Front Axle Types

[JD]

Anyone know if the front axle on my 1990 MOD110 (non salisbury) would be the same as on an NAS 90?

How many non salisbury types of coil sprung disc braked axles are there for Defender?

JD

[HeadDamage]

1990 is close to the line when the switched axles. I forget when the division happened but I think that it happened in 1989 so you might have the later weaker front axle like the NAS 90's have.

[JD]

What about a serial number list to identify types?

JD

[HeadDamage]

Sorry, don't have one handy but if you look around on the other rover sites you should find something. Or I believe you can tell by looking to see if you have thick or thin drive flanges on the axle. Thick flages are the earlier type and thin are the newer type. Thin ones are seen on the NAS 90's and Discos as a comparison.

[red90]

As I understand it, there are three possible axles.

From the 110 Parts catalog (sorry 90 is at home, not sure if there is a difference).

Upto 20L48865 RHS. 21 L33355

1) Early with rear drums
Upto 20L48865, RHD, early
Upto 21L33355, LHD, early

2) Late with rear drums
From 20L48865, RHD, late
From 21L33355, LHD, late

3) Later with rear discs.
Axle S/N 63L and 64L from VIN LA930435

As HeadDamage says, the switch from 1) to 2) was in the late 80's. However, MOD rovers don't necessarily follow that pattern......

edit...I just looked at my axle S/N and it is 20L59227C but certainly has the early style 23/24 spline CV joint....and is LHD, so who knows... Possibly it had the hubs swapped and the center left in place when it was changed to LHD.

edit2....
The 90 front axle switch point was 22L27847 (RHD) & 23L12092 (LHD)

[JD]

I'm changing all the seals out on both sides of my front axle hence my current interest. SN is 21L37520C. The truck was an FFR 110 so has what appears to be quite light suspension. My rear salisbury, drum braked, looks to be original to the truck .. rusty w/no apparrant paint left from factory, while my front looks much newer, paint in fair condition and is disc braked. When the drive hubs are off (I've got no further yet) it appears there are 24 splines at that end and the thickness is 1 1/8th ish though other information leads me to understand that a '10 spline' end is what I'll find on the other side of the CV joint. So John, according to your cut off data on axles this axle should be the 'older' 'thicker' type? Andrew, any idea what the measurable difference between the newer and older drive hubs are?

JD

[Glenn D.]

This confuses me, I thought the older 10 spline Axels were the weaker ones.

[red90]

All drive flanges are 24 spline. The diffs are 10 spline up until 1994.... Confused yet...

Between 1) and 2) they changed the CV joint from 23 inner, 24 outer to 32 inner, 24 outer. The 32 spline is TINY and a bad thing.

Unfortunately, both 1) and 2) use the thick drive members, so that does not help.

If it is just hub seals, you want the early style regardless as they are better than the later ones. The only other seal worth replacing is the swivel seal. The other seals are worthless. IMO, it is better to let the oil flow freely from axle to swivel to bearings.

Do you have a parts manual? It is easier to follow that way.

[JD]

I've got some parts info. One day I'ld like to get ahold of a paper parts catalogue for the 110 that might explain things better than Haynes and the .pdf defender workshop manual. John, you have collected a fair bit of info from different sources. Ever consider consolodating it and selling copies to other D owners like myself? I'ld happily buy a good ref like that. Got several for my Dodge and never regretted that money out.

I've heard that allowing the 90wt oil to freely flow from the diff to the stub shaft bearings is a good thing, problem with the swivel seals, dust cover and inner stub seal is that on my truck they all leak really badly. Which has totally ruined a good set of brake pads. Dixon suggested RTV on the contact surface of the inner stub shaft seal, I'm not sure what to do other than RTV for the dust cover and am wondering about gators for he swivels both to keep dust out and dripping oil away from my brakes. Perhaps North American produced aftermarket seals could be sourced that would work better than OEM.

The expensive question is what costs and values are in Salisbury front axles?

Related issue: how is the differential ratio figured out? I've read there are two ratios a 1:3 ish and a 1:4 ish.


JD

[red90]

The 110 parts catalog is online, but I see it is not working ATM...

Here, I threw another copy on a website, http://www.calgarycachers.net/red90/LR% ... %20OCR.pdf

Are your swivels in bad shape? With new seals they shouldn't leak. Changing the swivel seals is relatively easy. Just unbolt the whole mess from the axle housing.

IMO, there is nothing to be gained from a Salisbury front axle other than weight. The CV joints and such are the same as the Rover ones.

All stock ring and pinions are 3.54:1

[JD]

John,

Thanks for that! Clears up stuff some.

Rgds
JD

[Whistler110]

Collected info is available on cd's on ebay, that's where I got most of mine. I even have the manuals for the Wolfs but have not had any success in copying the cd yet. I have links to all the catalogs on my other computer, if the IT guys can fix it I'll pass them along to you.

I always found the easiest way to tell the difference between the hubs was the width, the older ones being wider, and then wether the hub bearing adjustment is done by shim or nuts. As said above the older hubs are better. I have also been told that the radius arm width changed at some point as well, but I've never seen one so don't know the difference.

The front Salisbury's are hard to find, will give you stronger diffs but the hubs and CV's are the same. They are also heavier and have less ground clearence.

[HeadDamage]

The front arms did change at around the same time. They became wider so that they increased roll resistance but this also reduces front wheel articulation so they are not quite as good off road not that most people would notice the difference.