defender axle onto a series--advice neede

hiya,

ive got an early 90 front axle with the disk brakes. Ive chopped all
signs of coil mounts and so on, so all i have now is a tube, ive
mounted on the recievers for the leaf springs.

so, now , its not really a problem fitting the axle but i was
wondering what im going to encounter with the steering linkage rods.

has anyone done this mod and if so what have you done to get it to
work acceptably. i know ill need arches on,but what other problems has
anyone encounterd?

i am right in asuming this will give me better turning ability are`nt
i.and stopping power.

thanks


Andy

dave wrote:
> hiya,
>
> ive got an early 90 front axle with the disk brakes. Ive chopped all
> signs of coil mounts and so on, so all i have now is a tube, ive
> mounted on the recievers for the leaf springs.
>
> so, now , its not really a problem fitting the axle but i was
> wondering what im going to encounter with the steering linkage rods.
>
> has anyone done this mod and if so what have you done to get it to
> work acceptably. i know ill need arches on,but what other problems has
> anyone encounterd?
>
> i am right in asuming this will give me better turning ability are`nt
> i.and stopping power.

Before you go any further - have you set up the leaf spring mounts to
give you proper caster angle?


--
EMB

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:08:37 +1200, EMB <[email protected]> wrote:

>dave wrote:
>> hiya,
>>
>> ive got an early 90 front axle with the disk brakes. Ive chopped all
>> signs of coil mounts and so on, so all i have now is a tube, ive
>> mounted on the recievers for the leaf springs.
>>
>> so, now , its not really a problem fitting the axle but i was
>> wondering what im going to encounter with the steering linkage rods.
>>
>> has anyone done this mod and if so what have you done to get it to
>> work acceptably. i know ill need arches on,but what other problems has
>> anyone encounterd?
>>
>> i am right in asuming this will give me better turning ability are`nt
>> i.and stopping power.
>
>Before you go any further - have you set up the leaf spring mounts to
>give you proper caster angle?

errrrr !!!!!1!

well, they were taken off precisely with no extra bobbles of metal
or anything.

actually my mate set em up and welded em on, ( that gets me off the
hook) and hes an engineer,

so how would i set the castor angle up and what will happen if i have
it set wrong?

regards

andy

dave wrote:

> errrrr !!!!!1!
>
> well, they were taken off precisely with no extra bobbles of metal
> or anything.
>
> actually my mate set em up and welded em on, ( that gets me off the
> hook) and hes an engineer,
>
> so how would i set the castor angle up and what will happen if i have
> it set wrong?

If it's wrong you'll either find the steering excessively heavy, or the
steering will not self-centre when you let go of the steering wheel.

To set it up you should have set the old axle up with it's kingpins
vertical and seen exactly how far off level the spring pads were before
you cut them off. I guess you could check this on another series front
axle now. You should then have set up the new axle with it's kingpins
vertical and welded the spring pads on to the same angle they were on
the previous axle.

So long as it's not too far out you can correct any minor problems with
wedges between the springs and the axle.

--
EMB

"EMB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> So long as it's not too far out you can correct any minor problems with
> wedges between the springs and the axle.

I've toyed with defender axles many times in the past but I've yet to find
anyone provide me with a explanation as to how to get over the problem of
the trackrod arm which links both wheels fouling the leaf springs.

Lots of people will tell you it's been done, just short of the explanation
to convince me it's worth the myther.

I went for a pair of Stage 1 Axles in the end. Replaced all the brake items
and the Brakes now launch passenger seat back at the top of the street at
the first junction. (More so if I've not driven it a while as I quickly
forget )... But I was lucky to drop on them.

Lee D

On Wed, 6 Apr 2005 22:56:21 +0100, "Lee_D"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>"EMB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> So long as it's not too far out you can correct any minor problems with
>> wedges between the springs and the axle.
>
>I've toyed with defender axles many times in the past but I've yet to find
>anyone provide me with a explanation as to how to get over the problem of
>the trackrod arm which links both wheels fouling the leaf springs.
>
>Lots of people will tell you it's been done, just short of the explanation
>to convince me it's worth the myther.
>
>I went for a pair of Stage 1 Axles in the end. Replaced all the brake items
>and the Brakes now launch passenger seat back at the top of the street at
>the first junction. (More so if I've not driven it a while as I quickly
>forget )... But I was lucky to drop on them.
>
>Lee D
>

excuse my ignorance,,,but what do stage 1 axles have on? and on what
vehicles were they fitted to, from what year to what year.

still leaf?

maybe worth grabbing some if they turn up for sale.

regards

Andy

"dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> excuse my ignorance,,,but what do stage 1 axles have on? and on what
> vehicles were they fitted to, from what year to what year.
>
> still leaf?
>
> maybe worth grabbing some if they turn up for sale.

Indeed. They were fitted to Stage 1 Series III's. Stage 1 being the name
given to the first constant 4x4 Series vehicles though technically some may
argue they aren't series IIIs at all but just Stage 1's.

They look to all intents like a SIII but have the grill flush with the
headlights and the longer bonnet later found on 110's and 90's. They came
with the contstant 4x4 gearbox also found in the early rangies and had 3.5
V8's. Good ones are quite sought after and there are a few SWB ones knocking
around but these can be counted on one hand if my memory serves me right.

The Stage 1 Axles have the 3 inch wide brake pads or is it 2 1/2 inch wide?
I forget, 11 Inch Diameter drums and the front Axle is a rover type diff at
3.56 Ratio and the rear axle is a Sailsbury type Diff at 3.56 Ratio again
with the larger drums brakes. Indeed the same Brakes are fitted to the 101.

To fit them to Percy (SWB) I had to relocate the rear leaf spring pads and
fabricate a new rear prop as the sailsbuty diff has a longer casing and
hence a shorter prop is required... that and the fact my gearbox etc was
alot closer to the axle anyway.

If the higher ratio is a problem then Stage 1 Axles may not be for you.

Percy is Automatic and did until recently have a 4.2 Jaguar lump fitted so I
needed the extra braking and the strength offered by the Sailsbury Diff and
halfshafts. That said the Auto box tends to dish out less punishment.

More info on my site linked below.

Cheers

Lee D

--

www.lrproject.com

Workshop photos from Landrover repairs
& other such tinkerings.
Home of Percy the Jag powered Landrover

Lee_D wrote:

(snip)

> Indeed. They were fitted to Stage 1 Series III's. Stage 1 being the name
> given to the first constant 4x4 Series vehicles though technically some
> may argue they aren't series IIIs at all but just Stage 1's.
(snip)

Just being picky - definitely Series 3 Stage 1. But they were not the first
Series vehicles with constant 4x4 - this was fitted to Landrovers from
there introduction up to August 1950, with a freewheel instead of a centre
diff.
JD

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 00:22:30 +0100, "Lee_D"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>"dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
>> excuse my ignorance,,,but what do stage 1 axles have on? and on what
>> vehicles were they fitted to, from what year to what year.
>>
>> still leaf?
>>
>> maybe worth grabbing some if they turn up for sale.
>
>Indeed. They were fitted to Stage 1 Series III's. Stage 1 being the name
>given to the first constant 4x4 Series vehicles though technically some may
>argue they aren't series IIIs at all but just Stage 1's.
>
>They look to all intents like a SIII but have the grill flush with the
>headlights and the longer bonnet later found on 110's and 90's. They came
>with the contstant 4x4 gearbox also found in the early rangies and had 3.5
>V8's. Good ones are quite sought after and there are a few SWB ones knocking
>around but these can be counted on one hand if my memory serves me right.
>
>The Stage 1 Axles have the 3 inch wide brake pads or is it 2 1/2 inch wide?
>I forget, 11 Inch Diameter drums and the front Axle is a rover type diff at
>3.56 Ratio and the rear axle is a Sailsbury type Diff at 3.56 Ratio again
>with the larger drums brakes. Indeed the same Brakes are fitted to the 101.
>
>To fit them to Percy (SWB) I had to relocate the rear leaf spring pads and
>fabricate a new rear prop as the sailsbuty diff has a longer casing and
>hence a shorter prop is required... that and the fact my gearbox etc was
>alot closer to the axle anyway.
>
>If the higher ratio is a problem then Stage 1 Axles may not be for you.
>
>Percy is Automatic and did until recently have a 4.2 Jaguar lump fitted so I
>needed the extra braking and the strength offered by the Sailsbury Diff and
>halfshafts. That said the Auto box tends to dish out less punishment.
>
>More info on my site linked below.
>
>Cheers
>
>Lee D


excellent info Lee, thanks for that.

i do have 11 inch drums on, and ive got 3.5 diffs so i think ive kinda
got what youre describing already.

its not the stopping power i was after more than anything, its the
turning i wanted to improve, the stopping being a bonus.

thanks again


andy