Thread: Are County and Defender rear axles/flanges interchangeable?

Flanges, yes. Axles - county to defender works with a spacer. Defender to county no go - unless you swap to defender hubs and stubs.

So the axles are not a straight swap. I have pics of the spacer in my members thread.

I tried County flanges on my '95 Defender years ago when the flange splines stripped (before I got the Maxi gear) and they definitely didn't fit the disc brake hubs, slightly different 5 bolt pattern.

Originally Posted by 2stroke

I tried County flanges on my '95 Defender years ago when the flange splines stripped (before I got the Maxi gear) and they definitely didn't fit the disc brake hubs, slightly different 5 bolt pattern.

Umm - sorry - the 5-bolt pattern is exactly the same.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Umm - sorry - the 5-bolt pattern is exactly the same.

isuzurover, the PCD of the 5 bolts is actually different and will not fit, I ordered some ashcroft flanges and was accidently sent defender flanges and they where bloody close but they do not fit. I called them and sent them back and was sent the correct ones to suit the county. There is actually two different part numbers.

Originally Posted by lambrover

isuzurover, the PCD of the 5 bolts is actually different and will not fit, I ordered some ashcroft flanges and was accidently sent defender flanges and they where bloody close but they do not fit. I called them and sent them back and was sent the correct ones to suit the county. There is actually two different part numbers.

Then how can I have county flanges on defender hubs?

EDIT - I found this:

Originally Posted by Bush65

AFAIK, 10 spline disco axle assemblies were the same as 10 spline rangie axle assemblies of the same year model. I'm not sure when (or if) 10 spline drive flanges changed from 3/8" UNF bolts to M10 bolts (as used with 24 spline axle flanges).

The pitch circle diameter for 3/8" bolts in the hubs/flanges is smaller than for M10 bolts and they don't interchange. You have to be careful of this when fitting 24 spline axles and use the special flanges in imperial hubs - Ashcroft and HTE (and probably jackmac) make appropriate flanges, but AFAIK rovertracks do not.

It seems this isn't a defender/county thing but an imperial/metric thing. All my drive flanges are M10.

Sometimes we forget that the County and Defender are the same vehicle under different badges and that the vehicle line was subject to continuous "improvement." Very few changes occurred from 110 to Defender other than direct injection for the 2.5l diesel (200tdi) but the 3 year gap in importing the very first "Defenders" made them look different to Aussies (plus that we never imported any of the 2.5l diesels and petrols prior to the 200tdi). Many "Defender" features appeared in the late 80's (smooth roofs, plastic door handles) just before the Defender badge. The LT77 'box for example was first used in the mid 80's on 4cyl models while we think of it as a Defender vs County difference.

so do county have metric and imperial flanges?

Originally Posted by Vern

so do county have metric and imperial flanges?

My '87 county has metric flanges.

Originally Posted by scrambler

Sometimes we forget that the County and Defender are the same vehicle under different badges and that the vehicle line was subject to continuous "improvement." Very few changes occurred from 110 to Defender other than direct injection for the 2.5l diesel (200tdi) but the 3 year gap in importing the very first "Defenders" made them look different to Aussies (plus that we never imported any of the 2.5l diesels and petrols prior to the 200tdi). Many "Defender" features appeared in the late 80's (smooth roofs, plastic door handles) just before the Defender badge. The LT77 'box for example was first used in the mid 80's on 4cyl models while we think of it as a Defender vs County difference.

Good points - however to be pedantic:

"county" is a trim spec, so in the UK you could buy a Defender "county" - the extreme was county spec in AU as well.

The 200Tdi defenders had the LT77S and disc brakes - neither of which had appeared before.