Vehicle & Technical > Series Land Rovers

Can you convert a range rover axel to free wheeling hubs ?

<< < (5/5)

matthew:
FWH are IME a waste of time and a potential liability.

My 88" has them and I've never managed to find any difference in fuel consumption or vibration etc. My 109" doesn't and does 30+mpg (non LR diesel engine).

As for the liability bit, I had a rear wheel bearing fail on the 109" as I went up a motorway sliproad allowing the halfshaft to come out and disengeage. If I'd had FWH and they'd been disengaged then at the top of the sliproad with no drive and no brakes I'd have had no where else to go but backwards in to the car behind, as it was I was able to use 4wd to get onto the level roundabout. The pictures may still be on here somewhere, IIRC it was Dec 2003.

As for widening track, you'll get much the same effect with wheels with a greater offset.

rollazuki:
EASY FIX



Get on the phone to Bearmach and order a set of parts to make a defender 2 or 4 wd selectable.


They do a kit which removes the front drive, and also supplies a pair of free wheeling hubs to fit a 90/defender axle.

They do stick out quite far tho, need some fairly wide offset wheels to keep em looking OK


I know all this cos the zook has a pair fitted to the 90 axle up front.

Hope this helps

ps it is worth doing, it gets rid of all the crap whirling around up front, diff/prop/driveshafts. Lets face it, you wouldnt leave the telly switched on all night would you, all that spinning away will waste a lot more power.

James.Harwood:
Am yet to notice any fuel saving with free wheel hubs, the only thing they do actually do that is good is reduce the noise slightly.  I would have thought that a RR axle would have been designed to 'turn' all the time the vehicle is in motion, it is permanent 4wd after all.

muddyweb:
I wouldn't bother doing anything to the RR axle... as mentioned, it has CV joints in the front which are designed to turn and spin happily all day long on the road.

I would (and have) fit them to a Series axle and have felt the benefit.  Not is fuel costs, because I think that is negligible, but in wear and tear on the front half shafts.  They have UJ's in them, and on my old 6 cylinder, you could feel them when going round tight corners on the road... the same vibration issues you get with propshafts on the coil-sprung vehicles.  Disengage the hubs, and it was all much better.

Miniman:
Looks like we have a conflict of opinion. I know the benifits as I drive a series diesel. LOW POWER. When on the way to the last club meeting I was driving down the bypass and thought what is wrong with the dam thing it would not do 70mph. I pulled over to find that kids have been playing with them and they was in/on/engaged. As soon as I set off the next time what a difference. So what some of you are saying is drive about in 4wd with all the extra gears and shafts turning. Transfer box gears, Prop shaft, Very heavy diff, Half shafts and there will be no difference in performance or fuel economy !

I know there is a difference. Alot of you may not know that I have 90 diffs in which makes for alot better economy as its not screaming its T*ts off at 60mph. This also makes the engine work alot harder to get there but I can sit at 70mph without scr*wing it to death. If the hubs are in its just too much for the old diesel. If that makes any sence to you then you are a better man than me....LOL

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page