer whilst rotating the carrier assembly. Flexing the axle housing by attaching a chain from one spring saddle to the other and placing a jack between the chain and longside axle tube can also substitute for a dedicated spreader, but as with a spreader be careful not to over do it. BTW can I talk you out of using a Detroit Locker? Being a slow learner and having owned 3 vehicles fitted with them over the years I have concluded that they ruin the vehicles overall drivebility both on road and in certain offroad circumstances. IMO selectable difflocks are still the best choice, That's why real offroad vehicles such as Unimogs, Volvos etc are fitted with them instead of self locking /unlocking diffs. Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Well, I'll give it a try with the tyre levers. As for the detroit locker, maybe you can talk me out of it as they are not mounted yet. What influence do they have on driveability, unnecessary lockup? I also got one for the frontaxle, truetrac not recommended either I think... And from IMO which diff is recommended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill van snorkle Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Aside from frightening passers by due to the occasional banging and clanging when reversing or coasting around a turn, say when for example when rolling into a shopping centre carparking spot in gear with the clutch depressed, I found them particularly scary on 20 to 30mph firm but slippery muddy tracks of varying camber where other vehicles with open diffs or even solidly locked diffs remain perfectly controllable. Also steep descents with a side slope, otherwise described as an offcamber slope can, for want of a better term, 'confuse' the diff into sensing that a turn is being made, so that it disengages drive to the wheel on the lower side causing the remaning wheel to skid and the vehicle to slew sideways to the slope.We have forest trails in mountainous areas of Australia that can be extremely steep and ''ugly'' that you may or may not come across the equivelant of in the UK, but definately show up the deficiencies of self locking/unlocking differentials. Occasionally when taking off from a standstill on sealed roads the vehicle will for a distance drive on only one wheel causing the vehicle to pull alternately one way then the other upon accellerating and decellerating. Dead straight axle housings and equal tyre pressures and rolling radius are critically important with Detroit Lockers. One more point is that in many instances during a halfshaft breakage, the shaft pulls the Detroit side gear out of square alignment with the central driver cross shaft and breaking dog teeth off the side gear. True Tracs I understand are very gentle and quite suitable for Rover front axles, particularly if they haven't been uprated to stronger aftermarket components. If budget permits it's difficult to go past ARB, if only for the warranty back up rather than any design or material superiority. Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 thanks! that is stuff to think about. No detroitlocker yet for me, by arb you mean the manual lockers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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