Making a MaxiDrive fit where it shouldn't

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Originally Posted by stirlsilver

It's a pitty about the flange, I was pretty hopefull there was an easy way out!!

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There is - swap to 4.7's F&R, and fit 0.998:1 high range gears in the t-case!!! :D

If you don't want to do that I still wouldn't machine the ring gear. As Rovercare said, you will need to spin it up on the lathe and use a grinder - you will have a hell of a time machining it evenly, and an even worse time setting up the gear pattern.

Do you have the carrier that the hemisphere was originally fitted to?

I would call and speak to Mal himself. I spoke to him once about turning a very old HD front axle in a mate's rangie (back) into a locker. He told me all the different iterations the lockers had been through, and that parts for all of them were still available.

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Originally Posted by stirlsilver

However it wouldn't fit back together with the 3.5 gears. So i've decided to use my original carrier that came with my car and mill the bearing holders to the right size.

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Why don't you use the casing the locker came in, to save having to mill a new one? As BOR said, they are the same.

Can't see why the 3.54 pinion wouldn't fit the 4.7 member, any details why not??

another problem you'll face is moving the carrier to suit the mesh, as you may run out of room pushing the carrier bearings across :o

isuzu,
going to 4.7's front and rear was suggested to me at british off road, but I don't really see that as an option since I have a salisbury rear diff. Plus tracking down another complete axle assembly is something I would rather not do. Perhaps I don't have to grind the ring gear, and simply machining the flange down by 3-4mm will get me out of the woods.

I could use the original carrier that came with the diff, however the input shaft seal holder is in pretty bad shape, and I'm told that the later carriers are much stronger and better designed then the ones mounted on the original series landies.

rovercare,
The 3.5 pinion fit in the original 4.7 carrier no problem, the bearings just needed to be swapped, however like you said with the bearings, the diff center needed to be so far across that it fouled with the side of the carrier, and there was only about 3 threads left for the bearing caps thats why some material needs to come off somewhere so that I can actually achieve a correct mesh and have the bearings closeish to where they should be.

I'll give mal a call and see what he has to say.

spoke to mal, he told me that the maxi drive I have is a really old one, possibly pre-production and there is no parts available for it. I discussed the options with him and he said while grinding the ring gear or flange isn't good, I should be able to get away with taking off 2mm off both the ring gear and flange.

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Originally Posted by stirlsilver

isuzu,
going to 4.7's front and rear was suggested to me at british off road, but I don't really see that as an option since I have a salisbury rear diff. Plus tracking down another complete axle assembly is something I would rather not do. Perhaps I don't have to grind the ring gear, and simply machining the flange down by 3-4mm will get me out of the woods.

I could use the original carrier that came with the diff, however the input shaft seal holder is in pretty bad shape, and I'm told that the later carriers are much stronger and better designed then the ones mounted on the original series landies.

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To change the sals to 4.7:1 you just need a centre and a ring and pinion (the ring gear flange is in a different position on the sals too). Contrary to popular opinion, you just need a couple of tyre levers to change centres. But it is probably just as easy to get a complete sals since they are so cheap. I bought one recently drum-drum for $200 in good nick.

Isn't the pinion seal retainer bolt-on? I have never had a problem with the strength of early casings.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

To change the sals to 4.7:1 you just need a centre and a ring and pinion (the ring gear flange is in a different position on the sals too). Contrary to popular opinion, you just need a couple of tyre levers to change centres. But it is probably just as easy to get a complete sals since they are so cheap. I bought one recently drum-drum for $200 in good nick.

Isn't the pinion seal retainer bolt-on? I have never had a problem with the strength of early casings.

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Agggh, yea to change the gears, what about setting up the pinion height correctly???? need a little more than a set of levers ;)

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Originally Posted by rovercare

Agggh, yea to change the gears, what about setting up the pinion height correctly???? need a little more than a set of levers ;)

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Yeah, but nothing more than you need to set up a rover ring and pinion diff properly - which will have to be done on the front. Admittedly, the sals is a bit more annoying to set up, as you need to dismantle, add/remove shims, then reassemble every time you don't get it right.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

Admittedly, the sals is a bit more annoying to set up, as you need to dismantle, add/remove shims, then reassemble every time you don't get it right.

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yuck heh heh :p I'll go with the machining/grinding. See how it goes