Thread: series 3 diffs

If its all standard factory you should have the following:
Front 3.54:1 Range Rover 2 pin diff with 10 spline axles
Reard 3.54:1 Salisbury 8ha with 24 spline axles

Good Cvs, Stage1s are not hard on front diffs if driven sanely they will break front inner driveshafts due to fatigue. The rear Salisbury provided it has oil will do its job without complaint.

G'day Peanut84.
If your rear diff has a tin cover held on by bolts it is a Salisbury, if it is part of the axle casting then it is a Rover, if the vehicle was originally a 4 cylinder it would have had a Rover in the rear as standard fitment, the 6 cylinder vehicles had Salisbury rears, the front diffs were all Rover Type, what ratios you have can be checked by jacking up one wheel and rotating it in relation to the tail shaft revolutions, but I have forgotten the formula now.

im pretty sure it was a v8 from factory.
so how hard is it to find parts relating to the diff and so on,

EG: axels, diff gears, etc.

just wondering cause before i brought the 4x4 off my step dad it was sitting in the back yard for about 12months while he slowly rebuilt the motor so its been a long time since the drive train has had a decent work out apart from the box and motor. So dont want to load it up and drive 500kms and go off road and up a hill and bang there goes an axel or diff.

what are your opions??
i guess i should take the axels out and have a look at them hey????/

dan

I thought all LWB Series 3 had salisbury diffs? Certainly the four cylinder one I have has. And it is listed in the S2a as being fitted to all 109s from suffix H onward.

I would change the pinion seals on both diffs before going too far.
The rear is not likely to be a problem provided it has had oil you could pull the axles and see if they are twisted but this would probably be a waste of time.
The rear diffs are available second hand from most wreckers that have such things for about $600 if you need to buy one MAKE sure you get a 3.54:1 if you get the 4.7:1 from a normal series 3 you will have huge problems.
The front diffs are quite common as they are simply early model Range Rover diffs. The weak point will be the front inner axles I would replace with either 10 spline Maxis or maybe even 24 spline Maxis but this will involve changing the side gears in the carrier.

Originally Posted by peanut84

im pretty sure it was a v8 from factory.
so how hard is it to find parts relating to the diff and so on,

EG: axels, diff gears, etc.

just wondering cause before i brought the 4x4 off my step dad it was sitting in the back yard for about 12months while he slowly rebuilt the motor so its been a long time since the drive train has had a decent work out apart from the box and motor. So dont want to load it up and drive 500kms and go off road and up a hill and bang there goes an axel or diff.

what are your opions??
i guess i should take the axels out and have a look at them hey????/

dan

The rear salisbury axle, provided it has oil is unlikely to ever cause any problems. The diff components are the same as the 110, and the half axles and hub parts are the same as other S3 lwb, so all parts readily available.

The front axle is more of a problem. While they are durable and unlikely to give trouble if properly maintained, most of the parts except the diff centre (same as early Range Rover) are unique to this model and can be hard to find.

G'day Peanut84.
My appoligies I had forgotten that your vehicle was a Stage 1 V8, they would have had salisbury rears.

On the parts for the front end JDNSW is right apart from the diff centre in the front other parts are unique to this model. The smart place to get parts from for these at the moment is New Zealand as the NZ Army has sold off a large no and its easy to find wrecked ones. You can get parts but given a couple of years I think they will be getting harder to find.