Thread: Ashcroft ATB

I had a quaife in my recently sold RRC with a maxi in the back.
In on road driving the only effect I could discern was a slight reluctance to turn initially eg coming into a curve where it would go straight then with a little more lock start to turn. Once in the curve there was no difference. It made the steering just a little less "nice" than a new stock box. BTW , this was reduced when I fitted a new steering box.

I wonder if anyone can tell you how much more traction they get. you would have to do a back to back comparison, but I can tell you that I climbed out of Cannibal creek the hard way towing a camper trailer on ATs , when the 4WD Australia crew got stuck without a trailer, to the cheers of assembled onlookers. It seems to go anywhere humanly possible without any fuss. This is all without TC. I recall I was hung up on the trailer a frame and was just able to reverse straight out much to my astonishment.
Dunno about rocks but the TC will load up the wheel in the air and therefore transfer the traction to the wheel on the ground. I think it depends on your driving style if you skip sideways. Again I recall someone in a Nissan Patrol talking about some wombat holes on a creek exit being "horrific" when I could hardly recall them.
YES It will be stronger.
I am sold on front Quaifes and will probably buy 2x ATBs for my D2 if I can ever afford it.
Regards Philip A

Yeh I hear you about how to say how much more traction there is.

With a locker you can try without it activated then turn it on and try straight away. Similiar can be done with some cars TC.

I guess the better question could be is how much extra traction does a front locker give to a P38 with traction in the front (99+ I believe). And then assume the ATB will be closer to the locker, than none at all.

The quaife atb will lock in the vicinity of 85 percent, however ashcroft say the angle on their helical gears are steeper than the quaife diff so it should lock to a greater percentage.

I imagine with the etc it will be very controlable.

So it looks like the diff shouldn't be noticeable in normal driving conditions.. Tick.

But I'm hoping someone has locked (even fully locked) a p38 with traction control in the front and they fall upon this thread and let me know how much better traction there is locking the front over just traction control.

It is fairly common that locking the rear will make a bigger difference than the front in most cars when climbing, and I noticed this when mine is turned on.

But I have heard some people say locking the front doesn't have as dramatic effect on traction due to weight transfer (or is it just less than the rear). So with TC already in the front I'm not convinced the difference will be overly noticeable.

Hoping to be convinced by someone who has done something in the front with TC.

The ATB in the front is going to let you steer around corners without snapping a drive shaft too. Don't get me wrong diff locks are the best option for keeping al wheels spinning at the same speed (fine if you are going in a straight line) but as when you need to do a sharp corner???? The ATB will do it seamlessly. I think what you are proposing is the perfect option, locked up rear and ATB on the front, plus you have the advantage over pre Bosch Rangies that you have TC in the front end. From my own research the ATB will enhance the front traction minimizing the TC from kicking in.
I'd love to put the a locker in the rear and the ATB on the front as soon as the funds pick up again. For the moment the money is getting spent on repairs, CVJ, drive shaft and a VC .

Gary

Originally Posted by mtb_gary

The ATB in the front is going to let you steer around corners without snapping a drive shaft too. Don't get me wrong diff locks are the best option for keeping al wheels spinning at the same speed (fine if you are going in a straight line) but as when you need to do a sharp corner???? The ATB will do it seamlessly. I think what you are proposing is the perfect option, locked up rear and ATB on the front, plus you have the advantage over pre Bosch Rangies that you have TC in the front end. From my own research the ATB will enhance the front traction minimizing the TC from kicking in.
I'd love to put the a locker in the rear and the ATB on the front as soon as the funds pick up again. For the moment the money is getting spent on repairs, CVJ, drive shaft and a VC .

Gary

Thanks for the reply Gary. Yeh that would definitely put a hold on the diffs with that list.

Yeh the lack of steering is what's steered me towards an ATB in the front. The rear being locked works wonders in the driving I do. Sand driving will likely mean the rear stays turned off though I'd say.

I'm still worried that I spend $750 to land an ATB here to find that the increase in traction is not noticeable over already having 3.5 wheel drive....

Who knows I might just decide to do it..... And do some comparisons somewhere that are repeatable.. Yeh thats the hard part. Maybe I hook some good cable to my car and take a load cell home from work to measure the pull but even that might be hard to make repeatable.

Peter.

My current intention is to get Ashcroft ATB units in both front and rear of my P38.
As per the design intention of the Range Rover I don't want to have to think about what to lock and when I just want it to have awesome off-road capability and for it to go wherever I point it without snapping half-shafts on the way.

I'm impressed with the standard capability of the P38, the 4 wheel TC is really good, especially if you can keep the revs down and let it grip and crawl. We took a camper trailer onto Stradbroke Island at the weekend and in places like the beach entrance/exit the sand was so dry and churned up by other 4x4s that we had to drop the KM2s to about 12psi to get through. What a pulling machine the P38 is though, it felt unstoppable with the tyres down that low.
Climbing the steep dune track to the camp area on Main Beach was a different story, had to get assistance from the front winch for that, awesome weekend overall but I'd love to know how much easier those dunes would have been with a couple of ATB diffs.

I should point out, I am now not concerned about how well the Ashcroft ATB will mostly lock thanks to the posts on here, but it's more about how much improvement it will give over the TC in the front. I wouldn't doubt the improvement in the rear over the standard open diff and TC.

While I have no regrets getting the locker in the rear cause it's worked wonders, I may have visited the ATB in the rear if I had realised their good rep a year ago.