Thread: Swivel ball interchangeability

Hi Steve,

Can't answer your specific question, but I did notice something when I was slotting the balls for my POS (RRC). Bit OT:

Had two front RRC diffs to play with, 74 and 81. The flanges on the 81 balls are noticeably thicker than those on the 74 ones. From memory there was some other change (neck a little shorter on the 81's?) that compensated so there was the exact same length engagement between the axles and CV's.

Diff housings were exact same width.

Interestingly the splines on the 74 axles that had been encouraged to turn by a 350 for 300,000 kms were far less fretted than the 81 ones that had been used with a 3.5 for about half that mileage, so they were retained. Better grade of cheese in the early days maybe?

cheers, DL

Sorry if I kinda hijacked this.

Is there an answer to Steve's question out there somewhere? Be interesting to know the answer.

DL

I've been told that they are interchangeable as long as the number of mounting bolts is the same (in this case they are both 7 hole - apparently early Rangies had 6-bolt)

This ties up with the listings I've found online (eg lrseries.com) for part numbers FRC2644 and FTC5105.

Steve

Originally Posted by steveG

Looking to get a pair of swivels slotted to sort out the negative caster on the County.
I've got some in the shed from a D1 update - would they be the same? I know they will have a different top bearing for the ABS compared to the railco bush on the County ones, but I'm hoping the actual swivels are the same once the bearings/bushes are removed.

Anyone know for sure?

Steve

No, not the same but still easy enough to do.
The Ball housing is diffrent but everything else interchanges.
I just had the swivels from a 96 D1 ready to rebuild and swap straight on to my 96 defender diff ,however, I found the D1 UPPER housing hole for the railco bush doesnt allow you to fit a taper roller cup. It is machined without a shoulder for the cup to sit in. The Railco bush is located by a shoulder on the bush, where as the Defender unit has a shoulder in the housing for the bearing cup to seat in.

Sorry no pics as I have already rebuilt the swivels and refitted.
Nothing to stop you putting the D1 swivel/ball on as a complete unit, as the swivel ball to diff housing bolt pattern should be the same.

Edit: whoops just made an assumption on county and Defender fronts being the same. So this may be irrelevant. Part FTC5105 suggests the same housing for Defender / County with pre 96 D1.
+ I originally wrote lower instead of Upper sorry

Hmmm - the plot thickens.

My '85 County balls have tapered roller lower, and railco upper.
The '97 D1 (ABS) balls I have here have tapered roller lower, and ABS style bush upper. I'm assuming that the ABS bush can be replaced by the County railco type but I haven't tested that.

If I understand correctly you've got:
'96 D1 with railco top and bottom?? Is it non-ABS?
'96 Defender with tapered roller top and bottom?

Steve

I just edited my post a little when I realised you had Railcos in the County as I always thought earlier swivels were TR top and bottom.

I just went out to look
I have 96 D1 with ABS Railcos top and TR bottom.
96 Defender TR top and bottom.

Swivel/ Axle housings are same part no and identical different pins only to fit. Ball housings different according to Railcos or TR.

Cheers

Since I just came off night shift I realise I probabaly have just muddied the waters

Can you find the axle number?
FTC 5105 is the Ball housing part # which covers most of the front axle codes with a railco bush after S3 models and in theory covers your county which should allow the same Railco to be fitted.

According to Roverparts website the County, Defender, D1 with axle codes 20L- 21L- 22L- 23L all share the FTC5105 Ball housing and Axle/Swivel housing FTC2529 (variation for L&R part #) with a Railco Top bush. The pin Part # is FRC3511. and the bush part #8510267 for non ABS.

So if you have an axle code in the range above the answer to your OP should in theory be yes. With the whole lot interchanging.

cheers

Steve, the swivels I have here are complete with spindles, cv's, rotors etc.....does that help?