I've been Shafted by BritPart!

Ok Evidence here to prove that Britpart supplied OEM drive shafts are made of cheese!

Ok today I had a go at a punch event for standard vehicles and Thus went for the more deifficult punches/numbers. Resulting in this:



Now this is not an issue but when it snapped I wasnt bouncing wheels or spinning my rear wheels up just 1st low up a steep face that isn't completly unpassable just a bit hard. I would normally say when somone breaks shafts regularly they need to learn to drive but I'll lay some background and you can make your mind up if:

A: Im a Cuunt of a driver and I will be forever breaking shafts, or
B: Britpart shafts are just worthless.


Ok now I won a salisbury on Ebay for £20 and fitted it to my 90 along with a detroit locker. The shafts seem to be original salisbury/LR items and I believe have done a fair few miles from the wear on the splines below:



Now because of the wear I brought some new cheap shafts from Paddocks so everything was nice and new with no wear. I fitted one side and never got around to the other but carried the new one as a spare just in case.

Now the nice new shaft broke today instead of the old worn item that I believe to be almost U/S. I now rate LR shafts much more than ever their temper or treatment must be better than Britpart. Also normally the short LR shaft breaks because it has less Twist flex in it due to its shorter length thus breaking the shorter one. Today I broke the longer shaft with as new splines when the other side had completly shot splines but was of LR manufacturer. I guess I may well have to fork out for a set of ashcroft shafts next time but £300 isn't exactly cheap. Jai

Now everyone knows that Britpart bits are the absolute best quality available, so it must have been how you fitted it with a hammer then musnt it... :fish:

Or your size 12 wellies with 2kg of mud on them...

They are awful - I wouldn't touch britpart parts. I don't even use their utter rubbish oil and fuel filters!

I keep on meaning to write to the magazines with a list of names of people who agree that the parts are cheap inaccurate copys.

I think I could honestly say that if I simply didn't have the money for a good brand part, I wouldn't do the job until I coudl afford it, that goes for ANY part, drive flanges, props, pumps.

I had to finish the face of a britpart water pump once, it wasn't square - most people would probably have fitted it, got it to seal and as soon as any pressure was on it, it would have sprayed coolant all over the place.

Some Brit part Parts I have used have been ok depends what it is I guess. Now im faced with £300 Ashcroft with 5 year warranty, £215 Kam bill or try and find some genuine ones cheaply Jai

Genuine almost everytime. The other times, not ****part. Im weaning my 300 off the filters then thats it.

G

Ok today I stripped the axle out took the diff out and cleaned it up in the degreaser tank. Got all of the metal out and refitted. I'm getting good at salisbury axle strip down and re assembly. Refitted the old shafts with wear on th edrive member ends so hopefully if it goes again it will be at the drive member end. Jai

my only time of useing britpart parts was a tail lamp for a series 3 ... had to throw it away and use a cheaper ebay item that was 10 times the part .....

Hi Jai,
Round my mates house looking throiugh his "AllMakes" catalogue. These are linked somehow with Frogs Island and TerraFirma, althogh I don't know exactly how.

They claim to be major Original, OEM and Replacement parts. It seems clear to me that the OEM parts supplied by Britpart are not, they are replacement and therefore have not been through Land Rover's Quality Assurance processes.

My only other thought on your driveshaft issue is that if the materials for each shaft are not equaly tough then the weaker drive shaft will take all the stress rather than it being absorbed equally by both drive shafts. So maybe two cheese driveshafts would have been OK.
Just a thought.
Graham

OK Here's a question. It is genuine if a little naive. Everyone says that Salisbury Axles are good/great/ the beesknees etc...

Why? How are they better than land rover's original spec?

its stronger.

its 24 spline standard and the shafts are, 'genuine shafts' are stronger than LR 24 spline, They are quite indestructable. The differential is 4 pin opposed to 2 pin and is much stronger. It also has superior strength in respect to the crownwheel as its so meaty. The diff casing is an inch thick. Down sides are lower ground clearance by about an inch, bloody heavy. bit of work to fit.

P.s. mine is back together pending a rear prop and oil, Couldn't be bothered to finnish it today fancied a lazy day. I'm getting good at salisbury diff removal and refitting. I took the diff out, cleaned it in the de greaser tank got rid of all the bits of shattered shaft with help form a magnet, cleaned out axle casing, refitted diff assy, fitted my old shafts and drive members, and refitted the diff pan almost good to go and that was this afternoons work inbetween trying to buy some RC plane bits online. Jai

LR diffs 2 pin are cheese in respect to salisbury. Salisbury or Dana 60 is a yank axle used on many many serious offroaders high powered beasts

So if you are using a salisbury axle, does that mean you also have to use a non standard prop?

Well depends on what vehicle. LR 110's and 130's were fitted from new so they can use a standard prop. 88's, 90's, and all 100 inch models need a shorter propshaft because the nose of the diff is longer and reduces the distance between the drive flanges transferbox-axle. This can cause more problems when articulation is at it maximum. shorter prop means greater angle for the propshaft to sit at and thus either binding at full articulation or early fatigue due to the propshaft being at a higher angle when running at 'normal' ride hight. Really a wide angled propshaft is required. I have managed to get around senerio 1 by limiting my articulation. I fitted longer bump stops to stop my tyres fowling the inner body and to stop the propshaft binding. My droop has been un altered as my shocks are still mounted as standard. Now I only have to worry about early fatigue of propshaft ujs due to higher angle of normal running. This I can deal with by keeping them greased even more regularly and take the disadvantage on my chin, Jai

The nose of the diff has to be longer to keep all the bigger and stronger internals inside bullet proof supposidly. Jai

Ah! Always the improvement in performance brings certain other considerations to the fore!

So... to expand a little further. I know that many people fit air lockers to salisbury axles... can they be fitted to standard diffs or is the difference ini strength sufficient to make this a bad idea?

jai_landrover said:

The nose of the diff has to be longer to keep all the bigger and stronger internals inside bullet proof supposidly. Jai

Click to expand...

Hmmm I have heard about bullet proof before!

Difflocks can be fitted to standard diffs but the difflock usually replaced the weaker part of the diff center. Also Diff pegging, is another strengthening option aswell as ashcroft drive shafts but they are not cheap, anyone that gives a 5 year warranty has faith in their products and with only one failure to date in god knows how many sets he has sold thats good for me.

Diff pegging:

The pinion gear is trying to turn a crownwheel this when trying to transmit extreme torque to a driveline will have th eeffect of teying to push the crown wheel away and slip causing differential failure. What diff pegging does it supports the back edge of the crownwheel by means of a pin and wear material check out Ashcroft-transmissions.com for info.

If you are doing stuff that requires difflocks then 24 spline LR is really required 10 spline isnt that strong. But what ever you upgrade there has to be a weak point in the drive line somwhere. Whats next? CV? Early 90's have larger CV joints 33% stronger it is claimed. The problem with this is the diff end of the shaft is always 10 spline and therefor a weaker point. Ashcrofts do a set of shafts so you can run later stronger 24 spline diff in the front and older stronger type CV's Jai