Hey J-L,
I have stomped and romped pretty hard on my stock front axle, both on grabby
hard-pack and on sand. I figured that if I was going to grenade something
it would be best to try do it close to home. Since most of the time I am
off-roading in the middle of nowhere I am very conservative with the power,
but around home I'll push it to the limits. So far, no problems with the
stock front axles.
I spoke with Timm recently and he has moved on to a bigger and badder front
axle. He is now running a Salisbury front axle with bigger brake disks than
he was running on the stock front axle. Given the wildman-behind-the-wheel
driving style I have seen Timm exhibit with no ensuing axle failures, I
figure my stock front axle should be OK.
The turning radius was decreased with the wider offset wheels, and it looks
like I could even screw in the wheel stops a bit more to further improve
things.
All of that said, I would still like to beef up the front diff just to be
safer.
Lonn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jean-Leon Morin" <offroaddesign@softhome.net>
To: <lro@works.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 12:56 PM
Subject: LRO: Axles
> As some of you may know, I have been looking into the possibility of
> changing over to late model Dana axles, modified to fit the series rover's
> width. I just got a bit of bad news as narrowing the axleshafts costs a
lot
> when you are dealing with such an imposing axleshaft.
>
> I am reconsidering the whole idea in a big way. This e mail is primarily
> addressed to Lonn, and TeriAnn, but others always seem to have interesting
> insights and ideas, so that's why I am mass-mailing it.
>
> Most conversions I have heard of are running a salisbury differential in
the
> rear. This appears to be a very tough diff, perfectly capable of handling
a
> stout V8 or, in my case, a large 6 cylinder. This is common knowledge. If
I
> do stick with rover axles, I'll be going to a salisbury at the rear, and a
> rover at the front.
>
> What I'm worried about is the front diff. How is this end of the equation
> holding up? Lonn and TeriAnn are using bone stock front axles,and I
haven't
> heard of any breakages... yet.
>
> TeriAnn, you even have a Quaife (sp?) diff lock in the front, and, the
> stocker axleshafts are holding up nicely, considering that you have quite
a
> bit of weight in the Green Rover, and power to boot. Lonn has a lot of
> power, and a whole lot of tire to spin, but yet seems to have evaded
> breakages.
>
> Well, here goes. Is it safe to assume that the front axleshafts are
capable
> of handling a fair amount of abuse? I realise the rear ones are put to the
> test in daily driving, and the front see limited strain IE only off-road,
> but it seems that they are OK for pretty hard off-road use. As far as I
can
> tell, Timm Cooper's rock crawling rig has a stock rover axle (except for
> brakes) up front, and I can pretty much bet that Mr 5+ howler monkey would
> have a front salisbury under there if it was needed.
>
> I've heard of broken half shafts up front, but they seem to be a little
less
> common than rear axleshaft breakage. Maybe the front carnage can be
> attributed to ? years of hard use, and simply failed. Opinions on this?
>
> Lonn, how is the turning radius with your new wheels and tires? Better or
> worse than the old tire/wheel combination?
>
>
> Lots of questions, sorry everyone.
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Jean-Leon Morin
> AKA "Dr. Detroit"
>
> Valdez - 1966 IIA 109 freak
> Slagmobile - 195? II parts bin
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Apr 26 2001 - 21:32:00 EDT