Has anyone had/heard of badly worn axle spines shearing off?

[toc_bat]

Hi All

I have pretty badly worn axle and drive flange splines on rear and one front wheel.

I assume that if they are ignored then ultimately one of them might break, shear off completely.

Is this common? Has it happened to anyone? Anyone heard of it?

bye all and merry christ mass and new year

[rick130]

Yep, really common on greased lubed bearing Defenders.

[toc_bat]

Yep, really common on greased lubed bearing Defenders.

indeed the three wheels that suffer from this had pretty lumpy dried up grease, the 4th was nice grease, lead me to think its lack of lubrication that leads to the wear,

you say 'really common' are you saying the wear is common or catastrophic shear failure is common ?

ok bye

[rick130]

Both.

An old acquaintance was stranded on the edge of the Simpson with stripped drive flanges quite a few years ago.

My 130 had virtually no splines left @ 76,000km when I bought it.
How it hadn't totally stripped and left someone stranded was beyond me.

Yes it's a lubrication issue, some regularly pull the drive flanges and re-grease, the real fix is to pull the inner axle seal and install an RTC3511 hub seal.

Diff oil can then flow through the axle tubes and lube the splines and bearings, just like an early 110 or Series Landy.

Problem solved.

[wagoo]

indeed the three wheels that suffer from this had pretty lumpy dried up grease, the 4th was nice grease, lead me to think its lack of lubrication that leads to the wear,

you say 'really common' are you saying the wear is common or catastrophic shear failure is common ?

ok bye

Severe wear and catestrophic failure is common.Once you obtain replacement shafts and flanges, dig out the oil seals from inside the stub axles, fit proper double lipped oil seals to the hubs so that the fresh shafts are lubricated from the diff oil.
Bill.

[toc_bat]

thanks for all the keen replies.

how about welding the flanges to the axles, hehehee

[wrinklearthur]

Hi toc_bat

Sloppy splines cause shock loads to the axles, they then break!

Like they said, change to oiled wheel bearings.

Don't weld the splines together, the heat treatment is mucked up enough to break the spline at the flange end.

Scratch up some money and replace the old axles and flanges, with some nice new heavy duty ones.

.

[Xtreme]

I've got a set of used axles and drive flanges - showing a bit of wear but not too bad - that you are welcome to as a temporary fix if yours are really bad at present. PM me if you're interested - I'm in the Hornsby area.

These were removed from a Td5 110 a few years ago when I fitted some Maxidrive axles/flanges for a friend. He was unaware of the wear until the axles were removed and he was shown the play between the axle and drive flange.

[Xtreme]

toc_bat is interested in above offer so ..............

Can anyone advise if the rear axles/drive flanges from a 2002 Td5 Defender are interchangable with those from a 1995 300Tdi Defender - both fitted with Salisbury diffs?

I'm pretty sure they are but it would be reassuring to have confirmation from the more knowledgable before possibly wasting toc_bat's time.

[Dougal]

thanks for all the keen replies.

how about welding the flanges to the axles, hehehee

A year or so ago there was a picture of just that. On the front no less.:(

[Blknight.aus]

yep, the different drive flanges swap straight over, if your replacing either the flange or the axle due to spline wear you replace both...

i strongly suggest looking at the maxi drive items from MR auto.

[wagoo]

A year or so ago there was a picture of just that. On the front no less.:(
Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do Marylou.It might have been an emergency 'lets get out of here and get home' patch up job, where 4wd was a necessity, that can be sorted later with an angle grinder.
The set of badly worn rear shafts and flanges I welded up for a mate lasted him a long time, and were still intact when he was able to afford new replacements.
Welding them together whilst still fitted up to the axle and with wheel bearings adjusted snug helps to keep the flange and shaft in proper alignment, otherwise the welds or driveflange bolts will break in no time. Preloading the worn splines in the main direction of drive rotation (forward) also helps reduce the strain on the welds .
bill.

[TonyC]

toc_bat is interested in above offer so ..............

Can anyone advise if the rear axles/drive flanges from a 2002 Td5 Defender are interchangable with those from a 1995 300Tdi Defender - both fitted with Salisbury diffs?

I'm pretty sure they are but it would be reassuring to have confirmation from the more knowledgable before possibly wasting toc_bat's time.

Hi Roger,

AFAIK they should be a strait swap, the only change to Sals axles was with the change from wide to narrow hubs.

The axles from my 85 drum braked County Sals are longer than the ones from my 95 disk braked 130.

HyTuff/Maxi Drive also make versions that are longer in the hub spline that need the matching drive flanges.

I hope this helps,

A great Chrissie and New Year to all.

Tony

[Xtreme]

Thanks Tony re the axle info - And best wishes to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year. I guess those growing boys of yours really know about 'spannering' now.

BTW - we'll be staying at Merrijig on 30th April and 1st May 2012 and eating at the Hunt Club Hotel on 30th - it would be great to catch up with you again if you could find time to pop down or join us earlier in the day as done previously.

[rick130]

[snip]

HyTuff/Maxi Drive also make versions that are longer in the hub spline that need the matching drive flanges.

I hope this helps,

A great Chrissie and New Year to all.

Tony

Used to have an 'X' suffix on the part #.

Paula recommended them to me as a preferred alternative/upgrade years ago when I rang the old Maxi-Drive.