Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 So, I've come to the conclusion of what my 109 Safari Station wagon "Series" will look like when it's all done: Ford 302 V8 mated to Toyota G58 5-speed transmission and VF1A part time 4 wheel drive transfer case. 40mm Suspension lift using longer spring mounts and longer shackles (front and rear) Toyota Hilux leafs in front (+/-1100mm vs 900mm on the Series) 38mm Body lift using new bushings at the bulkhead mount and lengthening all the body mount plates and fitting engine mounts everywhere the boby rests on the chassis. Salisbury rear axle, widened 180mm, putting the center in the middle of the axle and thus using the same long Series side shaft on both sides, with Air locker. Salisbury front axle, widened the same a mount each side by cutting and fitting Defender front axle tubes to the Sals so the axle ends up the same width as the rear, with Air locker. Defender 7 bolt chrome balls with outer swivels, 2010/2011 Puma front calipers and discs, Puma rear calipers and Td5 rear discs. I'm using old type (wider) Defender stubs and 4 older front hubs with the 23/24 spline CV's and drive flanges.(Hoping to modify and fit my Series freewheel hubs later) 110 Defender powersteering box. Will run my 33" BF Muds on 10J X 15" steel rims. Give me ideas for the track rod please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Body and suspension lift and you're just going for 33"s? I would drop a Patrol or similar PAS box instead of the weak Defender one in all honesty, custom track rod for sure, but way stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Wiil probably go for 35's at the next tyre change. I've been running the defender PAS box before and it steered the 33's quite nicely. What do you mean by weak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 In off-road situations the main shaft can snap relatively easily with an impact. Put the standard LR box next to any of the big jap stuff and the difference is incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 I've got a spare PAS box and since I'm building a seriously overengineered overlander I hope I'll be ok. I am fitting a steering damper to lessen any impacts. Do you mean flying through the air and landing sideways kind of impact or do you mean hitting a rock a little bit side on while climbing a hill kind of impact? Hopefully the front and rear lockers will require a lot less momentum to get up obstacles. If I can't get up something with rear locker engaged and a bit of throttle, I'll look for another route. The front locker is to get me out of serious sh!t..... places I should not have been in the first place. I've broken enough things on the Landy, I now want it to drive unbroken for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 P38 has the best PAS box of any LR, nearly bulletproof. It should be easier to fit,too, bolted outboard of the chassis rail, not needing the cross member to be moved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Why do you want to increase the track width by 180mm and put the diff in the centre? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 My chassis is all ready for the defender PAS box. The xmember was moved a long time ago and the chassis reinforced and 1/2" ID tubing welded in as bushings. So refitting a 110 box is the easiest for me. How weak is weak though. Here in Africa 110's are probably the most popular overlanding vehicle and I haven't heard of too many complaints about powersteering boxes. The fact that I have 2 of which one still has it's barcode sticker on sways me to keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Thats a lot of work, i would not make custom axles to be honest, or a body lift. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Why do you want to increase the track width by 180mm and put the diff in the centre? Probably the trasfer case he is using has a center rear output................... G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Sounds almost like what you really want is a 110 or a toyota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Why do you want to increase the track width by 180mm and put the diff in the centre? I' running a Toyota transmission with the rear drive flange in the middle of the box. My engine and gearbox are also exactly down the centre of the chassis. So I'm trying to avoid extreme propshaft angle. I wanted to fit a defender rear Salisbury but the offset was even worse. It made the most sense to me to get the diff in the centre by using 2 of the long series sideshafts at the back and that is a 180 mm icrease in width. It's modified but standard (if you know what I mean). I can buy a standard series long sideshaft as a replacement spare and carry one spare for either side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Sounds almost like what you really want is a 110 or a toyota Too late for both those options as I've invested too much time and money into the project allready. Only way is too see it through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Thats a lot of work, i would not make custom axles to be honest, or a body lift. G We don't have regulations governing these things, and strangely enough it's cheaper to make these custom axles than to have a adaptor machined from a series axle tube flange to defender one- go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Re axles, i personally would have gone and found a pair of nissan or toyota axles, already centered, disc braked and with difflocks availble as standard, also much stronger than any rover axle cocktail. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Re axles, i personally would have gone and found a pair of nissan or toyota axles, already centered, disc braked and with difflocks availble as standard, also much stronger than any rover axle cocktail. G Too expensive here, I would pay more for one Toyota axle than I paid for my whole vehicle (in roadworthy condition) and nissan axle cost even more than that and are very scarce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 OK, that's a given, go for the Defender box in that case. It is more the side impacts that break them, one way to really help is get a hydro assist system on it, takes a lot of the load off the box, most failures are people abusing them in a challenge environment over here, depending on what you are doing it may be no issue at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 Hydro assist.........Please elaborate. Where can I get 4" fender flares for Defender? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Its a hydraulic ram mounted to the drag link which in tapped into the steering box. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Yup, like this: http://www.llama4x4.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Dickens Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 Only problem I see is it says: "Not recommended for highway use" ....................Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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