Hub brake help

[rust]

I've never had drum brakes before so I'm hoping you can help with a couple of questions. Because my perentie is mainly used for beach launching the boat, I'm curious for the best method to get the salt out of the rear drums and precautionary measures. Also, would it be a wise choice to convert to rear disks when the drums fail considering the beach and salt water work that averages about 3 times a week?

[Bearman]

Converting to rear discs would be the best solution as flushing drums is difficult at the best of times. look for a later defender salisbury diff that has discs as standard fit and just swap it over. The brake m/c won't need to be changed to handle the rear discs. Proportioning valve is integral in the m/c and is the same drum or disc model on the perenties.

[mark2]

I'm also thinking about swapping to rear discs. Its appealing to just drop in a later rear end, rather than stuff around converting what I have, and I can get a complete 300 tdi rear salisbury diff for a reasonable price. But all the talk about the later hubs being weaker due to narrower bearing spacing and the thinner drive flanges puts me off a bit. In the real world, are the later hub and flange setups ok?

[rust]

Thanks for the advice bearman, seems like the plan - Curious to read comments about Mark2's question?

[isuzutoo-eh]

As regards strength of hubs, sure the earlier stuff with wider bearing spacing is better designed and should be better for the long term bearing life, but bearing failure on a Landy is rarely due to weight, more due to lack of lubrication or poor adjustment. I have no data to show it, but gut feeling is the narrower bearing hubs are 'plenty good enough' for the job they do.
Having said all that i'm sticking with wide bearing spacing wherever I can.

[Blknight.aus]

drill a hole in the top and bottom of the backing plate and fit a half inch hose into them feed this (both sides)from a 3/4 inch fitting.

do your beach work, pull up somewhere and then hook up the hose,