Thread: Puma difflocks

Originally Posted by Baytown

Not at this stage Damien.
My budget has blown out, so that's enough spending for the moment. (Yeah, right!&#128521

I would atleast do the front axles! Everything else is relatively easy to do later on

Originally Posted by dazzler

Got all three on mine and loving it. I cant even tell the ATB's are there at all. The car feels solid as on gravel and loose stuff even without dropping tyre pressure. Having experienced the Ashcroft ATB's I reckon they are a must for tourers.

So are ATB,s better for those with TC and Diff locks for those with the earlier centre diff lock. Is that the consensus?

Keith

Originally Posted by Tombie

For reference - there's a local guy running ATBs.. the thing is like a Goat on a can of Red Bull... climbs anything, clears mud easily... nigh on unstoppable

Thats not me of course, referred to above...But I do run Ashcroft ATBs front and rear in my 110 DCPU. The ATBs worked real well in the Malaysian rainforest/jungles/mud. Often surprising lifted and locked rigs running 35" or larger extreme simex type tyres, by keeping up with them while I am on 32" AT or 33" MT tyres.

You (Baytown/Ken) mentioned HD flanges but standard axles. Thats also what I run with my ATBs and no issues at all. Even with hard driving on hard core jungle trails, with 170HP AB tune and 450NM on tap. Why?:
- ATB design means that one can never have 100% of available drive/torque delivered to any one half shaft alone.
- So you dont "need" HD axles to avoid half shaft breakages that may occur because e.g. only one wheel on an axle has traction and gets all available drive via a fully locked diff.
- (am sure that you could find other ways to break a half shaft if you tried hard enough though...e.g. wild wheelspinning a wheel in the air just before it touches down hard and shock loading it)

Of course the downside of ATBs is that in certain situations (like extreme crossaxle for example) you can get stuck:
- without other aids like electronic traction control, then you have to be very adept with left foot braking and throttle control to get moving again on ATBs.
- with electronic traction control and ATBs you will do way better than left foot braking in these situations. And not quite as good as you might with fully locked diffs.

Apart from all of the above, two of the outstanding plusses for ATBs I reckon are:
- you completely remove the old diff centre with its tacky spider/side gears. Instant, quality, strength and reliability upgrade. (as opposed to retaining that rubbish and being able to lock it as needed with a selectable locker)
- they are working for you everywhere you go, on and off road, with no thought or intervention from you. You can feel them (in a nice way) working for you even on a run to the shop for milk.

Fully recommend putting them both front and rear. (And if ever my centre diff starts giving trouble an ashcroft ATB is going in there too!)

Neil

Originally Posted by Baytown

Not at this stage Damien.
My budget has blown out, so that's enough spending for the moment. (Yeah, right!&#128521

Better do the HD axles....will cost less than doing them after you break a stock unit on the CREB...miles from help...

Originally Posted by 123rover50

So are ATB,s better for those with TC and Diff locks for those with the earlier centre diff lock. Is that the consensus?

Keith

Not so simple as that really. Even the Pumas with TC have a lockable centre diff (which should, arguably, be locked pretty much as soon as the going gets serious. With or without TC).

It is a case of horses for courses. If your "course" is really hard core trails, or competition driving, then nothing less than full on selectable lockers will do. With full HD driveline (shafts, unis, CVs, etc) to go with it all the way...

Or if you were foolish enough to go feral and alone into difficult places with no way to call for help - then one may argue stupidly that with full selectable lockers one could possibly break three half shafts and maybe still limp home on one half shaft, alone and unassisted. (locking the diff with one good halfshaft and locking the CDL). But this is stupid talk.


If a sensible bugger who likely does more miles on tarmac and gravel than in the jungles in low range - and has appropriate recovery gear, knowledge/experience how to use, and travels with other suitable sensible people in properly equipped vehicles... then tackling the occasional hard core crazy stuff with ATB's instead of lockers may well see you giving curry to a stunned lock'd brigade back at the campfire.