Range Rover axle in series 3

[LEAFERS RULE!!!]

Junk the landy axles fit toyota axles much stronger, disc brakes,good selection of ratios. hi lux axle bolts straight up S.O.A if thats ya thing just get a high steer conv from the U.S. Can also fit the E Locker from the front of 80 series and some none farm spec hi-lux to both axles

[nicks90]

Use the series axlehousing.

Disconnect the swivelunits where they are boltet to the axlehouse.

Make a bracket to fit onto the flange on the axlehouse, with tapered holes to fit it to the axlehouse and on theother side tapered holes in which to mount the RR-swivelunits.

Mount RR-swivelunits, discbrakes, callipers and CV- joints.

Morten

i dont know why this hasnt been done before - but instead of using custom shafts, just get the spacer to be the right width so you can use the standard rangerover drive shaft and CV joint complete with the rangie swivel/brakes on each side.

Have the spacer made out of billet with tapped holes either side so both the axle and swivel units bolt to it.

Surely having 2 spacers machined has got to be the cheapest way of getting disk brakes onto a series?

[henk]

i dont know why this hasnt been done before - but instead of using custom shafts, just get the spacer to be the right width so you can use the standard rangerover drive shaft and CV joint complete with the rangie swivel/brakes on each side.

Have the spacer made out of billet with tapped holes either side so both the axle and swivel units bolt to it.

Surely having 2 spacers machined has got to be the cheapest way of getting disk brakes onto a series?

I would like to go this way also as I have a LSD in the front axle but what would be the size of these spacers? Left and right identical?

[greenstream]

i dont know why this hasnt been done before - but instead of using custom shafts, just get the spacer to be the right width so you can use the standard rangerover drive shaft and CV joint complete with the rangie swivel/brakes on each side.

Have the spacer made out of billet with tapped holes either side so both the axle and swivel units bolt to it.

Surely having 2 spacers machined has got to be the cheapest way of getting disk brakes onto a series?

Well, if I do it this way it will get me into trouble with the MOT-man here in Denmark

Still you have to be aware of the ackermaneffect as your mountingpoints for the steering and trackrod will be to close to each other in order for the car to steer propperly. But I´ll give it a go and see whats going to happen, the car is going to be used for racing, therefor its not going to spend much time on tarmac.

Cheers

Morten

[ejparrott]

i dont know why this hasnt been done before - but instead of using custom shafts, just get the spacer to be the right width so you can use the standard rangerover drive shaft and CV joint complete with the rangie swivel/brakes on each side.

Have the spacer made out of billet with tapped holes either side so both the axle and swivel units bolt to it.

Surely having 2 spacers machined has got to be the cheapest way of getting disk brakes onto a series?

Do the 6 holes of the Series Axle tube miss the 7 holes of the RR swivel ball....or are we going to end up with bolts half-tapped into other bolts....

[nicks90]

you could always fill the 7 holes on the RR swivel with weld and redrill them to match the series tube.

[Gremlin]

All the above is a little too much work to retain the series axle tube, might as well machine up a set of caliper brackets, and mahine the hubs and you achive discs, if thats the final goal. alternativily fit the whole rangie axle like others have done.

G

[greenstream]

All the above is a little too much work to retain the series axle tube, might as well machine up a set of caliper brackets, and mahine the hubs and you achive discs, if thats the final goal. alternativily fit the whole rangie axle like others have done.

G

Hi G

Besides disc´s then I´m going for stronger halfshafts and CV-joints, and as mentioned above then the complete RR-axle will to wide for the MOT-man to approve

Cheers

[greenstream]

you could always fill the 7 holes on the RR swivel with weld and redrill them to match the series tube.

Hi

I was going to get a bracket made to fit between the axlehousing and the swivelunit.

THis bracket would be app. 30 mm thick, this way I could loose the spacers Im using now and I would be able to dril and taper the holes with out interfering with both patterns.

M

[henk]

Hi Søren

Im not gonna do a SOA, as I think that it looks like carp on a SWB, but if it was a LWB it would be totally different - like the looks of FF´s 109.

I think you might have misunderstood what Im planning to do ?

Use the series axlehousing.

Disconnect the swivelunits where they are boltet to the axlehouse.

Make a bracket to fit onto the flange on the axlehouse, with tapered holes to fit it to the axlehouse and on theother side tapered holes in which to mount the RR-swivelunits.

Mount RR-swivelunits, discbrakes, callipers and CV- joints.

Use custommade axles.

One of the swivels that Im using is from a LH-unit from a RH-drive car adn the other is a RH-unit from a LH-drive car, this way I´ve got a forward pointing steering arm in each side in order to get both the steering rod and the trackrod up front and out of the way of the Diff. Gonna use a bracket from either a Toyota or a Nissan to mate up the steering and trackrod.

As mentioned before, then I am aware of the akermann-issue.

Morten

We had a long discussion yesterday about this and conclusion was that if you want to use Ashcroft halfshafts and CV's in a Series, it only works easily if you can add the same size of spacers on both sides of the Series axle otherwise your wheels left and right stick out differently and you have to move the spring seats also.

So my question still is: if I add spacers on both size of my Series axle to get the same width as a RR/Def axle, will the diff be in the identical position?

[Soren Frimodt]

Good question Henk.

I'not sure it will be, if you look under a defender the diff seems to very close to the righthandside. I have no measures to back this up though and could easily be wrong.

Morten: Are you sure that if you use those arms, you will clear the springs? My brother has a TD5 frontaxle on his 90" And I've had the same idea when looking at it, but have never measured if they would clear the leaf.

[Soren Frimodt]

Oh and another thing Morten. If you fit a RR frontaxle and then throw on some series 1/2 rims when seeing the beloved MOT man, would you not get away with it? I think you might as they push in the wheels quite a lot, then you would just be running series 3 rims in the back with maybe a small spacer and it wouldn't look too bad would it?

Of course you would need to find an MOT place that isn't very familiar with the old landys

[greenstream]

Good question Henk.

I'not sure it will be, if you look under a defender the diff seems to very close to the righthandside. I have no measures to back this up though and could easily be wrong.

Morten: Are you sure that if you use those arms, you will clear the springs? My brother has a TD5 frontaxle on his 90" And I've had the same idea when looking at it, but have never measured if they would clear the leaf.

Hi Søren

Im only using the arms in front of the swivelunit, not the ones in the back.

From the the steeringbox the steeringrod goes to the RH-wheel and connects to the arm up front using a bracket from a Nissan/toyota wich have 3 fixingpoints, one for the steeringrod, one for the trackrod and one for the steeringarm. This way I can connect the sttering rod to the steering arm and trackrod and have the trackrod going to the LH-steeringarm. All the rods are up front.

And again we have mister Ackerman, the steeringarms on the RR-swivelunits is pointing inwards, hence disturbing the steeringgeometry, but we will have a go.

Cheers

Morten

[moore101]

About time I did a write up of the modification I carried out last year of fitting range rover axles to my series 3 lightweight. The axles came off a 1997 range rover and were treated to new discs and a quick calliper spray. Theres not really a lot I can write about the conversion as its pretty simple. Strip range rover axles of all brackets. Make up leaf seats and weld to axle case. Front ones need to be made about 20mm taller than standard to allow axle to be rotated back to get back some of the castor angle. Fitting 1 ton shackles gets back the height loss and helps with steering arm clearance. The seats were made and the axle put on the vehicle and then I made sure there was clearance between the steering arm and springs and tacked the seats to the case. I have made a temporary kinked u-bolt out of 10mm bar with an m10 thread on which is holding out fine at the moment but I am trying to source a supplier. Only other problem I’m having is that on full upwards travel of front right wheel the diff flange and prop are contacting the engine mount. I think my leaf seats could be made higher which would allow more castor angle and help with this clearance issue although proper bumpstop seat on the axle tube and a bit of grinding of the chassis are in order which may solve the problem. Other thing required is that rear spring plates (plates that ubolts pass through) are used on the front to bring the shock absorber closer to the axle case to help with steering arm clearance. I couldnt source any at the time of the conversion so just swapped mine front to back and havent had any problems (possibly a loss in downward axle travel at the back but only by an inch) For steering arm from relay down to swivel, i used the series one and repositioned the arm on the bottom of the relay. I havent looked into alternative length arms yet but i think the range rover one might be a better length. I need to swap the balljoints into it and try it out at some point.

I think the pictures speak 1000 words. I can take more and am happy to answer any questions.

[MECCANO]

Yeah a Rangie one works fine. You just have to take the end suited to the power steering out and get another track rod end of the right thread direction... job done. the noly problem is the track rod end thread section for the casle nut is longer, you can double nut it so that you can still use the split pin hole.

I had a u bolt made by a company called Jones springs (i think) cost around £30. Just send them a template.

[henk]

A bare Series axle is 91 cm wide and the Def version measures 109 cm so 18 cm difference.

If you line the diffhousings then left and right side did not increase identically 9 cm but about 7cm on one side and 11 cm on the other side (exact dimensions later this week).

So if you use a Def/RRC axle this also means the diff position in the horizontal line is different

[Soren Frimodt]

A bare Series axle is 91 cm wide and the Def version measures 109 cm so 18 cm difference.

If you line the diffhousings then left and right side did not increase identically 9 cm but about 7cm on one side and 11 cm on the other side (exact dimensions later this week).

So if you use a Def/RRC axle this also means the diff position in the horizontal line is different

Thank you Henk, just the measures we needed So basically you wouldn't be able to use RR/defender shafts without making the spacers different lengths, and therefore getting one wheel further out than the other. Not ideal i suppose

[henk]

Thanks to Steven here the comparison between an 88 and a RRC front axle:

front axle SIII LD dimensions.pdf

[airportable]

Hi all.

Im thinking of doing this conversion to my LWT. (Rrc axle on series leaf)

Have any one done this with the brackets from YRM metal solution Ltd?

My plan is to use the LH swivelhouse from a RHD and the RH swivelhouse from a LHD. ( Get a forward facing drag lobe on both sides.)

And I hope I do not need the to have the tie rod behind front wheels.

I looked at the jeep solution where the tie rod and the drag link are in front of the front wheels.. like my series land rover.

Have any one done this ? Is it worth trying?

[Duncan]

I'm starting just this on my lwt and have the YRM mounts so will feedback when get time to crack on.

I liked the LHD/RHD combo but got talked out of it as the Ackerman angles (Steering geometry) are messed up and extra stress on that arm.

[Snagger]

Your wheels are going to be well outside the arches on a Lightweight. You'll need some arches, and the slim ones I've seen on the market won't be enough; you'll need something around 4" or so.

What are you doing about regaining some of the lost ride height on the front axle? Fitting 1-ton shackles on the front springs will do it, but you need to do that before welding the brackets to the axle to get the castor angle right.

[Ladrover1971]

Hi guys

i have a series 3 1971 88” and it has had Range Rover axles fitted badly.

the whole this sits wonky.

does anyone know who I could get the proper mounts welded made and welded on by?

many thanks

matt

 

[Gazzar]

That's the problem with modifications like this: few people will work on them.

If I was a reputable vehicle modifier, I'd be reluctant to do any welding on that, purely from a liability perspective, as I'd probably inherit the responsibility for the various other bodges that were necessary to get that axle to fit.

 

So my best advice would be to refit the original. Or if you want to keep it (fair enough), remove the axle. Design the mounts you'd like, and bring the axle to a fabricator. That way they are acting as your agent, so the only thing they can be held to account for is the quality of the welding.

Or find a mate who will fix that mount and box it in.

 

Got any more photos of the conversion? What's the other side like?

 

[soutie]

YRM sell the mounts. Now you just need a garage to weld them on for you.

"Axle Conversion Coil to Leaf Sprung Rear Axle - YRM Metal Solutions" https://yrmit.co.uk/product/axle-conversion-coil-to-leaf-sprung-rear-axle-series-2-3/

 

[missingsid]

Not sure how I missed this conversation.

I have completed my conversion fo custom Series axle tubes to RRC swivels and CVs. I know that it has moved on to full RRC axles in this topic but here are some notes if anyone is interested.

I know of one possibly two other Series LRs done this way, both are in a topic on this forum.

1st

RRC swivel bolt PCD is slightly smaller than Series, plus the holes are moved by 90 deg.

2nd

The length from RRC axle flange to hub face is less than a Series set.

So, if you make a 25-30mm spacer with 6 threaded holes an imperial 6 bolt RRC swivel and hub will fit at the standard Series width for an axle. I looked at custom half shafts but they were expensive, there is a recent thread here somewhere saying that they are now available. For mine I bought KAM long spline RRC ones and cut them down. They made them for a Stage one replacement, unfortunately since they sold through Allmakes they may not be available.

The rear is much easier and will bolt on using the Defender Salsbury brake caliper kit.

Steering is more complicated as said if you use front arms the Ackerman is wrong, if you use the rear arms the diff and springs will be a problem. I used 10mm angles wedges and ground the flat bottom of the diff to clear the track rod.

For the track rod that is simple, remove the end of the RRC rod and the remainder is the correct length. If going this route the shocks are the next problem as the track rod and brake calipers will all need the same space. I moved the bottom shock mount further forward to clear.

As mine is a Series 1 I had more issues. If you have a normal S2 or 3 then a full size coiler axle will fit the body without needing rubber arches just. For the lightweight it will need extending.

Hope this is of use.