CWP for Disco 1

[grover1968]

Finally a voice of reason. I was talking to a guy out the front om my house the other day who has a toyota 80 series cruiser and he said he has broken that many axles he has spares in the shed and that is on 265's. When i was up at the expo at lancruiser mountain park last month. I saw a nissan Gq with 33's with front diff in pieces shaking his head at the damage. It was on an orange level track, that i had driven about 10 times. The guy camping next to me with a rangy with 33's swore by its strenght.
I will have to get the good gear by the sounds of it, just to be safe. But you make an excellent point. Unless you bought the vehicle new, or replaced a part and then it broke you really might not know its history.
Oh yeah less richmond have the maxi axles for $890 on his web site

[Disco1Modified]

I bought Maxidrive 24spline axles and flanges from

#
Fred Smith Automotive Pty Ltd
# 30 Havelock Rd Bayswater 3153
# (03) 9720 4999

about 8 months ago for $600.

He has been servicing landrovers for about 40years - you can spend hours talking to him.

[grover1968]

I might have to try and sell my rhino racks i have sitting in the shed, for some extra funds. They sit in ther 99% of the time.
Is that $600 for the 4 axles disco1. Sorry if thats a silly question but am a bit new to this.
Also do yuo think fitting Lock right lockers might help a bit.

[Disco1Modified]

That's just for the REAR axle. You don't need to change front and rear at the same time.

I think you will find that Lockrite are not available for Landrover discovery - I could be wrong.
If I could spare you a ton of reading - there are really only three options for difflocks. Maxidrive, Jacmac (McNamara) or ARB Airlocker (not in any order of preference)
They come up secondhand sometimes
http://www.lrocv.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2970

Detroit Lockers are available but are just as expensive and have their good and bad points. You can try and import them from the States but freight is the killer.

Fred Smith sells spare axles at $100 per shaft (2 required for the rear) so you could always just carry a spare set.

Choices choices choices ...

[ISUZUROVER]

I might have to try and sell my rhino racks i have sitting in the shed, for some extra funds. They sit in ther 99% of the time.
Is that $600 for the 4 axles disco1. Sorry if thats a silly question but am a bit new to this.
Also do yuo think fitting Lock right lockers might help a bit.

The rear axle receives more loading/stress than the front (unless you reverse up more hills than you drive up offroad), so it makes sense to upgrade the rear first if you can only do one at a time. Lockers put much more load on axle shafts (and diffs) - so if locked you are more likely to break things than unlocked.

[cpmurray]

Also do yuo think fitting Lock right lockers might help a bit.

Lock rights are no longer sold for the rover diff, as they just replace the gears inside the original carrier, so you end up with all the extra stress that a diff lock provides but with all of the original weaknesses of the rover diff. They just make you break diffs quicker!

[grover1968]

Top advice Thanks for that. I will look into seeing what I can get done with the rear diff first then.
I won't look into the diff locks then if it makes it worse.

[ISUZUROVER]

If you are looking for a cheap option, one way is to get a salisbury rear diff from a 1994-2002 defender. These are big and heavy, but in stock form should hold up to 35's (the diff centre can handle 44's!!!).

Maxi-Drive lockers are also cheaper...

[grover1968]

what sort of mods are involved with the defender diff.
On the less richmond website he has the maxi locker for about $1200 non locking $1890 for the full locking kit
http://www.lrautomotive.com.au/19.html

[Reddo]

Salisbury diffs are huge, and hang much lower thereby negating the clearance obtained from fitting 35s to standard Rover diff housings.

A diff lock will increase the strength of the diff centre, ie, the sun gears and carrier assembly Jac Mac have 4 sun gears for example, not 2), but like any modification, the next weakest link then becomes the 'fuse', probably the axles in the front or rear as the torque then gets transferred to whichever wheel has most traction - which can result in 50-100% of the power/torque that was previously shared across 2-4 wheels being transmitted to one axle/wheel that has traction.

Pegging the CW will stop it flexing away from the pinion, allowing the pinion to ride up over the gears and smashing them (a la 100 series style:). This can be done whilst the diff it out when you replace the CWP for better gearing!

In the end after market axles in the rear are probably the best intitial investment based on cost-benefit analysis - simply because you get a newer and stronger (read new and better materials and splined drive ends rather than flanges that are prone to stress fractures) and longer lasting product than what you have in there atm, but recognising that this does not give you licence to go ballistic.

Next go the lockers for better traction (as you would in any 4x4 as you seek more challenges), then new CWP for better gearing and peg the CW at the same time - don't forget that the new pinion will actually be weaker than the original because it is smaller in diameter, and therefore has less tooth contact area, so pegging to stop CW flexing and pinon smashing is even more important.

PS pinion weakening occurs with any other diff unit after a ratio increase/change, 'cept Nissan units for example are huge units to start compared to Rover and so will better accommodate/tolerate ratio changes.

Just take you time and invest in improvements when you can.

[cloughy]

don't forget that the new pinion will actually be weaker than the original because it is smaller in diameter, and therefore has less tooth contact area, .

If you buy decent aftermarket gears, they will be stronger still

Better materials and heat treatment remember

[mroffroader]

I bought my disco 1 when it was running a 2" lift and 2" body lift and 33" simex jungle trekkers on standard rover diffs took it out for the first trip and was doing a hill start and blew the rear up i have since done a nissan diff converision and it is the best thing your disco will ever recieve you can do so much stuff that you would never dream of doing with rover diffs, it also has a LSD rear Im 15 and still at school and if you can do most of the work yourself then you wont end up paying very much for the conversion

[mopar rangie]

in the end its the big right foot that brakes things.I spent 8 years running 33s, 35 simex and BFs with a Detroit loka in the back of my thing with old 10 spline axels.318 engine and lots of time trying to go places most guys avoid.Ok i trashed 4 axels in that time but that lots of hard flogging to do it.Crown wheels and pinions where never touched and are still running fine.In the end if you are a fool with how you use your left and right feet you will brake anything no matter what company makes it.