Macker Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Hello everyone, I live in the US and am currently rebuilding a series III. It has power steering, and a 200tdi with the series box/transfer case. Just finished some major bulkhead repairs as mine had rust issues that would normally call for a new bulkhead, but here in the US that is neither cheap nor easy to find. What I'm hoping to do is obtain disc brakes and upgrade my suspension. What I have is a LHD D1 as a donor vehicle. I've thought of converting the series frame to coils, or putting the series bulkhead/body onto the disco chassis, but being that the series is RHD and the disco is LHD, neither would be very straight forward. I plan on having my rag top hemed to be a single cab pickup and making a custom high clearance steel bed. I'm not opposed to keeping the leafs but what I do want is the disc brakes and the newer 24 spline axles which I can eventually upgrade easier/cheaper than the origional 10 splines. My question is this- should I keep the leafs and strip the disco axles and raise the leaf mounting plates in order to be able to clear the track rod, or should I invest my time in converting to coils? I'd like to have more suspension travel than stock, but this will be driven on the street mostly and go 4wheeling on the weekends so Im not looking for crazy flex. Looking for any advice or previous experience. Sorry for the long Post. Thanks, Mack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulnb57 Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Mack If it were me Id leave it all alone and fit a disc brake conversion kit from Rocky Mountain and keep the rear drums - Although I believe its possible to fit RR/Disco discs to the Series rear axle - its only a rumour, Ive never seen it......... Theres a lot of work involved in converting Disco axles to fit onto leaf springs and then there are issues with the steering arms. and the axles are quite a lot wider so the tyres would probably stick out beyond the body sides. Going the other route and fitting the series body to the Disco chassis (frame) is also a big job - as with all things Land Rover most things are do-able - but is all that work worth it just to get Disc brakes?? The RM kit is quite expensive, but you could spend the same or more using the other choices..........When funds allow this is what I will do to my 57 Series 1 88 300di http://parabolicsprings.com/index.html http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/discBrake_Torrel.htm Good Luck! Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macker Posted February 14, 2010 Author Share Posted February 14, 2010 Paul Thanks for the response! I have thought about the rocky mountain kit, and you're right although it's expensive, so are my other options. Besides for the disc brakes, the 24 spline axles are also what I was after. Mainly because I wanted to be able to upgrade the cv's/shafts easily when I decide to move up to 35's later on. Having the tires stick out of the fenders won't be much of a problem, as long as I have mud flaps the cops won't give me any trouble. I've also read of having an adapter machined to mate the series axle case to a discovery hub, with the right spacing to retain stock length cv's/shafts. I may look into this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macker Posted February 14, 2010 Author Share Posted February 14, 2010 Paul Thanks for the response! I have thought about the rocky mountain kit, and you're right although it's expensive, so are my other options. Besides for the disc brakes, the 24 spline axles are also what I was after. Mainly because I wanted to be able to upgrade the cv's/shafts easily when I decide to move up to 35's later on. Having the tires stick out of the fenders won't be much of a problem, as long as I have mud flaps the cops won't give me any trouble. I've also read of having an adapter machined to mate the series axle case to a discovery hub, with the right spacing to retain stock length cv's/shafts. I may look into this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 If you're in the US then I'd just get a set of axles made up off the shelf to fit. Disco stuff (even 24-spline) is not a massive upgrade strength-wise especially if you're going to go crawling. Have a look at Pirate 4x4's Land Rover section. Oh and don't scrap a good series by putting it on a Disco chassis, far better to sell the series and just buy/fab the bits to make the Disco look like a Series or Defender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macker Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 Thanks for the response. At first I was going to defend the fact that I mentioned I'd be upgrading the CV's/ rear shafts eventually given that the 24 spline isn't much stronger than the 10 spline stuff, but I realized that all this money could be spent in keeping the leafs, doing a SOA and throwing some toyota land cruiser axles on which are easier to find here, stronger, and have more gearing options. The reason I didn't want to do a SOA was because my maximum size for the lr axle of 33's would look silly, but the toyota's will hold up to at least 35's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Thanks for the response. At first I was going to defend the fact that I mentioned I'd be upgrading the CV's/ rear shafts eventually given that the 24 spline isn't much stronger than the 10 spline stuff, but I realized that all this money could be spent in keeping the leafs, doing a SOA and throwing some toyota land cruiser axles on which are easier to find here, stronger, and have more gearing options. The reason I didn't want to do a SOA was because my maximum size for the lr axle of 33's would look silly, but the toyota's will hold up to at least 35's. Uprating the shafts is of little benefit unless you get the diffs pegged - you'll strip the teeth off the gears instaed of breaking a shaft, and replacing a shaft is easier and cheaper than rebuilding the diff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Hancock Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 How about a pair of disc braked dana 60's from a US truck, that has got to be a cheaper option with plenty of off the shelf upgrade parts available, possibly IIRC 32 spline shafts that are even fatter than the Rover 24 spline kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 <cough>Portals<cough> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Hi So have you chosen what to go for yet? Iv fitted a 200tdi to my lightweight and now thinking about an R380 and Disco axles or maybe just disco diffs and a disc brake convo, Hard to decide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macker Posted April 10, 2010 Author Share Posted April 10, 2010 Hi So have you chosen what to go for yet? Iv fitted a 200tdi to my lightweight and now thinking about an R380 and Disco axles or maybe just disco diffs and a disc brake convo, Hard to decide! I bought a set of FJ-40 axles. They're 30 spline off a later FJ (78). Disc in the front and upgrading to disc in the rear is cheap/easy. They're a lot stronger than the rover axles, they'll hold up to a 35-37. Has 4.11 gearing which will be about right for my setup. the axles themselves are cheaper than rover stuff and parts for yota axles are plentiful and cheap here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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