Thread: CV's for maxi drive axles-help!!

Tusker is doing it now/has just done it.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

You would think Mal Story would have been making County CV's for years .
He can produce practically anything, and its all top shelf, yet refers LR drivers to elsewhere for CV's?
Can it be copyright? he makes axles and flanges, so maybe not.
As professor sum de miller said "WHY IS IT SO??"

Not sure. The CV's that he made for me are basically a bigger CV which I think he said were made from Hytuff, but he machined and pressed a ring around the outside - so they are modified rather than manufactured I suppose. The CV's themselves he buys in though.

But, I don't know why he doesn't manufacture the CV's. Too busy, too much hassell, not economically viable on small scale probably.

Originally Posted by DRUT

thanks, I've found it. Will ashcroft cv's go with maxi drive axels though. has anybody got this setup. ?? I see he gives a 5 year guarantee, worth the extra $$$$$ I think.

If you buy Maxi-drive drive half shafts that are 23 spline at the cv end (24 spline at the diff end), then you can use either of the 2 styles of Ashcroft cv's. Maxi-drive keep these half shafts in stock as they are used with the early county cv's (AEU2522), which have 23 spline stars.

One of the Ashcroft cv styles, is a direct replacement for the AEU2522. To use this you will need the Maxi-drive cv kit, which consists of a bronze bush for the larger diameter stub shaft (of the AEU2522 cv) and a drive flange to suit the longer stub shaft.

That would be better IMHO, because you can easily get AEU2522 cv's if you ever break the Ashcroft cv. And the Maxi-drive flanges fix another potential problem with the rubber cap on the Rover drive flange.

The other style Ashcroft cv, has a stub shaft that is the same as your stock cv, so you don't need the Maxi-drive cv kit at $370 pair (not sure if that is + gst). The star is 23 spline (same as AEU2522), instead of the small, 32 tooth fine spline in your stock cv. This allows you to use larger diameter (much stronger) axles.

The disadvantage is if you need to replace the cv, you will have to go back to the puny, stock cv and half shaft, until you can get another from Ashcroft.

The other alternative, which hasn't been mentioned yet, is to use Toyota cv's (landcruiser before 80 series or hilux). But then you would need half shafts, bronze bushes and drive flanges from MacNamarra. The Toyota cv's have a 27 spline star and a larger 30 spline stub shaft. The inside diameter of your spindles will have to be machined about 1mm larger to allow the larger stub shaft to fit.

These stock Toyota cv's are no stronger than the AEU2522, but stronger aftermarket cv's are available from the same materials that are used by Ashcroft.

There are 2 solutions available for stronger cv's.

One is re heat treatment to reduce the hardness and increase the impact strength.

The other is to use stronger materials, as pioneered by Longfield in the USA.

AFAIK, no one has demonstrated satisfactory wear life (or shown unsatisfactory wear) with the cv's made from the stronger materials. I strongly suspect that the hardness of these cv's is less than the stock cv's.

The smaller diameter balls that are being used, although allowing the stars to be stronger, will increase the wear rate (due to increased hertzian contact stresses).

This is not a problem for the Toyotas with part time 4wd, but is important for those of us with full time 4wd, who like to do long trips to remote areas of Australia.

I have Longfield 80 series cv's in my rangie, but part time 4wd is on my to do list, because of the possible wear problem.

so i opted for modded and heat treated hilux c.v's (supposedly stronger again) and cheaper. had the stars modded by jacmac - all done by haultech engineering.

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Tusker is doing it now/has just done it.

Yep a batch of the Ashcrofts has landed. Just getting ABS rings sweated on now. 3 of us will run them.

I'd keep in touch with Mal, he's going down the Longfield route, they should be available soon.

It might be just gossip, but apparently Mal was already committed to Longfields, & had to turn down Dave Ashcrofts expression of interest to distribute his.

Whatever, the situation is going to be brighter than it has been for a while with both Ashcrofts & longfields available.

And as I understand it, the genuine County AEU2522s are almost impossible to find now - and they have no markings, GKN or otherwise.

Regards
Max P

Its a shame Mal doesn't do both.

Ah, I now understand.

I was thinking that Mal must be getting into Toyota CV conversions which have been happening for a while to upgrade the Rover CV's to something stronger. Well, at least the aftermarket ones are. I didn't really think that this was Mals style, but anyway.

I've just read on Pirate4x4 the following post which is from today and sheds a bit of light on it all.

Originally Posted by Revor

I should see the CV's to go with them in the next few days..

Originally Posted by Revor

I hope to get them tested for fit right away (need the CV's) Then We will order a whole bunch of them...
Mind you the quality of these shafts is what you expect from Longfield products!! And Bobby has been soooo Very helpful in getting this project moving for us!!!! Not only has he made the market better for Toyota's he's now making it better for Rovers!!!!

and then it made sense. Longfields are now getting into Rover upgrades, and will have "Longfield" Rover CV's.