Hello again and answering my own question.
The front axle serial number on my truck, located on the axle tube below the left hand breather, is 91170244E.
From a little further searching of obscure web sites I gather that the first three digits (911) identifies the axle casing as having been fitted originally to a 109 4 cylinder RHD truck - confirming my long held suspicion that these were not the original axles and diffs, Ratel being an 88 truck. The suffix (E) apparently identifies the vehicle as possibly containing some metric parts.
Axles3 by Neil MacLeod, on Flickr
I cant locate a serial number on the rear axle, but the tube diameter is the same as the front axle.
So, drawing this together I am concluding that the U bolts on my truck are indeed metric as apparently fitted to some, if not all, S3 Land Rovers. Makes a nice change from Miss Scarlet with the lead pipe in the observatory.....
Cheers,
Neil
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