Salisbury Detroit/axles Any Broken Salisbury Detroits?

[MountainD]

Just curious and I didn't want to corrupt the "When Detroits go Bad" thread since Rocky wants to rename it...

I know there are a lot of folks that have broken rear axles and destroyed their Detroits. Curious if any of the folks have ever broken one of the Salisbury Detroits versus the smaller "other" rover diff... (is there even a common name for the Diff of D90's?). Asking as I have a Salisbury axle I am currently rebuilding.

Since I have never broken my 15 year old detroit in my D90 despite breaking several axles, I have already made up my mind on that one. But curious about the 110 before I throw one in my Salisbury...

 

[chris snell]

I haven't broken mine yet.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I had a detroit in a 130 that I wheeled heavily @ venues like The Cove and Rausch Creek, places known for their glacier boulder strewn rock gardens back in the day. Truck was on 35's with a slinky suspension and sliders. I'd follow purpose built buggies on the trails. I'd pop one salisbury shaft and continue on the trail and only admitted defeat when I'd broken both rears, usually in a place that involved hours of winching to get turned around and headed out. Would drive the truck home to Annapolis in difflock front wheel drive and pop in two shafts (for less than $100 back then) and be ready to do it again. Of note, with the Salisbury Detroit you can pull your hubs and broken shaft and then I used a copper grounding stake from home depot to poke the broken stubs out of the diff. You can see straight through since there are no spider gears. The Dana carrier is quite massively built and the Detroit for that axle is what is called the lunch box type. You simply open carrier, remove spiders, insert the spring loaded detroit and then remove the through bolt keeping the detroit compressed. Slip the carrier back in the axle, bolt down the bearing saddles. and aside from shaft reassembly you are done. There is no diff setup to do with the ring and pinion because you never mess with the pinion. I found the detroit to be quite robust. I have owned this one a few times having sold it to Gustavo who sold it to (atty) Ron in Pa who traded it back to me. Still have that detroit in a disc brake Salisbury today after 12yrs. Its sitting in the grass, we pulled that axle and put an open one under the 130 when we rebuilt it on a galv chassis. Selling the 130 so took it back to stock. Thinking back I broke both shafts in that axle 4-5 times.

If you can break a Salisbury/Dana 60 Detroit I tip my hat to you because I couldnt.

 

[LR Max]

I've broken two axle shafts and stripped a drive flange in my Series 3 109 with a salisbury rear axle and detroit locker.

Overall I think my failures are due to fatigue more than anything. Which makes sense considering the age and use. Also I did have to replace the carrier bearings as the races were pitted. The axle shafts, one was definitely fatigue. I forget the other. The flange, it just stripped. Considering the failure mode was fatigue/being old, I plan on replacing the axle shafts and flanges in a few years. One side will be 15+ years old, other side will be 10 years old. Easier to replace vs tear down to get the axle pieces out. Decent enough replacement axles can be had for less than $100/side. So worth it to me.

I had one shaft mushroom but didn't shatter. So trade one pain for another (stub axle had to come off). The other one shattered which was fun. Both times it broke at the diff so the 3rd member had to be removed. Fun fact: If you have to pull the 3rd member out, get an old couch cushion and let it fall onto it. Made life easier and was a bit comical. My friends would ask why the 3rd member was on a couch pillow, and I'd say, "Oh he just chillin". The stripped flange was a jerk to diagnose. Tore apart the entire rear axle before checking it. Not a problem with defenders, but still. Also I think both shaft splines had twist. Not much, but a touch.

If I ever buy another solid axle rover, the rear axle shafts are going to be an early replacement item for me. Easier than fishing metal pieces out of the housing. At this point, everything has just gotten too old to handle much more abuse. Assuming it wasn't abused heavily beforehand. Between that and more frequent axle oil changes, I should be good to go.