Lockers, axles, gears, and tires... it's time

J

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
Christmas is coming early for me. Since this is a significant investment, thought I'd get some feedback from the pros out there... mostly on gear ratio choice


First off, for gears, I wish I hadn't put a 1.41 hi-gear into the transfer case. I want to run a 36 or 37" tire. According to the Ashcroft calc, 4.12 gears would put me at 2766rpm @ 70mph with 36" tires. 2691rpm for 37" tires. For consideration I have a heavy vehicle and a Kent H180 cam (a bit milder than a crower)

Should I go with 4.12 gears in the diffs, which should be just about right for 36 or 37" tires (assuming the goal is 2700 rpm in high range), or should I put 4.37 or maybe 4.75 in? If I had 1.2 gears in the transfer case, 4.75 would be perfect. But realistically, I don't see myself switching back as it's a lot of work

Second, diffs. Originally I was going to rebuild these myself (I've already done the engine and transfer case), but the cost, time, no downtime, and benefit of just letting Ashcroft rebuild it for me seems like a no brainer. I think I'd save like $200 tops per diff to do it myself.

Rebuilt diff: https://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/differentials/stock-rover-type-diffs.html

Might as well peg it!
Core return.. probably not going to happen...

56251



Axles and CV's:

Ashcroft Transmissions

Ashcroft Transmissions is a UK based company specialising in the supply of rebuilt manual and automatic gearboxes, transfer cases and differentials to suit Land Rover, Range Rover, Discovery and Freelander 4x4 vehicles.
www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk

Ashcroft Transmissions

Ashcroft Transmissions is a UK based company specialising in the supply of rebuilt manual and automatic gearboxes, transfer cases and differentials to suit Land Rover, Range Rover, Discovery and Freelander 4x4 vehicles.
www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk

Tires:
Possibly 9.00r16 Michelin XZL: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255-100R16...117793?hash=item3b09d66c21:g:EkAAAOSwcf9cEsWS


Misc parts
- front axle seals
- rear axle o-rings
- axle nuts
- missing anything?
 
Maximumwarp

Maximumwarp

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
836
26
Fairburn GA
Jeff Blake said:
They're part of the rebuilt diff from Ashcroft. Going with Ashcroft lockers, the design is better than the ARBs, and cheaper.
Click to expand...

The Ashcroft locker was designed with the older ARB in mind. Everything in the newer ARB RD128 is beefier.
 

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J

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
jymmiejamz said:
I'd be interested in the 1.4 transfer box if you want to sell or trade. @p m is looking for one too I think.
Click to expand...
I'm going to keep it - too attached to it. I must have put at least 100 hours into it, plus another 100 of research. And it has an HD cross pin and a bunch of new parts, timken bearings, the works. If I went back to 1.2 I'd swap the gear sets. But I doubt I would as that's pretty much a full rebuild as the input gear, intermediate gear, and high range gear all have to be swapped
 
J

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
Still leaning towards the Ashcroft lockers, but curious if anyone has input... @D Chapman, can you elaborate on the faulure(s)?

For tires, not a lot of options. Gonna pass on the XZL's, too rare, and the guy on eBay wants $350 for shipping, so thats ~$900 for 50% tread tires. No thanks... Leaning towards 35x10.5 Interco radial swampers, or possibly a 37 Maxxis trepador or creepy. The 37s would be better for 4.12 gears, but my lift is only about 3-3.5". Already running HD springs and 2" pucks in the back, so not sure what else to do there
 
K-rover

K-rover

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
2,170
63
Raleigh, NC
D Chapman said:
Call Erik at Lucky 8. He can tell you in more detail what's happening. I just know they're all breaking.

O-rings in the ARB's will blowout, but I never hear of them actually breaking beyond a trailside repair in a Rover. Some cases exist of course.
Click to expand...
Interesting, wonder if its a bad batch? I got my Ashcrofts 2-3yrs ago. Zero issues to date (knocking on wood)!
 
K-rover

K-rover

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
2,170
63
Raleigh, NC
Jeff Blake said:
Still leaning towards the Ashcroft lockers, but curious if anyone has input... @D Chapman, can you elaborate on the faulure(s)?

For tires, not a lot of options. Gonna pass on the XZL's, too rare, and the guy on eBay wants $350 for shipping, so thats ~$900 for 50% tread tires. No thanks... Leaning towards 35x10.5 Interco radial swampers, or possibly a 37 Maxxis trepador or creepy. The 37s would be better for 4.12 gears, but my lift is only about 3-3.5". Already running HD springs and 2" pucks in the back, so not sure what else to do there
Click to expand...

Had a friend go with the SSR's in 35x10.5. He didnt even have them for a year and hes already switching them out. He lost 2 beads in 2 trips. He has them on a newer 4runner on stock yota wheels. I ran the 34x9 bias ply swampers for a few years. The skinnies are great in certain terrain, but after going to the 35x12.50's I can say the wider tire is night and day difference in off camber situations, really in every situation the truck feels more sure footed.
Ideally a 35x11or 11.50 would be the ticket, but no body makes them so 12.50 it is.
 
J

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
K-rover said:
Had a friend go with the SSR's in 35x10.5. He didnt even have them for a year and hes already switching them out. He lost 2 beads in 2 trips. He has them on a newer 4runner on stock yota wheels. I ran the 34x9 bias ply swampers for a few years. The skinnies are great in certain terrain, but after going to the 35x12.50's I can say the wider tire is night and day difference in off camber situations, really in every situation the truck feels more sure footed.
Ideally a 35x11or 11.50 would be the ticket, but no body makes them so 12.50 it is.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip... makes sense. What about the 36x12.50 TSL Radial? https://tiresize.com/tires/Interco-Super-Swamper/TSL-Radial-36X12.50R16.htm
I'll be beadlocking them. Out west here it's mostly rock crawling and off-camber. Trying to tailor my setup to handle trails such as the Dusy Ershim. Specs on the tire call for a 10" rim - that's strange... might be a problem as mine are 16x7, but effectively 16x8 when beadlocked
 
K-rover

K-rover

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Jan 15, 2010
2,170
63
Raleigh, NC
I wouldnt run a 12.50 on anything less than a 8" wheel. Thats what Im running. there is a slight buldge but nothing crazy plus it protects the rim
 
fishEH

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,929
203
Lake Villa, IL
Is this a D1 or D2 we're talking
about? A 36 is a lot of tire. Heck, a 35(even not being a true 35) is a lot of tire for a D1. You either need to chop a lot of sheet metal, have a lot of lift, severely limit uptravel, or some combination of those.
 
J

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
K-rover said:
I wouldnt run a 12.50 on anything less than a 8" wheel. Thats what Im running. there is a slight buldge but nothing crazy plus it protects the rim
Click to expand...

All good there, once I add the beadlocks they'll be 8" wide.

Back to lockers,

ARB vs ashcroft...

Erik had this to say: "Dan is full of shit. I would like to know where he see's all these failures since he hasn't been to an event in over 5 years. We have not had any failures and sell about 4 per week."

Haha, alright then

Lucky8 has good prices on the locked diffs, but the pegging option is a bit spendy with them, ends up being about $500 more per diff than going to Ashcroft directly

Fish, this is a D2 on about 3.5" lift, a bit more in the front. I prefer not to lift it anymore (and even if I wanted to, I'm kind of out of options already running HD springs and 2" pucks in the rear). Fully prepared to do a lot of trimming. I think the trimming is mostly needed at the sides: possibly bumper, sliders. Don't want to limit travel, especially with my shiny new rear panhard I put in
 
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K-rover

K-rover

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Jan 15, 2010
2,170
63
Raleigh, NC
I had to cut fenders front and rear to clear the 35's at full stuff. Riding around town It only rubbed on the front slider when turning. I ended up cutting about 1.5" off of the front of the sliders and about 1" off the corners of the front bumper. Rear was good with just the fender cutting. Thats with a 4" lift. Now that Im running the flexi flares I might lower the rear down a bit by replacing the D1 spring seat back with a D2 one. I have my suspension setup for mostly down travel. I only run about 3.5-4" of unrestricted shock up- travel before the progressive bumps come into play. I dont do any high speed stuff so this setup works for me. In the pic below, I cut for the flares, but hadnt cut the sliders or bumper yet. The front is at full stuff sitting on the bump stops, rear still had a bit more down travel to go.
 

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