Disco 1 changed the axle could use some advice!

ok so i had some issues with the diff being sloppy and then both bearings decided they wanted to complain and give me some hassle also so i decided rather than by ALL the parts to just get a 2nd hand axle.

now the car is a disco 1 300tdi WITH ABS....
the new axle came from was a 300tdi NON ABS...

so here's what i have done and what i left out what i need is advice on if what i done was fine and if what i left out was/is safe.

removed the calipers from the old axle and fitted them to the new one as the new one had 2 brake lines and the ones fitted had only 1.

removed the ABS sensor wires from under the hood (small round ish connector) left them disconnected.

now for the part that got left off. the steering damper and the round wheel type thing on the bracket. one of the bolts snapped trying to get it off the old unit and the one that didn't wouldn't fit the new unit so they got left off.

now i have driven the car since and if anything it all feels better than it was no issues with wheel shake. no diff knock on taking up drive slack. so what exactly does the damper and the wheel thing do? should i be getting a lift to bearmach to get whats needed to make it fit?

and do i need to do anything with the disconnected ABS leads. (do i need to tape them up or are they good left open.)

thanks in advance for all/any reply's

You should be able to strip the hubs off the swivels and retrofit the ABS sensors. You will also need to swap the CV joints over as the sensor ring is on the CV outer cup I think. I wouldnt leave them off as if they find out you disabled ABS your insurers could get a bit picky in a crash and they will spot it if they send a loss adjuster out...

The round thing is a vibration damper. Mine got wiped off on a rock at some point a long time before I noticed it was gone... You need the steering damper to be bolted on properly though so that broken bolt needs sorting out. You can drive without the damper but ti tends to behave oddly in my experince if you hit a pothole or bump.

chris-the-gerbil said:

You should be able to strip the hubs off the swivels and retrofit the ABS sensors. You will also need to swap the CV joints over as the sensor ring is on the CV outer cup I think. I wouldnt leave them off as if they find out you disabled ABS your insurers could get a bit picky in a crash and they will spot it if they send a loss adjuster out...

The round thing is a vibration damper. Mine got wiped off on a rock at some point a long time before I noticed it was gone... You need the steering damper to be bolted on properly though so that broken bolt needs sorting out. You can drive without the damper but ti tends to behave oddly in my experince if you hit a pothole or bump.

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thanks for the info i figured the wheel would be something silly and irrelevant so i'll stick to leaving that off. as for the snapped bolt it was snapped on the old unit so that's not a problem however the bolt that came out whole wont fit the new unit, looks like there hasn't been anything bolted in there for a long time! i'll stay cautious for a few days and get it on some bumpy roads and not so roads and see how it go's test drive felt good only thing i noticed was steering was a little bit lighter.

as for the ABS i more wanted to know if the connectors were safe or not just hanging around my engine bay open. my ABS has never worked and i like it that way being why i didn't mind too much about fitting a non abs replacement. i will however check with my insurance company what the deal would be "should" i remove the ABS and inform them of it. if they tell me too many nasty things i guess it will be time to strip the old unit for the cv's and bits needed to put it back on. however as i said even with the old axle the ABS never worked. (no dash light and no i didn't take out the bulb lol but im guessing its blown. i know its not the system because a while back i had a lot of speedo issues and i changed the clocks and the light was on with the other clocks lol)