Series land rover.

magenta, Jun 16, 8:39pm
HELP !
Have decided to reassemble a GOOD SWB Series 2a or 3 truck from the pile of spares i have around.
Q1. I believed all series SWB chassis were as one. However have discovered that the average width of of the chassis rails on a donor vehicle is 75 mm, whereas the width of the "new vehicle" rail is 80 mm! What's up?
Q2.I have all new springs, U bolts shackles etc and had intended to fit Series 3 109 diffs (Rear = Salisbury). Discovered that I will need to fabricate a plate each side of the axle to match the width of the spring hangers. Is this doable?
Q3. Also realised that the Salisbury rear diff has a longer housing than either land Rover or ENV versions and will therefore need a shorter drive shaft. Will that steeper drive shaft angle be OK.
Thanks. JT

oaic1, Jun 19, 4:45am
Its doable but not a 5min job. You will have to move the spring perches inwards to suit the SWB springs. You will need to have good welding skills or know somebody who has. It's the main reason I have not done this with the salisbury that's sitting under my workbench.
You can avoid the driveshaft issue by moving the whole axle rearwards 2 inches. Requires fabricating a plate with an axle locating dowel on one end and a hole on the other end to fit over the original dowel on the spring. Plate then goes between the spring pack and the axle and is held in place by the Ubolts. The rear axle sits a bit forward in the wheel arch so moving it rearwards 2 inches will actually centre it in the arch. Its a modification I have seen on FJ40 Landcruisers and I think it will work well on a SWB series.

fertman, Jun 19, 7:40am
Give Andy at Taumaunui Hire a call. Restoring Land Rovers is his passion.

the-lada-dude, Jun 19, 7:44am
Q3. Also realised that the Salisbury rear diff has a longer housing than either land Rover or ENV versions and will therefore need a shorter drive shaft. Will that steeper drive shaft angle be OK.
Thanks. JT

shorten the shaft or move the diff . either way you have mods. 2 " ain't going to change the D/S angle much , the loss in HP would be reasonably minor . there is nothing to stop you tipping the diff to a better angle

briantamaki-god, Dec 5, 5:46pm
so as i understand you your chassis is 1 wider that the donor?
how does the deck sit? just means slotting out the holes 5mm each side isnt a biggy on a landy
i copied skippy spring hangers and got them profiled cut and put them on my series one
my rear prop shaft fitted standard in the front of mine had to fab up some wedges between springs and diff to get the angle right raised it almost 75mms
ran a ld28 series one box standard diffs with fairy overdrive
lot of fun but in hindsight im surprised i didn't kill myself screamed its nuts off at speed the speedo used to go back around to 40mph lol
i have a video of my series one and another with lockers and v6 crossing the huruni up by the swing bridge its funny as it sounds like jet boats but its the top part of the landys showing only