What are Salisbury axles?

shawkins

Adventurer
I hear all of this talk about Salisbury axles when I read Land Rover forums. What are these? It seems that they are pretty desireable?

Thanks
Stephen
 

Hltoppr

El Gringo Spectacular!
Here's what I found...copy and paste:


The Salisbury Wheel Company was founded in Jamestown, New York, in 1901 when C.W. Salisbury, a key-maker and mender of umbrellas, patented an automobile wheel, then pooled his life savings with two colleagues, Scott Penfield and E.D. Sherman, and started manufacture. Salisbury's first customer was the E.R. Thomas company, maker of the Thomas Flyer. In 1905, the company started manufacturing front axles. Two years later rear axles were added to its product line.
Acquired by Spicer in 1919, Salisbury was moved to Toledo in 1929, closer to the center of the automotive industry. Salisbury axles became standard equipment in thousands of automotive vehicles. At the outbreak of World War II the light, Salisbury's rugged axles proved ideal for the Jeep. The Jeep proved so popular that in 1945 Salisbury had to build a new plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1970, the Salisbury Axle group was renamed the Spicer Axle Division.

HTH

-H-
 

dieselcruiserhead

16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
In Rover applications it is a heavy duty rear axle put in heavier models primarily... Such as the 109 (standard with a Salsbury rear).
 

Yorker

Adventurer
dieselcruiserhead said:
In Rover applications it is a heavy duty rear axle put in heavier models primarily... Such as the 109 (standard with a Salsbury rear).


FWIW they were only on the Series III 109s, The IIs and IIa's had either the standard dinky 1.1" 10 spline Spiral bevel type Rover rear end or rarely the monster ENV rear end (something akin to an Eaton). There have been a lot of Salisbury rear ends swapped into 88"s and early 109s though- like Terri Ann's. The Salisbury is a Hypoid diff, has ~1.24" 24 spline shafts and of course the center is much stronger than the Rover diff as well.

check out this link:

http://www.pangolin4x4.com/pangolin4x4/reference/lib/axles/axles.html
 
Last edited:

michaelgroves

Explorer
Salisbury type diffs and axles were fitted to the rear of all long wheelbase classical "Land Rovers" from the Series III until 2003. That is to say, SIII 109, Stage 1, 110, 127 and 130 models. The short wheelbase models were fitted with the standard Rover type diffs, front and rear. The V8 Nineties had a 4-pinion version of the Rover diff at the rear.

In 2003, Land Rover began fitting the Range Rover P38 type diffs to all Defenders and Discoveries. It is visually similar to the Rover diff, but reputedly much stronger, and not directly interchangeable.
 

revor

Explorer
That one is a little different that you average Sally.. Dana 60 Detroit locker with 35 spline 1.5" axles.. Truely bulletproof under a Rover..

Other than that it's the same as the one under my 110

Oh Yeah... They say Magnesium Chloride doesn't rust things... Or Kill trees...
 

greenmeanie

Adventurer
The tastiest of all Salisburies were fitted to the 101. 5.57 diffs front and rear with, monster CVs in the front and the biggest drum brakes Land Rover built. They are a bit wider than series so they are not a direct swap if you plan to keep the OEM look.

Oh yes, finding a set of 101 Sals is near impossible and they cost a small fortune when you do.

You can also get a Sals for the front of a Series but the only ones I have found are in the UK and are prohibitively expensive to ship over.

Cheers
Gregor
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
michaelgroves said:
Salisbury type diffs and axles were fitted to the rear of all long wheelbase classical "Land Rovers" from the Series III until 2003. That is to say, SIII 109, Stage 1, 110, 127 and 130 models. The short wheelbase models were fitted with the standard Rover type diffs, front and rear. The V8 Nineties had a 4-pinion version of the Rover diff at the rear.

In 2003, Land Rover began fitting the Range Rover P38 type diffs to all Defenders and Discoveries. It is visually similar to the Rover diff, but reputedly much stronger, and not directly interchangeable.

Michael, does this mean my 2004 Disco has these diffs? Does this also mean that I can't fit Detroit Tru Tracs to my truck?
 

shawkins

Adventurer
The reason I ask, is that I'm thinking of building a Defender from the ground up with my dad. I've always wanted to do a nice long term project rig with him and I have always wanted a Defender.

I'm just starting the research for the project now, but naturally for a ground up project I started researching what axles to use first.

So what is going to be the best bolt in axle for a Defender 90? the stock front housing and a Salisbury rear?

Thanks
Stephen
 

michaelgroves

Explorer
R_Lefebvre said:
Michael, does this mean my 2004 Disco has these diffs? Does this also mean that I can't fit Detroit Tru Tracs to my truck?
Yes, post 2002 (not 2003, as I incorrectly stated in my previous post) Discos will have the P38 type diff in the rear, which looks almost identical to the older, or standard Rover type. The front diff is still the standard Rover type.

I don't know about Detroits, but ARBs are available for both types of diffs, so I would guess Detroits are too.
 

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