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Upgrading Axle components


JST

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OK, toying with the idea and after some info on costs so therefore after some input from you guys on your thoughts to upgrading to lockers and which halfshafts, drive members and CVs to use. P

Personal experience preffered if your recommending.

i currently have a quaiffe LSD in the rear, 10 spline (i think) open front, (10 spline) std CVs and halfshafts.

I am likely (one day) to go ARBs front and rear - Best supplier for price? 10 or 24 spline? 24 i guess? compressor ARB or make your own up? Who uses what?

What do you guys recommend for:

Halfshats : Who, Why, how much?

CVS: Who why, how much? (ashcrofts?)

Drive members: do i need to change these?

stupid Q: if i fit 24 spline ARBs and buy 24 spline shafts is there anything else i would need to change straight away? eg do rears come with drive members and would the front shafts fit straight into exisitng CVs?

if the rears dont come attached with rear drive members, where do you get them from? i am currently running the large mushroom type ones.

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Muddy trout for ARB's

shafts/drive members/CV's from Ashcrofts

Ashcrofts may well do you a deal if you buy all from them

then you could have the ARB's fitted and the diffs pegged by them.

when they arrive just fit

drive members are worthwhile as L/R ones are made from cream cheese and wear out.

Ashcrofts are a grade harder than Maxi drive ones

I can wholeheartedly recommend Maxi Drive gear but the prices to get them sent here is OTT.

Ashcroft are doing a range of Extreme shafts their CV's are now fairly well proven.

shafts do not come with drive members they are separate items.

you could sell on the LSD to get some ££ towards it I guess.

prices would best be found by calling Dave and having a word.

I'd recommend ding the rear first

ARB/Compressor/Shafts/Drive members

and see how you get on

then the front which will be the expensive end.

CV's shafts/drive members/ARB/bearings/seals etc

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Personal experience preffered if your recommending

(...)if the rears dont come attached with rear drive members, where do you get them from? i am currently running the large mushroom type ones.

I don't want to sound biased but you asked for personal experience so...

...ARBs front & rear,front RT 30 splines front with Longs and RT HD rear axles (24 splines "one piece" with flanges).

IF I had to do that again,and with loads of money,I'd like to try Mc Namara lockers instead of the ARBs.

:rolleyes:

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Toy gear is undoubtedly good

but we have a wealth of good suppliers over here that are readily available and also there when things go wrong.

My M/D gear came via Outback Imports Via WH in Bradford

convoluted and expensive, but at the time the easiest way to get hold of the stuff I wanted.

ARB's are strong and well proven

spares easily obtained.

all of the above are important deciding factors IMHO

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From personal experience.

MaxiDrive are prob a tad better than Ashcroft, but at a price, and ashcroft have and have had my vote on their shafts for a number of years, I am pleased with them, and the customer service, also maxidrive means if you need something new / spare QUICK you'll poss have a wait........

KAM - not impressed 1 jott

GKN, sorry £G£K£Ns nice very nice but ££££££££££££££££££££, and how much better than ashcroft stuff ?

Nothing is unbreakable, but 24/23 Ashcrofts, plus Ashcroft CVs and drive flanges are a fine upgrade, I have just a few horsepower, and have broken huge numbers of shafts in the past......I wonder just how long the ashcroft shafts will last, they have to now be coming up for 8+ years of abuse use

Quiaffe, well I have the Quaffie Stub shafts Drive flanges on the front of mine, Q is often overlooked, hugely big in the rasce world, but not really "caught on" in the 4x4 world, don't know why quality id fabulous, but erm, so is the price, 2 icckle short stub shafts ?...yes thats £170 please sir PLUS VAT :huh:

ARBs are still my top choice, simple, reliable (yes mine blew the centre carrier apart - £12 to fix, and it was around 8+ years old, and has been well "Tested", the design menas that the weak cage built in to it when it lets go doesn't grenade the star gears etc, nice touch, again 24 spline ARB is well up the list and Devon 4 x4 stock spares. ARBs can be obtained 10 or 24 spline, to cut a long story short ONLY go 24 spline route

KAM - hmmmm mate has a old (5 years) unit of theirs - "Oh no sir we don't do spares for that any more" - Poor, we had to MAKE the bits to fix it, how long till he stops spares for current range, shafts I know many who have broken them.

Lastly diff pegging, again depends on how much you are prepared to spend, mine are, but the BHP is more an issue, the quality and sterength it adds to the diff is underestimated by many....

Lastly ARB is bought as a centre and needs building into the casing etc, Ashcroft will do the whole jobbie for you Pegging, building in etc etc, if you don't fancy doing it yourself......

HTH

Nige

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so if i get 24 spline ARBs and intend to fit them myself, and get 24 spline shafts these will go straight into the exisiting drive members on the rear? and straight into the exisitng CVs on the front? prob a stupid Q as you need to know current spline nos of CVs and drive memebrs or are they std?

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so if i get 24 spline ARBs and intend to fit them myself, and get 24 spline shafts these will go straight into the exisiting drive members on the rear? and straight into the exisitng CVs on the front? prob a stupid Q as you need to know current spline nos of CVs and drive memebrs or are they std?

Steady !

Whats the age of your 90, there can be a bit of faffing about sometimes with hubs etc, I'm sure we can advise, but other option is to ring Dave at ashcrofts.

On the front you should be ok, as you are replacing 90 bits with upgreaded bits, not 100% sure that your CVs are 23 spline on the inner race, but think so, but they could be 32s, if this is the case and you go for 24/23 shafts (the ones to have) then you would HAVE to change the CVs at the same time, I think its as simple as that

On the rear you should have metric hubs, and sic braked (not drums) axle ?? (simple quick check is do the drive flange ends have a ring of 17mm heads (Metric), or 9.16s (imperial), if you have 17mm spanner sixe nuts then its a nuts and bolt jobbie from memory

Its a long time since I did mine, but I had extar probs due to the axles I was using !...and me memory is faded from the event :lol:

Nige

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Depends what you want to spend. I have a Tdi, BFG muds, an ARB in the rear and the standard mushroom head shafts in mine. Yes, I do break them but not so often as to call it a problem. That said, I do not do competitions but I only break stuff when I am trying too hard and making errors. If I gave up when I know I should and winched I would not break stuff. :)

If I were to fit an ARB in the front then I would fit stronger half shafts as they are a bind to mend - I might consider early RR style CVs and short mushroom shafts too as they make a cheap and easy to mend weak link.

If you propose to go for Simex or similar then spending more money as people have suggested above is the solution to not breaking it... I am too cheap to spend all this - infact, I would not get the benefit out of it for the type of off-roading and green laneing I do.

Chris

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save money - buy porta..

only kidding - :D

ring bill at GBR, Patrice is a donkey!

The difference in hardness for Ashcroft and Maxidrive drive members isnt a comparison, both are made to wear sympatheticlly with thier respective halfshafts so (IMO) there isnt a superior drive flange, merely the correct drive flange for the halfshafts you choose to buy <_<

I need coffee.. its too early for my head to work

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Toy gear is undoubtedly good

but we have a wealth of good suppliers over here that are readily available (...)all of the above are important deciding factors IMHO

Hi Tony,

as I said I didn't want to sound biased...

...but title should be then changed into "upgrading to British axle components only" then?

I bought my ARBs as Nige for easily obtainable parts and good price (at time),and bought them from Bill (GBR) in the US...Utah!Not really behind the corner...well,I bought some really stupid parts later as extra nipples for the compressor and got them in a week...?

Not a long time...!

Wouldn't you get MD lockers @ real price if you could?

I'd do!

:)

Even if parts come from down under?

Yes!

Otherwise nobody would ever travel across Africa (for most of the people I know 4WD is just "sand" or desert driving)...due to distance from home etc?

Swapping parts?

Keep the old ones as spares...bring along...should you break just refit and limp home...?

Or maybe I make it sound too easy?

:unsure:

:)

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No as this is James thread not mine and the above quote is my opinion only.

I have M/D-ARBs hardly British...

No I wouldn't have M/D lockers over ARB

not that either is better just my choice

Swapping part isn't as simple as keeping the old ones.

fit AEU2522 to a 300tdi axle and there isn't a simple put it back as was, to much has been changed from standard(bearings to bushes/overheight drive members)

I wanted the best I could get/afford at the time.

Luckily I have a friend that saves the day with spares from Australia when required ;)

Dolly(Jez) I was not suggesting harder drive members are better just advising on what I know the Ashcroft ones also have an O ring seal other than that I can see little or no difference.

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I have a set of the ashcroft rear flanges, yep a O ring inside, and it makes for a truly waterproof flange, the LR Platicity mushroom thingy that pops over the flange I have torn off when off road a couple of time, smacked on something, and generally they can let it water when you shove a very hot worked axle into deep cold water.

Front are similar but quaiffe flanges for the stub shafts, same here - waterprrof

Nige

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I fitted MD drive flanges and GBR ones and they came with O rings, I think they are pretty much of a muchness, the only suggestion I would make is buy flanges from the same supplier as the halfshafts :)

having pondered on an MD carrier and an ARB side by side I'd say that the MD carrier is a wee bit more chunky - merely observation

on a slight OT (sorry thread hijack) would anyone be interested in some maraging halfshafts? :unsure:

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fronts are currently 10/23.

Chris - my rear shafts are the same as yours, (disc axle) what i would call large mushroom type rather than the flatter mushroom type. are yoursone piece, shaft and drive memer as one that is, (i think so) but have never taken them out.

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M

not all your set up is great

Er,thanks,I never said that...!

:mellow:

Not a beauty contest,I was just saying every now and then someone should try something different...!

(hello Jez,how are your portals?all well?)

Just a thought...

Nige............................................................................

..........................................................yep!

:(

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I'm watching with interest, as I am wondering what to do with my front axle when time to upgrade that comes, Michele's toyota conversion is one option I'm considering, along with the more conventional Ashcroft cv/shafts route.

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[FWIW I have no income from the stuff below etc]

:rolleyes:

Michele's toyota conversion

Happy to help Mark should you go with it...it's not really mine though!

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(hello Jez,how are your portals?all well?)

sum total of damage to my axles after 8 days of "mild greenlaning"

right hand lower kingpin bush - worn, (was worn before it left but now its U/S)

Front diff, pinion bearing - worn, (it "died" in Russia but still drove 2000miles home)

two TREs - first was me being dumb, the second was 2ft high granit log combo eeeeeeek

Front left slave cylinder - Landrover, fixed.

parts are easy to get so no stress :P

soz - back OT

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