Salisbury or not?

[Pete]

I have started my next galvanized project. A 1972 SIII 88. I have the truck almost stripped down to the frame and the rear axle tube support is completely rotted out. I know this isn't a must or I can fab and weld a new box on the axle. I also have a good Salisbury that I could drop under it....wondering if it's overkill for the 88? I'll be doing a mix of off and on road driving. Thoughts?

Pete

[TedW]

With honkin' thick plate steel. You should swing by and check out my handiwork. I'm not the best welder in the world, but not the worst, either.
That said, the salisbury is much stronger. IIRC you will need to weld on new spring plates, as they are in a different location for the 88 vs. the 109.

[scott]

ya could sell me the sal!

[SafeAirOne]

People snap rover axles on 88's all the time. I'd put the Salisbury in and never bother with it again. Ever.

[Moose]

No, it's not really over kill in an 88. I have a Salisbury on mine and still think it was one up the best upgrades. You lose and inch of ground clearance, but that hasn't slowed me down any. On the plus side, no more broken half-shafts and no worries when towing a heavy load.

You will need to move the spring mounts inboard a bit and shorten your drive shaft about 1-3/4 inches, but other then that, it's an easy swap.

Brett

[TJR]

I too am planning a Salisbury swap into the 88" SIII .. Out of the vehicle it looks huge since it is. When I drove the S3 years ago.. I went throug several axle breaks, and ring gear seperations. I just read a thread a week ago about someone's side gears shattering. UGGH!.. I'm doing the swap even thoug I've already fully rebuilt the LR axle.

The toyoya diffs and upgraded Series Trek axles in the LR housing seems quite good to me too. but the cost is more since I don't have those parts.

Another downside concern I've read about is increased DS vibration due to no matching U-joint angles.

I called Tom Woods Drive shafts last week and asked about these shafts ...
http://www.4xshaft.com/Landrover.html

They can build a cv joint driveshaft to help eleimiate the rear shaft vibration ..


Here's a link to an album of Salisbury pics I've taken or collected.
The pics show two axles side by side are the LR Rear Salisbury vs a Bronco Dana 44 front axle.

http://picasaweb.google.com/88seriesiii/Rover_Salisbury?authkey=Gv1sRgCK727b7m2ZyyjwE&feat=directlink

..Talbot

PS also check this out... http://members.multimania.nl/Bowy/salisbury%20switch.htm

[yorker]

If you already have one on hand I'd definitely use it.