 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Fitting Ashcroft HD flanges and half shafts |
 
|
|
|
| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19533  
|
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. 
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. 
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. Diesels Lives Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️ Red, White & Boost! 🇬🇧 Last edited by custom90 on 21st Nov 2018 8:43pm. Edited 1 time in total |
||
21st Nov 2018 8:19pm |
|
| jst Member Since: 14 Jan 2008 Location: Taunton Posts: 7682 
|
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 XS Utility 130 Puma Station wagon/camper (in the making) 90 Puma Hardtop |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 8:31pm |
|
| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19533
|
They are really easy to deal with via email and deliver fast when you need items too.
Diesels Lives Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️
Red, White & Boost! 🇬🇧 |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 8:38pm |
|
| jst Member Since: 14 Jan 2008 Location: Taunton Posts: 7682
|
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 XS Utility 130 Puma Station wagon/camper (in the making) 90 Puma Hardtop |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 9:05pm |
|
| WindyJ Member Since: 18 Oct 2018 Location: France Posts: 190 |
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.
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.
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. |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 9:08pm |
|
| WindyJ Member Since: 18 Oct 2018 Location: France Posts: 190 |
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. |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 9:12pm |
|
| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19533
|
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. Diesels Lives Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️
Red, White & Boost! 🇬🇧 |
||
|
21st Nov 2018 9:17pm |
|
|
|
| All times are GMT + 1 Hour |
< Previous Topic | Next Topic > |
Posting Rules
|
Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
