Salisbury Axles
by Andy Marshallsy
Quite a few people understand the Rover
axles found under most of our vehicles,
yet when talking about the heavy-duty
Salisbury axles, there is almost always a
sharp intake of breath and folk lore seems to
take over, with tales of woe such as ground
clearance, weight, collapsible spacers and
case spreaders.
Some are true, some are nothing to be afraid
of, and some can be worked around with a
little imagination and planning.
Why bother with a Salisbury axle anyway?
Well you might not have a choice if you’ve
got a 101,109 or a 110, chances are you’ve
got at least one already. Some people like
myself consider them an upgrade and have
retrofitted them.
Have you got a Salisbury axle? They are
quite easy to tell apart from Rover axles, if
you have a look at the piccie of my rear axle,
you’ll see the (red) diff cover is a separate
bolt on, whereas with the Rover axle, this is
welded into the casting. There are of course
many other differences, but to ID an axle
that’s all you need to spot. Mine has been
modified for increased ground clearance, so
that’s one myth dispelled already
What about ‘Salisbury’ what’s that all about?
Well that one is easy – they were made in
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fact or fiction
Salisbury, no not our local Cathedral City,
but Salisbury in the USA. They were made
by the Dana Corporation and are a variant of
the Dana 60 axle that is held in high reverence
by US off-roaders as the weapon of choice
for tough terrain, big tyres, and even bigger
horsepower. Of course Land Rover doesn’t
make our life straightforward, and supply us
with bullet proof axles, no, where is the fun
in that. They lumber them with thin half-
shafts and regular CV’s. That is unless you
are lucky enough to own a 101, in which
case they then play their trump card with
drum brakes, 6 stud wheels, and weld the
swivel to the axle housing, just to keep us
on our toes. All of which can be overcome
with upgrades ingenuity and sometimes a
blindfold will suffice!
So what is in a Salisbury axle then, and
where does all this folklore emanate from?
A rear axle is straight forward, they are all
the same, just slightly different widths, and
the later 110 versions come with discs brakes
and not drums. They follow the same layout
as a Rover axle, half-shafts and differentials
etc. Unlike a Rover the differential is more
of a a diff centre, and when removed doesn’t
come encased in cast iron like a Rover diff.
A front axle can again draw parallels from
Rover axles, a differential connecting to
half-shafts, and then onto CV’s or Hooke
joints depending on the model.
The strength in a Salisbury axle is in the
differential, they are beautifully built and
engineered, and this pays dividends for the
heavy duty user.
With the diff pan removed you can see the
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ring gear, that the large circular gear that
makes part of a matched pair of gears known
as a ring and pinion. Also the very heavy
duty bearing caps can be see either side of
the diff carrier. In the picture the diff carrier
is an ARB locker, which also explains the
presence of the airline to the right hand
bearing cap
Case spreading
Now is a good time to dispel the case
spreading myth. It is quoted in the workshop
manuals that in order to remove the diff, the
case needs to spread, by a tool that looks
like a medieval torture device. The reason
for this, the diff is a force fit, by 0.125mm
so as to load the bearings. The case spreader
can spread the case a maximum of 0.5mm
before the case is distorted and damaged!!
There is an easy alternative however
looking at the above picture, remove the
bearing caps – they just unbolt. Pulling the
half-shafts is essential too – even for the
gifted mechanic – eh Mr Stringer. Put a ring
spanner on a ring-gear bolt, the one near
the top bolt of the left hand bearing cap, it
will rest on the case pointing upwards. The
diff-centre can then be levered out from
the bottom right. This is surprisingly easy.
I’ve removed three diffs, and they’ve all
come out in less than 5 minutes, the stock
diff carrier is easier because there are more
places to lever from.
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Putting the diff centre in the freezer enables
it to drop straight back in. But encouraging
it with a piece of 2”x4” is also easily done.
With the diff carrier removed the pinion
gear is visible. What surprised me was the
oil ways in the nose of the diff to keep the
pinion bearings oiled.
Here is a close-up of the pinion, it’s on this
shaft that the infamous collapsible spacer
lives. The pinion is secured by a 1 ¼” nut
that is torqued up in excess of 300lb/ft
That’s something like 3 times the torque of
a wheel nut.
Even if you are changing a pinion oil seal,
you need to remove the nut and collapsible
spacer. However is not a bad as you might
think. If a long breaker bar will not undo the
nut, my technique was the use a trolley jack
to jack up the breaker bar handle – that will
do it.
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Replacement has a knack too. Brookies
will sell you a collapsible spacer for about
a fiver. Fit the spacer, oil seal, washers etc.
Do the nut up, to take the slack out of the
bearing races NB it has to be really bloody
tight just to do this. When all the slack is
out, you need to tighten it just a bit further
to add some preload to the bearings. With
the wheels off the pinion should be firm to
rotate by hand, but not slack or need any
leverage. I was checking this about every
1/16” turn on the pinion nut, at this stage
the spacer is collapsing and adding preload
to the bearings quickly, hence the fractions
of a turn and checking, its worth taking it
slow and careful, go too far, and the spacer
is junk, and you’ll have to start again.
That’s as far as most people will need to
delve inside a Salisbury axle, and it’s just as
well. I’ve gone further and changed gearing
and fitted ARB’s. It’s not for everyone, but
I’ll outline some of the issues.
Replacing the pinion
This will only ever be necessary if changing
the diff ratio. Behind one of the bearing
races are shims. You have to drift out the
race, refit it with no shims. Then a dial gauge
is needed to measure how high the pinion
is in relation to the bottom of the bearing
cap. There are then some calculations in the
factory workshop manual which tell you
what size shims you need. So you have to
remove the pinion, drive out the bearing
race, fit the shims, and reassemble it again.
The dial gauge needs setting on a block
30.93mm high, just to make life even more
complicated!!
Setting the backlash on the gears
It’s important for the gears to have an
optimal contact patch for low noise and
high strength. On a rover axle this is set
with threaded collars. The Salisbury axle
uses shims again.
The bearings need to removed from the diff
carrier (it’s a job for a good 2 leg puller).
The bearing then needs heating to 200ºC (in
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the oven while the wife is out) to replace it
easily. I am assuming you don’t have easy
access to a 10 ton press. This is probably
the point where Mark McFarlane is looking
smug
The diff is then refitted loosely. It’s slid from
one side to the other – it will only slide maybe
1-2mm, this distance needs to be measured
accurately, again with a dial gauge. There
are maths in the workshop manual that tells
you how to turn this measurement into the
total size of shims required. Oh I forgot the
pinion has to be out at this time.
You then refit the pinion, and the diff
loosely, and take this sliding measurement
again, the measurement will be smaller this
time because the ring gear and pinion will
mesh.
Again there are more mathematics which
tells you which proportion of shims you
need on the right and on the left bearing cap.
Come on hands up who has got a calculator
in their toolbox?
Remove the bearings, fit the shims, replace
the bearing, and throw it all back together.
By this time – trust me you’ve had enough,
and a seized weakened or noisy axle seems
trivial, and it will be just fine, so no double
checking happens, and it gets thrown back
together !!
So it is possible to build a Salisbury axle at
home, but you’ll need to spend at least £50
on the average tool kit for the dial gauge and
possibly a puller.
I entitled this article ‘Fact or Fiction’ I wrote
it with the opinion of fiction; because I have
built a diff from scratch (rebuilt another and
cannibalised a third). Yet having re-read the
article I realised just how tenacious I’ve had
to be, I’ve read the factory manual many
times, as well as performing much cross-
referencing with the internet, and the ARB
fitting manual.
So maybe there is something in this folk
lore after all.
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