↓ Advertise on Defender2 ↓

Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Fitting Ashcroft HD flanges and half shafts
Post Reply  Down to end
Page 1 of 1
Print this entire topic · 
WindyJ



Member Since: 18 Oct 2018
Location: France
Posts: 190

Fitting Ashcroft HD flanges and half shafts
After a fair bit of deliberation I got myself these for the rear. Noticed some, too much, play when changing wheels/tyres last week. Anyway, after really prompt service from Ashcroft (order Friday, arrive here in France Monday) I went about sorting things today.
Not a difficult or time consuming job but not finished because left it too late in the day. Just need to bolt on the flanges, refill the diff/axle and put the wheels back on.
One thing has me stumped though....why is there a seal stopping diff oil getting to the outer end? The amount of fretting on the splines of the shafts i took out point to really poor maintainance in the past as they were dry so no wonder worn.
Am I missing something because surely any seal should be on the outside of the hub or does Land Rover really designed in this as a grease on fitting then forget job?
For the life of me I cant work out why both ends of the half shafts are not oil lubricated??
Post #741613 21st Nov 2018 6:47pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20412

United Kingdom 
You can take the oil seals out, and have the splines oil lubed on the rear if you wanted, but not on the front.

I opted to leave the oil seals in situ and grease the splines and flanges well.
In fact I packed the splines and cap pretty much full of grease.

They are supposed to be greased, but like brake fluid they are rarely ever done with serciving and often even prop greasing is left. Rolling Eyes
If you go for one piece DM's you won't need to grease them for obvious reasons as the splines are only at the diff end, they are more expensive however.
Longevity between the two is difficult to say but both types will give you high milage easily.

So I plan to clean and re-grease bi-annually, as they aren't too difficult to do.

I presume you wanted to change the diff oil anyway? Otherwise, there is no need to drain it if your parked on level ground when removing half shafts.

Blackwolf on here gave me a lot of the above valuable information which was very helpful indeed.
I am currently running Ashcroft HD flanges front and rear all around, and rear halfshafts.
The front is Genuine at the moment as there is plenty life's in the DM's and the CV's.

At a later date when required, I'll go Ashcroft on the front too.
No complaints at all, great service and quality.
Don't forget to put a little grease on the gaskets also when you fit. Thumbs Up

Another problem with genuine 2 piece halfshafts and flanges is the hub splines are rather exposed, the caps help but still often water ingress occcurs and also increases likelyhood of grease drying out.
Most peoples often end up drying out and 'fretting' as I had with my own, I wrongly presumed they were greased with servicing but often aren't. $W33T $0U7H3RN $UG4R
🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇺🇸⛽️🛢️⚙️🧰💪


Last edited by custom90 on 21st Nov 2018 7:43pm. Edited 1 time in total
Post #741619 21st Nov 2018 7:19pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
jst



Member Since: 14 Jan 2008
Location: Taunton
Posts: 8043

 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Stornoway Grey
I have been running Ashcroft shafts on rear of my 110 with their dm for last 3 years, no oil seal.

As an aside have Ashcroft front and rear shafts and cvs and diffs in two puma and prior to that ran their force9s and another compete cv/shaft/diff axle Ashcroft setup in a tgv 90. You can't go wrong with there stuff. Cheers

James
110 2012 XS Utility
130 2011 M57 bespoke Camper
90 2010 Hardtop
90 M57 1988 Hardtop
Post #741622 21st Nov 2018 7:31pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20412

United Kingdom 
They are really easy to deal with via email and deliver fast when you need items too. Thumbs Up $W33T $0U7H3RN $UG4R
🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇺🇸⛽️🛢️⚙️🧰💪
Post #741625 21st Nov 2018 7:38pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
jst



Member Since: 14 Jan 2008
Location: Taunton
Posts: 8043

 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Stornoway Grey
i have used Ashcrofts for the last 15 years gboxes, Tboxes, underdrives, custom builds, upradted shafts, CVs, Force9s, low pinion diffs, rebuild diffs, lockers, ATBs - most things on the various builds we have done. Always a pleasure to deal with them. Cheers

James
110 2012 XS Utility
130 2011 M57 bespoke Camper
90 2010 Hardtop
90 M57 1988 Hardtop
Post #741627 21st Nov 2018 8:05pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
WindyJ



Member Since: 18 Oct 2018
Location: France
Posts: 190

custom90steve wrote:
You can take the oil seals out, and have the splines oil lubed on the rear if you wanted, but not on the front.


I have just started searching to see if people did that. Almost sad to think its not all my own idea after all! Seems a sensible modification especially, as you point out, there can be maintenance issues further down the line. I do all my own so can be sure there will always be grease there, but think oil will do a better job.

Quote:


I presume you wanted to change the diff oil anyway? Otherwise, there is no need to drain it if your parked on level ground when removing half shafts.



Figured as much but decided to change as there is no record of a change in last 4 yrs invoices the previous owner gave me. In fact there must have been as it turns out because the oil was very clean, so could have saved the mess and cost there but gives me peace of mind knowing fresh proper quality stuff going in tomorrow.

Quote:


Blackwolf on here gave me a lot of the above valuable information which was very helpful indeed.
I am currently running Ashcroft HD flanges front and rear all around, and rear halfshafts.
The front is Genuine at the moment as there is plenty life's in the DM's and the CV's.



Interesting because that is the setup Ashcroft recommended to me when i spoke with them last week, and i was prepared to buy the front shafts but they effectively talked me out of spending more money than i needed too with them. Sign of a good company and one look at the HD flanges and you know they make quality parts.
Post #741630 21st Nov 2018 8:08pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
WindyJ



Member Since: 18 Oct 2018
Location: France
Posts: 190

jst wrote:
i have used Ashcrofts for the last 15 years gboxes, Tboxes, underdrives, custom builds, upradted shafts, CVs, Force9s, low pinion diffs, rebuild diffs, lockers, ATBs - most things on the various builds we have done. Always a pleasure to deal with them.


I learnt about them because when i bought the Def in summer the previous owner gave me loads of bits with it and one was a kit from them to upgrade the output shaft...well known puma model issue that was unknown to me being a new owner.

I called them about it a while back and they spent a fair bit of time with me explaining what, why and how. I wasnt even the customer at that point. Lots of advice given and no real wonder i went with them for these shafts/flanges. Definitely earned my recommendation already.
Post #741634 21st Nov 2018 8:12pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20412

United Kingdom 
It seems pretty common for rear halfshafts splines and flanges to wear out pretty much twice as fast as on the front.

When it comes to rear lubrucation, as you find there are two choices.
Oil or grease, JST has chosen oil as mentioned above and Ashcroft recommend removing the seal on the rear.
Myself and Blackwolf on here run grease all around, both seem to do pretty well.

My view is if you have to grease the front you may as well on the rear too.

Everyone has their different ways of doing things, even down to flange fixings so the choice is really yours.

There are a few threads on this already up on here if you use the search function above, you may possibly find some of that info useful.
Thumbs Up $W33T $0U7H3RN $UG4R
🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇺🇸⛽️🛢️⚙️🧰💪
Post #741641 21st Nov 2018 8:17pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Post Reply
Post Reply  Back to top
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT

Jump to  
Previous Topic | Next Topic >
Posting Rules
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
DEFENDER2.NET RSS Feed - All Forums