Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi this is my first range rover im building at the moment, so far iv got a bigish lift in it and 36" TSL super swampers on it - allot of creative cutting to make them not scrubb and wheel spacers.

Only problem i have is im on a serious budget as im trying to build it for under $5k. iv welded the rear which so far has broken 2 x 10 spline breadstick axles - long and short ones ! , this is a competition truck so im not worried about driveability, however as far as iv read my options are:

> GQ diffs front and rear approx $600 - 800 each and allot of problems with drive sharft angles and involved modifications

> Maxidrive 10 spline axles - $750 inc GST for one pair and drive flanges to suit.

> keep buying $45 axles from wreckers and change them witha technique i have which takes 25mins.

Does anyone know a cheap option?...maxidrive sounds like my best option so far....however very much out of my budget.

At $800 a pair or maybe cheaper if you haggle of search it is quite affordable, and most have a rear LSD or factory locker.

If you do have the skills, i doubt there would be too much more to add to the price other than steel and cutting if you can do it yourself. Wheels are also cheap to get and replace.

There are a few people on here who have recently done Nissan Conversions like Maggot4x4 and DAS.

The only really tricky bits i can see that havent had much explaining are drive shafts and brakes.

Dave.

If you don't want to run lockers, looks like the best 2 options would be:

Nissan axles - $800 or less with haggling, + fitting costs. Then you could run modified LSD's or a welded rear and LSD front.

Toy axle conversion (Macnamara axles) - $1150 for 4 axles, $300 or so for 2x hilux centres. The advantages are you get to keep the brakes and get slightly higher ground clearance. You can also run welded or modified LSD's the same as the nissan. The other advantage if you want to switch to lockers later is that there are probably more cheap 2nd hand lockers floating around for the toy diffs, and you can fit longfield CV's if you want to get really serious.

That sounds better than allot of options iv seen so far...any idea how much postage is to brisbane? for JM axles ...i can probably get heaps of different ratios too with those toyo centres.

im going to LCMP the weekend after next with a few spares just in case and when i get back il probably do the conversion as im a bit short for cash at the moment.

Any idea how strong they are compared with standard toyo axles

SWAMPRR wrote:That sounds better than allot of options iv seen so far...any idea how much postage is to brisbane? for JM axles ...i can probably get heaps of different ratios too with those toyo centres.

im going to LCMP the weekend after next with a few spares just in case and when i get back il probably do the conversion as im a bit short for cash at the moment.

Any idea how strong they are compared with standard toyo axles

The JM axles should be as strong or stronger than stock toyo axles. You will have to contact JM for shipping costs. If you are doing the toy conversion you may as well swap to toyo CV's at the same time. There are plenty of writeups on here on how to do the conversion by sam (strangerover) and others. You are right that there are a huge range of options for ratios, but you need to get a high pinion for the front.

good luck staying under $5 doing totota conversion.

I went GQ's. got the same ground clerance as before with Rover diffs (shaved bottom of the nissan diffs). got bigger brakes. rear shaft standard. need double cardinal shaft for the front or rotate mounts

you can make custom arm setup with nissans if you want or keep the standard arrangement.

you can do a toy conversion for under $5K EASY...
3 jacmac axles
1 toy axle
2 toy centres
and that is it.....

cant see how you get to over $5K for that... unless you paid someone to do it...
If you wanted to fit toy cv's.. well then a little more for the cv's and machining... but not $5K without lockers

landyman...the bidget of the whole truck is $5K...not diffs alone.

throw in tyres rims diff lockers, suspension and all of a sudden the toyota diff idea at around $1.8k isn't going to fit in

ahh... gotcha...
Well... good luck to him building something tough for under $5K for a whole vehicle...
In my opinion.. he will still break GQ cv's with 36" Swampers

landy_man wrote:you can do a toy conversion for under $5K EASY...
3 jacmac axles
1 toy axle
2 toy centres
and that is it.....

cant see how you get to over $5K for that... unless you paid someone to do it...
If you wanted to fit toy cv's.. well then a little more for the cv's and machining... but not $5K without lockers

I agree..

Rear axles and flanges - JM - $700ish
One front axle and flanges - JM - $300ish
2 centres (one high pinion), LC short axle and 2 CV's - $200-600
Brass bushes and spindle boring - $100

So all that comes to a maximum of $1700!! And all that is left to do is drilling and tapping and diff shaving (less work than the nissan conversion I am sure). So it probably costs about double the nissan conversion (both without lockers) - but you have the advantage that you can fit longfield CV's straight in if you even need CV upgrades, which are a lot stronger than the nissan CV's that are currently available.

DAS wrote:landyman...the bidget of the whole truck is $5K...not diffs alone.

throw in tyres rims diff lockers, suspension and all of a sudden the toyota diff idea at around $1.8k isn't going to fit in

Yes but the toyota conversion is not mush more expensive than the nissan conversion. Of course the cheapest option if the front axle is holding up at the moment would be to fit a salisbury rear and weld up the centre, but eventually the stock halfshafts would probably need upgrading to MD or JM.

ISUZUROVER wrote:

landy_man wrote:you can do a toy conversion for under $5K EASY...
3 jacmac axles
1 toy axle
2 toy centres
and that is it.....

cant see how you get to over $5K for that... unless you paid someone to do it...
If you wanted to fit toy cv's.. well then a little more for the cv's and machining... but not $5K without lockers

I agree..

Rear axles and flanges - JM - $700ish
One front axle and flanges - JM - $300ish
2 centres (one high pinion), LC short axle and 2 CV's - $200-600
Brass bushes and spindle boring - $100

So all that comes to a maximum of $1700!! And all that is left to do is drilling and tapping and diff shaving (less work than the nissan conversion I am sure). So it probably costs about double the nissan conversion (both without lockers) - but you have the advantage that you can fit longfield CV's straight in if you even need CV upgrades, which are a lot stronger than the nissan CV's that are currently available.

And you keep all your brakes/ wheels etc and no need to fab brackets etc.

I still think it will be around the 2k mark. It is getting harder to find a HP centre at a reasonable price. All the searching i have done has found me prices of at least $400
The rear LP is not a drama. Just trying to find a correct ratio HP centre at a reasonable cost is a PITA.

Dave.

The most common Hp would be 80/100 crusier in i think 4.1/ 4.3 ratio?

yep
and those 2 IMO are the ones most would use.
33 = 4.1
35 = 4.3

Michael.

You're pushing to build a comp truck for $5K but it's possible if you know where to look.

Total cost on mine has ben $8K and I already had a rear maxi-drive and many parts off my now deceased Aquarangie (93 Vogue). And I only running 32 inch MT/R's, smallish compared to 36's

I'm sure you'll find a sollution on here, plenty of helpful blokes if you get caught out.

Trav