live axle chat again...

[AlexD333]

After having nightmares on how to finance 15000 pounds to get all that ridiculous work done to the terrano, I was looking over their list of mods on the site, a 38" conversion for a navara has the following parts..

AT38 Contents
AT405 38x15,5R15" tires
15x12,5" alloy wheels
Dana 44 front axle, w/ARB locker
Air compressor
Torque wrench
Fender flares, painted
Running boards and brackets
Mud flaps
Speedometer calibrator
40 mm suspension lift front/rear
80 mm body lift
Differential gears (4,56:1)
Fire extinguisher
First aid kit
Wheel alignment


This conversion is mainly for utility vehicles. When converting to 38” tires, you are far exceeding the normal off road capabilities, with flotation on snow as the core benefit. This conversion requires, both lifting of the suspension and the body. Extra wide fender flares are used, 15 x12,5” wheels, 4:88/1 gear ratio, and many other modifications to the various parts of the undercarriage and the body. With the AT38 your SUV will become a super offroader, with remarkably good driveability on normal roads.
The AT38 is ideal in remote areas, like police and rescue work, construction companies, tourist driving, scientific work and many other difficult tasks.
For more detailed information please contact us at [email protected]


Now forgetting this whole list for 15,000 pounds

Surely for the likes of me, I could get a live axle set and find a specialist to carry out the operation, the gearing seems to be the important thing as makeitfit seemed to be running standard gearing on 35" which reported power loss.

So either find a vehicle that has a complete live axle setup with lower gearing than the terrano, then worry about body cutting and welding later, leading to bigger wheels. In the meantime I could make cheap arches from a number of materials such as old tyres cut up ect. And suspension could be lifted right up :sly

 

[AlexD333]

No negatives please people, if the crazy Italians can do it, surely us Brits can manage it :sly

Seems there is a modern for the Hilux diffs to give the needed gearing above

http://locktup4x4.com.au/nito-gear-4-56-1-ring-and-pinion-front-497.html

 

[Banshee]

Surely for the likes of me, I could get a live axle set and find a specialist to carry out the operation

Did anyone else hear that?................

I think Rick just had a heart attack :lol

 

[rustic]

Why do all this?





.

 

[Fez_uk]

Speak to people who swap axles around on challenge trucks, They could do it easily. Theres tons of people here in the UK who swap axles around all the time.

If i was going to do it I'd try and use a patrol 3.0 gearbox/transfer box or just the transfer box somehow (no idea how interchangeable they are) with patrol axles.

But if you change the axles and susp linkages etc you will need a SVA test which are pretty hard to pass (they check over the whole vehicle not just what has changed, It will even fail on stuff like wiring harness spacing on the securing tabs etc) and from what I can remember expensive.

Your bumpers won't pass, They are very strict. No sharp edges blah blah etc etc

No negatives please people

Why not?

I wouldn't on a road legal motor as it would cost too much to justify, Just buy a patrol

 

[russell.huffer]

Buy a Patrol as suggested above live axles 35" tyres with nothing more than a 2" suspension lift and one of the best off roaders out there.

Get the 4.2 and you can even run it on what ever yo u choose.

Just please do not put bad bumpers on a Patrol.

Kind regards

Russell.

 

[makeitfit]

Alex, I'm not being negative mate but perhaps a little more real than you'd like . In the early days of my T2 modding, I thought I wanted an SAS
Please be careful with your fb lead. There's a lot of work overall and if that price is g/teed I'd want a contract,it's way too good to be true.
Now I know the easy answer is buy a Trol but if you seriously want your T2 to perform well the SAS isn't the answer. You'll need a lot of bucks thrown at the front to get any more flex than I have on mine. Checkout some of the youtube clips of SAS T2s . the front ends are all pretty short of flex. You'll still be open diff unless you modify a patrol axle and swap lockers etc.
IF you simply buy a LOKKA as Rick has in his, you'll benefit from the light weight of the T2 and actually have more clearance under the front than an SAS the back will obviously remain the same.
Think hard mate. IF however you go for it then good on ya but tell us and we'll go through it with you so you know the whole story :thumbs

 

[AlexD333]

Cheers dude, it's something I am Really considering, my cvs are so stressed at the front it would be nice to set everything back to normal, then jack body and suspension up instead, doing some cheap diy arches too and also open up tyre options.

The next hurdle for the likes of 35"+ is the power as you mentioned! tether than spend a fortune on tuning, the axles if installed right will have the correct gearing to compensate, top end does not bother me :thumb2

So yeah, one leads to another i guess, I want big wheels, big wheels need different ratios, different ratios need different axle internals, and for the sake of it (and the height of big wheels) might aswell go live :thumb2

Also arches can be cut regardless :thumb2

 

[bud]

the cheapest option is to use LN106 hilux axles and draglink,

cutting the rear spring seats radius arm mounts from the nissan axle and affixing them in the correct pisition to allow the hilux axle to reattach to the nissan chassi as per normal.

the front, gas torch everything off the front of the nissan chassi to do with IFS including swaybar mounts etc

make up a steel cradle to hold the front hilux axle(ensure it is all one piece with no flex)


weld the outer ends of the axle too the cradle and then cut the hilux front axle tube and move the diff head to the left hand side..this should be done so the diff head housing is the same distance to the left as it was to the right so you can use the hilux factory axles...... you should be able to do this with only three cuts to the tube.

re weld ensuring correct alignment

swap the splines left for right as the long axle will now be on the drivers side.

reassemble the diff and then measure the width of the chassi rails and center of wheel arch(or forward of that axis if you want to run big tyres)

build spring seats to suit coils and weld to outside of chassi rails where suited, then use these measurments to do the opposing seats on the modified hilux axle.

do the same for the radius arms...from anything really jeep/hilux patrol land cruiser land rover etc and build the chassi drop boxes to suit the lentgh and the width of the chassi in relation to the axle.

take the pitman arm of the steering box and turn it 180 degrees attatch drag link.

have i missed anything? hope not as this is what i plan to do. :augie

 

[Sweety]

If your worried mainly over the CV's angle (that worries me) then just lower the front end down a bit:thumbs I've seen T2's with 3-4" body lifts & with your 2" suspension lift on top surely there will be room for bigger tyres:nenau

 

[AlexD333]

Ney, I'm running body lift and suspension lift already with 32"s.I wouldn't dare lift it anymore.

The bonus for me is having no bumpers makes everything more accessible and moving axles forwards will help a small fraction with no less cutting and welding.

Bud that list is awesome, I guess steering extension and brake line extension will come later once I start to jack up? :nenau

Thanks for all the info chaps

 

[Bigbunny2007]

Good luck Alex can't wait to see it all done :thumb2

 

[briggie]

wont you get a electric shock with a live axle ? :augie:lol

 

[Barrbeast]

Alex mate, I'm not gonna bother repeating the other comments (*cough* just buy a Trol) and I am quite interested to see what happens with this (not for myself though as I've already got a Trol) but have you thought about how much these massive tyres of yours are going to cost? :nenau

You posted recently looking for cheap tyres, well if you go to 38" you're probably not gonna have a huge selection of tyres available and they'll not be cheap - if you don't like the cost of new 32s at the moment (where there's a huge selection of tyres available) you're certainly not gonna like the cost of new 38s! (From a quick look at tyresdirect and ebay you're probably looking at about a grand for 4...)

 

[Fez_uk]

Also the cost of the live axle swap alone.

38s will set him back easily about £1500+ 2nd hand for a set! And they are not a common size to come up for sale here in the UK.

It's not all about bigger is better, 37s is what is used commonly on the challenge scene here but the vehicles are mostly custom made and sit low and are light.

 

[AlexD333]

Tyre size is not set in stone yet.

I am accumulating more info first, and work will start once I know what order I can do work, I e, what bits I buy first.

I may go to 35" I haven't really decided.

Although temporarily Lower than my truck I may just get the live axle mod done dependant on the gearing before the tyres, that way all I have to do is stick bigger wheels on.

Again, this may be counter productive as the gearing might be too short without the bigger wheels I really don't know, so as I say, once I start to piece together the ratios ect I will get a better idea of what needs to be bought when :thumb2

For example, I wont need to jack up another 8" immediately :lol or will I? :sly

 

[AlexD333]

Oh and on that note, as I will require new suspension front and rear I may just get hold of a temp second hand kit as a "stepping stone" a size that the standard steering column and brake hoses can deal with. I guess a +2/3" kit off something with live axles :thumb2

 

[makeitfit]

have i missed anything? hope not as this is what i plan to do. :augie

Panhard rod and mount.
Modified front prop.
Workshop and hired help

 

[AlexD333]

Panhard rod and mount.
Modified front prop.
Workshop and hired help

See I'd love it, if I could just drop the terrano off with someone, after acquiring the "shopping list" of necessary parts needed and leave it with them for a set period of time.

All I worry about is leaving it with someone and they keep requiring more and more parts as would have to wait again for future payday.

 

[briggie]

I wonder if rick is reading this and raising his eyes ? :augie:lol