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Maxidrive

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:09 am
by MQ080
Yes I used the search button - however couldn't find what I really wanted so here we go.

Not being all that of a rover man I would like to know at what point you have to upgrade to Maxidrives? Lots of people have them so I assume it has to be done pretty early on in modding your truck. Is it for all Landies? Furthermore what is involded is it a simple R & R? Lastly what is next to break once this upgrade is done?

Thanks

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:06 am
by Slunnie
Maxidrive is the company rather than the product. A lot of people run their axles, flanges and lockers, but they also make portals, lower low range diff gears, CV's etc.

If you're setup with 10spline gear and you 4WD, then sooner is better than later. 10spline break a lot. To fit it though, you need to convert the axle flanges to the 24 spline stuff which is easy with a maxidrive flange, but the other end need to have the diff changed over also to 24 spline, which is usually a new diff also, be it a Maxi or some other locker. 24 spline rovers will drop a Maxi axle straight in. MAxi diffs are a bit harder to install than the ARB etc lockers as a bit of axle housing need to be removed also, not just a hole drilled in the 3rd member.

After this the factory diff centres blow. These are not to bad, but give it some stick and it'll let go. Its usually the cross pins and planetary gears that break in the centre rather than anything expensive, but when these do break they damage other things. I've seen 3 of these puncture the housing also. When replacing the diff with lockers it sets up with 4 strong planetaries rather than 2 weak ones, and then isn't really a problem.

A lot of people run the AEU2422 County factory CV which is pretty good, though they can be broken. If you hell bent on strength then somehow Longs can be made to fit. Maxi have made me up some CV's that are larger and have had a ring made around the bell to prevent it exploding, and with a replacable outer axle.

After this the CW/P is the weakest link. If you flog it hard enough to break these then you can make Hilux rear / LC front diffs fit the housings or just fit Dana60's. :lol:

The other thing to watch is also going to be the rear lower trailing arms. If you 4WD it hard, I'd pick up some 3rds to replace these, we bend these fairly regularly also, and when they break half the time they take out the the tailshaft also.

Except the locker, everything in the axle is R&R from Maxi.

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:32 pm
by Micka
The only thing I can add to Slunnie's post is that you can easily strengthen the trailing arms to be bulletproof.

Even a novice welder can sleeve them.

If you have a 4" lift or bigger, then you just need to crank the arms to suit the lift and sleeve them.

Also, have a look at McNamara diffs. They have heaps more ratios available and do axels too, I think. There is a link to them in the Links section.

Micka

axles

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:59 pm
by THE 109
10 spline maxidrive axles are stronger than a factory 3.54 r&p.have: 10spline ARB's,35 simex ET1's,supercharged 3.5 and the c&w are the weakest link.once the rear ARB broke the end plate where the bearing mounts on(aswell as the r&p).

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:16 pm
by MQ080
Thanks for the replies guys this satisfies my curiosity with tech...