ASHCROFT

INFO ON THE FITTING KIT OPTION CAN BE FOUND HERE

A little background on the LT230 centre diff. The centre diff is there to allow the props to turn at different speeds when cornering to stop drivetrain wind up. The speed difference is quite small and the centre diff gears are only designed to cope with these low speeds. If you are Off Road on snow or ice and you get wheelspin from one front wheel, what will happen is the rear prop will not be moving, the front will thus be going double speed, this means the small centre diff gears will be spinning like fury and after a matter of only a few seconds the planet gears will friction weld to the cross pins and the gears will fail etc. Of course in this situation the centre diff should be locked to avoid failure.

There are instances when it’s not convenient to keep the diff locked or to constantly lock and unlock the diff as the available traction dictates, EG. when racing fast on a low traction surface, the vehicle will not handle well when locked but is likely to wheel spin when unlocked.

Another example of where the ATB would help would be when rapidly changing from high to low traction surfaces, i.e. when driving on snow or ice,

In both of these examples the ATB will limit the amount the difference in prop shaft speed and transfer torque to the axle with traction.

The two big advantages are increased traction when unlocked and eliminating the weakness of the stock unlocked centre diff.

Note the ATB centre can still be locked like the stock unit when required, locking the diff is still advised when prolonged wheel spin is anticipated.

Note : Due to the nature of the ATB diff we do not recommend the vehicle is brake tested on rollers, ask for a decelerometer to be used instead.

We recommend using a Mineral based EP80/90 oil

A Comprehensive master rebuild kit for the LT230 Transfer Box.

SHIM KIT AND BOLT KIT PURCHASE OPTIONS INFO CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING HERE

**Please note: this kit is for the LT230T, with serial number ending with 'B' or later. If you have an LT230R, serial number ending in 'A', please supply your serial number when ordering.

We can still supply the A suffix kit but this would be charged at an additional $95. If you require this please place an order for this kit and we will contact you after your order is placed to take the additional payment. We dont carry the A suffix kits in stock - so allow is 5-7 days to get in for you.

Kit comprises of:

• Bearing kit (taper roller bearings are Timken and Koyo brand)
• Seal & Gasket kit
• Centre Diff Domed Washers
• Centre Diff Side Gear Fibre Washers (FRC9845)
• Intermediate Pin O Rings
• Intermediate pin Stake nut
• Centre Diff Peen Nut
• Intermediate Pin Collapsible Spacer

WE CAN ALSO SUPPLY THE LT230 WORKSHOP OVERHAUL MANUAL ALSO WITHTIS KIT

Please note that our kit includes all the necessary gaskets but we recommend that a quality oil resistant RTV be used such as Permatex Ultra Black be used as a 'helper' to the gaskets.

HD ASHCROFT CROWNWHEEL & PINION SETS

• PLEASE NOTE - we only keep the most popular sizes in stock - everything else we order in as needed. If we need to order in - allow 7 business days approx.
• HD IS NOT AVAIL IN STD 3.54 RATIO
• REVERSE CUT GEARS ARE SUPPLIED FOR ALL FRONT SETS
• NO GEARS AVAIL FOR SALISBURY REAR DIFFS SORRY
• These pinions accept the bolt style later pinion flange - we also stock these and can also be found under the Diff & Cv section. 

**FRONTS WILL SUPPLIED AS 'REVERSE CUT - FOR ADDITIONAL STRENGTH UNLESS YOU REQUEST OTHERWISE. REVERSE CUT GEARS WHILST ARE MUCH STRONGER UP FRONT, THEY DO PRODUCE MORE NOISE

**ALL OF THE GEAR OPTIONS ARE FOR ROVER24 DIFFS ONLY.

**P38 ROVER REAR IS AVAIL IN A STD DUTY 4.12 RATIO, OR STD REPLACMENT 3.54 ONLY

**SALISBURY CW&P NOT AVAILABLE

LAND ROVER DIFFERENTIAL PINION REBUILD KITS

Kit excludes the SIDE CARRIER/JOURNAL bearings and is ideal for those fitting the Ashcroft Locker which is supplied with new side carrier bearings already fitted

The pinion height shim kits will likely come in handy when settng a diff up fro scratch - CLICK HERE to see them

Protect yourself against catastrophic differential failure offroad!

Pegging your rover diffs is defiantly worth considering, and advisable if you are running big tyres, lockers, and low tyre pressures offroad. These kits stop your crown-wheel gear inside the final drive from coming our of 'mesh' with the pinion gear. The result of this are catastrophic failure! 

• M16 Grub Screws
• Bronze Phosphor pad
• Laser cut 6mm Steel face plate piece 
• 10mm Steel top plate piece 
• M16 Nyloc nuts 
• Well tested 

CLICK HERE TO SEE DIFF PEGGING EXPLAINER VIDEO

 Rover 24 spline propshaft flange to fit the pinion. Please note this is the later type which does not need the 12.5mm spacer (part no. 539745) to be fitted, if you have a square flange this spacer will be fitted and will need removing to fit this later type.

 

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing Limited Slip Differential

*This listing is for a ROVER 24spline DIFF* - ask us if you need a P38 (late model Defender)

The key features are: -

• Fully automatic, needs no driver input
• Totally transparent on road, i.e, no unwanted adverse effects
• Only comes into play when one wheel looses traction, i.e, a difference in wheel speed
• Enhances the traction control as it multiplies the bias load created by the braking effect of the traction control
• Needs no adjustment as the gears compensate for any wear that takes place
• Only with 24 spline side gears
• No airlines etc required like an airlocker
• Option of new side carrier Bearings

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre works best with a good quality Mineral based oil, we do not recommend synthetic oils, friction additives / modifiers and not required.

LAND ROVER DIFFERENTIAL REBUILD KITS

Set of four bearings and one seal for the late 110 rear or P38 type diff, and Rover24 style banjo diffs

• 4x Timken bearings (side carrier/journal AND pinion)
• 1x Pinion seal

The pinion height shim kits will likely come in handy when settng a diff up fro scratch - CLICK HERE to see them

 

Ashlockers are renowned in the Land Rover communities as being the go too choice for a selectable diff locker...and for good reason!

ROVER-24 = Fit to Perentie/County front to convert to 24spline! (These axles needed for the conversion)

ROVER-24 = Fit all Defender, Discovery 1, Discovery 2 & metric RRC fronts. Will also fit Defender 90, Discovery 1, & Discovery 2 rears.

DEFENDER P38 = All later model Defender 110 & 130 P38 Rear style diffs

 

Concept
There are many types of lockers available for Landrover vehicles but all seem to have a weak point or Achilles heel, so Ashcroft set out to design a locker from a blank canvas to be cost effective, strong and without the weaknesses of other designs.

Design
Ashcroft wanted a selectable locker which would fit into the rover diff casing with minimal installation work, i.e, without mods to the axle housing. We looked at electric and pneumatic activation and decided pneumatic was preferable for reliability and simplicity. One of the key requirements for our design was zero air leaks as this is one of the main issues with other air operated lockers. To achieve this we opted for a static piston rather than the rotating seal used on other air lockers, which was prone to leaks. We also wanted to ensure we had a full 6mm of engagement when locked as other air lockers have just 2.5mm and are prone to slipping out of lock when loaded.

The final design settled on a 4 pin diff centre; one of the diff side gears has an outer ring of dog teeth around it which a locking collar engage with when locked, thus locking collar is on the crown wheel side, the locking collar is held with 4 pins which pass through the diff centre on the non crown wheel side . Outside the diff centre the 4 pins are peened to a steel thrust ring, this assembly forms a robust all steel ‘cage’, not plastic like other designs which were prone to failing.

On the non crown wheel side inside the journal end cap is a cylinder in which sits a bronze piston, the piston has a groove around the inside and outside diameters which O rings sit in. Once the piston is fitted a retaining ring is bolted around the end of the cylinder to stop the piston coming out, air is fed to the cylinder through a copper pipe to a 90 deg compression fitting which fits to the outside diameter of the cylinder. When air is applied the piston moves along the cylinder until it reaches the retaining ring, it does not spin in the cylinder, the cylinder is static and sits on a bronze bush at the side of the diff centre. Inside the journal bearing on the cylinder side is a bronze thrust ring to hold the cylinder. A locking tab is fitted to one of the journal end cap bolts and locates in a cut out in the cylinder to stop it rotating.

The copper air feed pipe goes from the side of the cylinder through the diff housing, it doesn’t have to pass over the crown wheel.

The lockers are assembled on Ashcrofts premises and supplied with switch (front and rear fascias), solenoid, air line and all required fittings, excludes air compressor.

We have used 6mm pneumatic push fit fitting to the locker as we have found that other air lockers that have threaded fitting and hoses will either tear a pipe or break a fitting if the air line gets snagged on a branch etc, our locker uses these pneumatic ‘push fit’ fittings which will still get snagged but just pull out so you just need to push back in to fix rather than having to replace hoses etc.

Operation

When air is applied, the static annular piston moves across and pushes the spinning thrust collar which slide the 4 pins and move the locking collar over the side gear teeth to lock the diff, the diff is unlocked when the air pressure is released and 4 return springs push the locking collar out of engagement with the side gear. These diffs need 75-100 Psi to operate.

Materials
Whilst we want the unit to be cost effective, the strength is paramount, all steel parts are turned from billet UK spec EN24T, Gears are 8620, locking collar is 300M.

Key features :

• Full 6mm of locking collar engagement
• Static annular piston, minimises risk of air leaks
• Large diameter piston gives a 55% increase of hold in force over competitors
• High spec materials throughout
• 2 year manaacturers warranty

If you would like to sleeve your own casing we can supply the steel bush.

We would suggest an interference fit of 0.02mm and also use ‘bearing fit’ or similar.

The hole that supports the head of the intermediate pin in the LT230 casing is prone to wearing, and the pin elongates the hole so that it is out of round.

This can lead to a transfer case whine, and an oil leak.

These are a stepped bush, and machined from EN24T steel. 

This will now have a longer life than the original housing, as the pin is now supported in the steel bush.

ASHCROFT IED500060 - MADE FROM 300m MATERIAL

The head of the shaft sometimes wear and leave a step that may not seal. This part may be required when rebuilding your unit especially if being used in high torque applications or on heavy vehicles.

We are able to offer this in 300M alloy steel, heat treated and ground to size. This is a direct replacement for the standard shaft in a far superior material.

Also known as S155, this is a vacuum-melted steel with outstanding strength. A through hardening alloy combining toughness, fatigue strength and good ductility.

Heavy Duty CV joints for Land Rover vehicles with a FIVE YEAR manufacturers warranty

This is the STRONGEST direct replacement available for your Land Rovers famously weak C.Vs 

• Made with a 300m inner & cage, and a 4340 Chromoly bell

You will need to convert to 23/24 spline half-shafts to run these if you have not already.

There has for some time been a need for a stronger CV joints especially with the recent trend of fitting 35" tyres or similar, some people shrink a band around the existing CV bell, some fit the early type AEU2522 to the later axles as this is the strongest one Land Rover can offer but these still fail under hard use.

INTERESTING FACTOIDS:

• 32 spline shaft cross section is 542mm sq.
• 23 spline shaft cross section is 714mm sq
• THAT IS A 23% INCREASE IN SECTIONAL AREA OVER A STD 32 SPLINE CV END AXLE

Ashcroft have manufactured the CV from scratch using improved materials, the inner and cage are from 300M and the bell is from 4340 Chromoly. There are a number of design changes which have been incorporated to produce a CV far exceeding the strength of anything else on the market.  Please click for product technical data - housing & domemass.

These units have been subject to some very thorough testing in the UK ,Europe & Australia and allow the driver to confidently use the front locker when on full steering lock even with the vehicle on it's nose. We are also  able to offer late style CVs which are ABS compatible. Please click here for some of Ashcrofts test results.

Please note the manufacturers  five year warranty is only valid for vehicles with up to and including 35" tyres. 

***ALSO AVAIL FOR COUNTY/PERENTIE - PLEASE JUST LEAVE A NOTE WITH YOUR ORDER***

INTERESTING FACTOIDS:

• 32 spline shaft cross section is 542mm sq.
• 23 spline shaft cross section is 714mm sq
• THAT IS A 23% INCREASE IN SECTIONAL AREA OVER A STD 32 SPLINE CV END AXLE

DEFENDER AND DISCOVERY 1 - WILL NEED TO HAVE OR PURCHASE 23/24 SPLINE FRONT AXLES TO RUN THESE. FIND THESE IN THE AXLES & FLANGES SECTION OF OUR WEBSITE! CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM!

Its time to give that weak front end some much needed strength!

The axles to suit these CVS are 24spline at the Diff end and 23 Spline at the CV end.

Marking Blue to check the correct contact patch for setting up R & P gears

This LT230 shim kit includes two ranges of shims for both the input and centre diff.

It would be very costly to include all shims in the LT230 range so we have selected 7 shims for each range which should enable you to obtain the required thickness.

The 7 shims in each range are in the following sizes:- 0.05mm, 0.1mm, 0.2 mm, 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 1.00mm, 1.5mm,

Always use as few shims as possible to reach the desired thickness.

Additional parts needed to fit the Ashcroft LT230 ATB, the kit includes:

• Collapsible spacer
• Intermediate pin nut
• Centre diff nut
• 2 x O rings
• 2 x Timken Bearings
• 8 x Shims
• Silicone sealant

Set of yellow zinc anodised bolts to smarten up your LT230 rebuild, the kit consists of:

10 x M8 x 25 Sump bolts
6 x M8 x 55 Hi/Lo bolts
7 x M8 x 25 Front housing bolts
1 x M8 x 90 Front housing bolt
5 x M10 x 30 Rear housing bolts
1 x M10 x 45 Rear housing bolt
3 x M8 x 25 Diff lock bolts
6 x M10 x 40 PTO bolts
7 x M8 x 25 Diff lock side cover bolts

A Detroit (EATON) locker for the Salisbury axle.

The Detroit Locker maximises traction by delivering 100% of the torque to both drive wheels. It is engineered to keep both wheels in a constant drive mode, and has the ability to automatically allow wheel speed differentiation when required. The Detroit locker is a bolt on application to suit all Salisbury rear diffs fitted to Land Rover Defender, 110, Perentie, & County.

A cheaper option than a manually switched locker, but just as effective. We recommend replacing the rear axles with MaxidriveHD unites found in our "axles" section when fitting this item

PLEASE NOTE: This style locker will not suit everyones application/use case, and there are justa couple of small drawbacks to running one of these.

To help answer some of your questions give us a call, or you could also check out the video below - skip to the 22min mark

CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT DETROIT LOCKERS

 

Heavy Duty LT230 Cross Pin

The standard LT230’s have a two piece cross pin in the centre diff, this is two shafts with a cut out in the centre so they can overlap...in effect halving the thickness of the pin!

This one piece cross pin which is MUCH stronger!

The kit is very simple and consists of 2 parts to clamp the diff cross pins, held together with 4 cap head screws and a gear and thrust washers.

The part that clamps the cross pin is also splined and this engages with the rear output shaft so you always have drive to the rear axle.

The gear is fitted to the front side of the diff and shimmed with the supplied thrust washers to have approx. 0.5mm end float, this gear engages with the front output shaft but the gear transmits no drive, its sole purpose is to support the inner end of the front shaft.

When out of ‘diff lock’ you only have drive to the rear axle, the front is not driven by the transfer case but will be driven by the wheels if you don’t have free wheeling hubs.

When ‘diff lock’ is selected, the front shaft is locked to the centre diff so you then have drive to the front also.

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing Limited Slip Differential

To Suit the 110 rear axle up to 2002, (BOTH DRUMAND DISC SALS)

The key features are: –

• Fully automatic, needs no driver input
• Totally transparent on road, i.e., no unwanted adverse effects
• Only comes into play when one wheel loses traction, i.e., a difference in wheel speed
• Enhances the traction control as it multiplies the bias load created by the braking effect of the traction control
• Needs no adjustment as the gears compensate for any wear that takes place
• Only with 24 spline side gears

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre works best with a good quality Mineral based oil, we do not recommend synthetic oils, friction additives / modifiers and not required.

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre is a ‘Helical Gear’ type LSD with six gear pockets.

There are a number of other LSD available including the ‘plate type’ and the Torsen T1, we believe the Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre is superior to the Plate type LSD principally because of the high preload necessary to make the plate type effective, this high pre load leads to ‘harshness and vibration effects’ and causes high premature wear. The Torsen T1 was the forerunner Automatic Torque Biasing centre and relied on a different principle to generate cross torque, effectively using coupled worm and wheel gears, being driven backwards, to create the necessary friction loads. These often failed due to this high loading destroying the worm gears.

The helical gear type Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre has many advantages that overcome the objections to other designs. There is a minimal pre-load necessary to engage the gears but this does not cause excessive wear or harshness, the helical gear type is virtually invisible to the driver on normal road use as the gear/pocket friction simply does not occur.

So how does this ‘helical gear’ Torque Biasing centre work? as stated earlier there are six sets of helical gears, mounted parallel to the axle, each side ‘sun’ gear drives six helical gears, these mesh with six corresponding helical gears which in turn drive the opposite side ‘sun’ gear. The important factor is the fact that these helical gears are mounted in ‘pockets’ in the centre carrier, so any radial load on the helical gears causes them the press against the side of the pocket creating friction. This is why we use six pockets as opposed to three in another well-known brand, more pockets more friction and better Torque Biasing effect.

One of the drawbacks of the Torque Biasing centre is that it is always necessary to have some load on one wheel per axle. if there a no load situation e.g., cross axle the wheel with traction would only see approx. three times the load on the wheel with no traction i.e., nothing! To overcome this, as stated earlier, the Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre is fitted with some preload springs to provide some loading to the side with no traction in the event of a cross axle, where this pre-load is not providing sufficient traction to the other side then one favourite trick is to apply a small amount of left foot brake whilst applying more throttle. This manoeuvre fools the diff by providing load to the non-traction side which is multiplied by the Torque Biasing centre (approx. 3:1) to the other side, the loss of drive attributed to the brakes which are acting equally on both wheels is overcome by the additional throttle. In a car fitted with Automatic Traction Control this braking all takes effect automatically and the Torque Biasing centre provides additional traction by multiplying the ATB effect.

The Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre diff can be fitted in the front or the rear, in the rear you will not notice it’s there during normal road driving, in the front it will make the steering self-centre a little more than normal when coming out of a corner but this is only very slight and will lessen within the first few hundred miles and also you will find you automatically adjust to this feeling very quickly.

So why use an Ashcroft Torque Biasing centre instead of a locker?? basically when driving on a low traction surface. for example, sand, snow, or even wet grass rather than have a locked diff which can ’cause’ loss of traction for example when cornering as both wheels are forced to travel at the same speed, one wheel typically breaks traction allowing all the drive to the other wheel which will also break traction. The Ashcroft Torque Biasing will allow wheel speed difference but at the same time will always try to equalise the torque to each wheel, this reduces the possibility of a spin out situation.

Note: Due to the nature of the Torque Biasing diff Ashcroft do not recommend the vehicle is brake tested on rollers, ask for a decelerometer to be used instead.

Unfortunately, we are unable to supply HD crown wheel & pinon sets for the Salisbury differential ,but can supply rebuild kits

ASHCROFT MT82 KIT

The MT82 6 speed gearbox fitted to the 2.2 and 2.4 TDCi is prone to the spline on the rear output shaft wearing which causes a total loss of drive, this spline 'frets' as it is dry in the same way the earlier LT77 and R380 mainshaft splines wear in the transfer case input gear, same thing, different spline.

The MT82 mainshaft comes out of the gearbox and a female/female coupling shaft (LR030054) is fitted to this with a large bolt.

A male/male coupling shaft (TUD500020) then fits into the LR030054 and the other end goes into the transfer case input gear.

The spline that wears is the one at the rear of LR030054 and the front of TUD500020.

Ashcroft have devised a method to make this splined interface wet with oil which stops the wear.

We make a new coupling (like LR030054) and spark erode two small slits in the front face where it fits to a bearing, also loose two teeth from the front spline at 180 degrees to eachother (to let the oil through), then spark erode another two small slits on the rear face under the clamping bolt, this now allows oil to 'leak' out of the mainbox to this spline. We then machine a thread on the outside diameter and also make two O ring grooves.

The new shaft (like TUD500020) has a ground diameter that the transfer case input seals runs on, we machine this diameter further up towards the gearbox for the O rings below) to seal on.

Note the new female/female LR030054 coupling does not have the 2 cut outs to fit the LandRover holding tool for fitment so you will have to either lock the shaft using 5th gear or use an impact gun to fit.

We then make a alloy new part which slides over the shaft, this has 2 'O' rings fitted to the inner diameter which seal on the new ground diameter of the shaft and has both a diameter to seal on the outer coupling O rings and a thread to fit it to the coupling.

A tube spanner is supplied to fit this part.