Salisbury axle on an 88"

Has anyone done this successfully? I did it myself years ago on my old Land-Rover but it didn't work too well - there were nasty vibrations on over-run. The diff is longer than the Rover one so the propshaft had to be shortened. I did this myself and did not get it balanced. Another problem is that as the Salisbury diff is of a hypoid design and so the pinion is offset below the centre-line of the axle. To make sure the U.J.s did not bind I welded the spring brackets such that axle was rotated so that the pinion was lifted 25mm, but this meant that the diff pinion and the output flange on the back of the gearbox were no longer parallel.

I'm thinking about doing something more radical this time - taking the halfshafts out, cutting the axle tubes either side of the diff, turning the diff upside down, then welding the three parts back together with sleeves over the joins. This will mean that the pinion will now be offset above the axle centre-line and the prop shaft will be almost horizontal on level ground. Any thoughts on this?

fenby1976 said:

Any thoughts on this?

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Er, why? Are you busting a lot of diffs? Seems a lot of faffing about & I'm not sure what the gains would be?

Yep busted a half shaft on a rocky climb out 'laning on Sunday.

Sounds like Your too hard on your drive chain.
If you feel like your going to snap somthing then it's time to get out the winch.

Oh come on... who doesn't like scrabbling up an axle twisting rock climb?

So if it's yer half shafts yer busting not your diff cun't you just fit uprated half shafts? Someone must do 'em dun't they?

Still sounds a lot of faff because of one busted half shaft.

That would be the ideal way to go as it would retain the better ground clearance of the rover axle. KAM do a pair for £215 - ouch! + I would need to sort out a 4.7:1 diff with 24 slines. I'm just too tight to go down that road

I may be being stupid here, but if you turn the diff upside down, will the wheels still revolve in the same direction?

Hahaahahaahhhaaaaaaahahahaha!

Cheers ! you just made my day

Nope.... front axel would go forward and rear axel would go backward. If your chassis is rusty enough it would be like a clown car splitting down the middle

Got one on my 88" need a shorter prop to start with. pair of LWB dampers.

Look a reasonably easy job to do (Was done when I got it)

Can post piccys if you want. (May be a while getting round to these (to much work not enough play))

Davec said:

I may be being stupid here, but if you turn the diff upside down, will the wheels still revolve in the same direction?

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Hee hee, I was waiting for someone to say that.

*Edit* That was weird, I replied to a different thread but the reply appeared here. Hmm!

Many would say you should have just left me carry on and do that mod and found out for myself. It would have been twice as funny if I had gone ahead and done it . - Devec many thanks mate - you've saved my ass!

Does your setup work without vibration iannotts? Has the axle been rotated to lift the pinion? Do the U.J.s show any signs of binding after going off road?

dunno about vibration ermm check the piccy of the series in my sig, uj's seem fine and no sign of rubbing on the prop, it did have military shackles on so tilting the diff up.

Ian