Thread: Rear Diff replacement

I don't know if any of this helps you but it may be of use to somebody out there - From LRWorld magazine:

Q: Please could you let me know what axles are a direct swap for my 1985 2.5 Diesel 110. I want to put disc brakes on the back and if possible raise the overall gearing.

A: You will need a Salisbury rear axle from a 300Tdi or TD5 Defender to get a disc brake set up on the rear. Your front axle will be the same ratio (3.54:1) so if it's not worn out, keep it. To raise the gearing you need to swap the current 1.667"1 transfer box for a Defender 1.410:1 unit.
Don't go any taller on a naturally aspirated diesel: a Discovery 1.222:1 ratio will render 5th gear almost useless.

I have fitted a defender rear axle under my 110. I noticed the bracket on the axle that holds the radius arms was a little tight and had to be prized open a bit to fit. Otherwise it went straight in.

I haven't driven it yet. However, a mate of mine has replaced both axles on his 110 (1987 model) with defender axles. He didn't change over the master cylinder and it works fine. He just hooked it straight up (including the equalizer). I was told that this couldn't be done and that you needed the defender master. He has had an emergency braking situation and had no problems.

good luck.

Thanks for the info. I spoke to one of the Landie wreckers on the east coast re. the booster ( one of their staff has done the d/brake conversion) and as you said, using the existing 110 booster will work, but the braking system improved once the Defender booster/master cylinder was fitted.

My Defender (1993) has the drum brake rear end which I presume is the same as the one from the earlier 110's (?) - missed out on the discs by only 1 year.... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

Putting in a disc brake rear end would be the same for me then I presume (I presume a lot - if you know otherwise - please tell me) and ideally would need the later model booster/master cyclinder.

Having said that; is there any real world benefit in the change ?
There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the braking as it is.

Originally posted by VladTepes

Having said that; is there any real world benefit in the change ?
There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the braking as it is.

AFAIK...

Your getting disks but the rest is a drawback! The older axles were a better design from the lubricating and wear side of things, the slines on the axles are shotened and do not engage the diff as far as the older ones did.

Cant you just bolt the whole hub assembely over to the other axle??


:?:

Dave [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

that's true the drive flanges (and so axle shafts) are shorter and so will chop out quicker on a defender. I am going to bolt on my old drive flanges and use my county shafts. The shafts may poke out a couple of mm more but I doubt it. Eventually I will go with a maxi drive setup.

Vlad I didn't realise utes were plagued with rear drum brakes. My experience with landrover drums have been that the snale cam rattled back or forward on corrigations so that the shoes losened off and so no brakes in the rear. The irony then struck me that the better the brakes the faster you can go. In this case I found out that the drums were over machined with oversized shoes. I had the brakes checked before I left on the trip, and was advised to get oversized shoes. I later found out that the drums are dirt cheap (comparatively) and should have been replaced. Instead I paid $100's to try and get the brakes to work in a remote location. Consequently, I'm jadded when it comes to drum brakes.

Fortunately in my case the defender diff I am installing has maxi drive axles. Bought it from Alex after his defender rolled.

Lucky you.

Fortunate at someone else expense. 8O

I'll bet you felt really bad about it for a good 2-3 seconds after taking delivery as well. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Make sure we get some pics of the work you do - would make a good tech article for the site and/or a future issue of the newsletter. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]