Fully floating axles - Why?

[TimNZ]

A bit of a question for the brains trust, why do they, (LR), bother having fully floating rear axles on the defender? The reason I ask is because my 110 has flogged out another set of drive flanges and when it goes to the dealer next week they will possibly fit new ones with a generous amount of loctite. So why do they not fit "one piece" semi floating axles, or just weld the drive flanges on?

Cheers,

Tim

[Grimace]

I don't understand why you would argue against full floating axles.

[weeds]

my 110 has flogged out another set of drive flanges and when it goes to the dealer next week they will possibly fit new ones with a generous amount of loctite.

Cheers,

Tim

what sort of loctite are you talking about, not sure how a generous amount will help

i have no idea why they are fully floating

fit maxi drive axles 'hy-tuff', convert to oil lubed and all will be good............

[rick130]

Ah, I think you are asking why they use two piece axles instead of a flanged axle, like everybody else ?

Tradition and cost. It's cheaper for them to make a two piece setup. IMO a one piece flanged axle is better.

A fully floating axle is determined by how it's suspended by the hub bearings, not whether the axle is flanged or two piece
eg. a single row bearing, as used in the rear of coiler Patrols is a semi-floating axle as part of the vehicle weight is borne by the axle. ie, you can't withdraw the axle without the hub and wheels falling off as there is no stub axle.

A full floating axle uses spaced bearings between the stub axle and hub and you can remove the axle independently of the hub and wheels and still use the vehicle, tow it, etc. the axles bear no vehicle weight.

[rick130]

A bit of a question for the brains trust, why do they, (LR), bother having fully floating rear axles on the defender? The reason I ask is because my 110 has flogged out another set of drive flanges and when it goes to the dealer next week they will possibly fit new ones with a generous amount of loctite. So why do they not fit "one piece" semi floating axles, or just weld the drive flanges on?

Cheers,

Tim

BTW, the loctite will last hardly any time, even if they use something like 680 IMO, but good luck, I could be wrong.

As weeds said, the only cure with two piece axles is oil lubed hubs and an RTC3511 hub seal.

I can't believe this problem is still persisting after all these years (since going to greased hubs in the early nineties)
It's situations like this that give you the poops when companies don't address known problems, and this has been happening and leaving people stranded for near on twenty years now.
How bloody pathetic......

[isuzurover]

If you want one piece flanged axles, buy some of these from Rovertracks:


HOWEVER - as others has mentioned, this does not convert your axle to semi floating, it is still a full floating axle.

[Slunnie]

I apart from the practical benfits wrt broken axles etc, I was always under the impression that full floating setups were able to carry more load than comparable semi floaters.

[roverrescue]

Talking benefits of one piece vs two piece,

One little trick I have up my touring sleeve is the trailer I run when heading north has landy hubs / stubs. For the trailer I broached out the splines on old drive flanges and capped them off to seal the hub.... so if I ever break an axle or diff on the 130, I can swap the driven flanges off the truck with the broached flanges of the trailer, drop the appropriate tail shaft and not have to pull hubs/ swivels apart in the bush (especially the fronts with CV and all).

havent had to use it in anger but Im sure i will be happy if I ever have to!!!!

Steve

[JDNSW]

I apart from the practical benfits wrt broken axles etc, I was always under the impression that full floating setups were able to carry more load than comparable semi floaters.

Everything else being equal (which it rarely is) a full floating axle can carry more load than semifloating simply because there are two bearings carrying the load not one. The other advantage is that in the event of a broken axle, the wheel affected retains the correct alignment, reducing the possibility of loss of control.

Again, everything being equal, the axle is less likely to break, because the axle is in pure torque, not torque plus bending moment because of the weight it is carrying. In theory, this also makes the axle lighter for the same strength, but in practice the heavier hub to carry two bearings makes up for this.

Apart from lower manufacturing cost, the two piece flange and axle setup, allowing a small amount of movement between the shaft and the flange, relieves the half axle of small bending moments that will result from loose wheel bearings or distortion of the axle housing.

John

[PAT303]

The wheels stay on if you snap an axle or flog out a bearing,thats one of the good things but overall floating axles are a better design.With the two piece flange I put a blob of grease in the cap every time I greased the uni's and the disco still had it's originals when I sold it or go the oil route. Pat