Talk to me about Final Drives......

[Carledo]

Mine came out at 53.5 inches.

Steve

[shaunroche]

The bracketry is the same on all axles.

I've measured a Sprint axle in the back garden here and from outside of drum to outside of drum it measures just over 53"...

Good work Alun, you could go far young man!

[shaunroche]

Mine came out at 53.5 inches.

Steve

Hello!

Got a knackered old spare one knocking around you don't need? Just want it for the bracketry....

[Carledo]

Mine came out at 53.5 inches.

Steve

Hello!

Got a knackered old spare one knocking around you don't need? Just want it for the bracketry....

Yeah might have something here you can use! PM me!

Steve

[naskeet]

What were the various final-drive ratios used for the following models and how can one identify which is fitted, based upon the rear axle's serial number:

Triumph 1500 TC (manual & automatic)?

Triumph Dolomite 1500 (manual, manual with overdrive & automatic)?

Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL (manual, manual with overdrive & automatic)?

[Carledo]

Only 2 ratios were used on the 1500 models, manual, manual with overdrive or auto all the same. Early cars used a 3.89 ratio and later cars approx late 78 onwards used the 3.63 from the manual 1850. I can't remember the ID codes off the top of my head, no doubt someone will be along with them presently!

Steve

[naskeet]

Only 2 ratios were used on the 1500 models, manual, manual with overdrive or auto all the same. Early cars used a 3.89 ratio and later cars approx late 78 onwards used the 3.63 from the manual 1850. I can't remember the ID codes off the top of my head, no doubt someone will be along with them presently!

Steve

Thanks for that Steve.

I have been offered a rear axle, complete with brakes, from a Triumph 1500 TC Automatic, for the princely sum of £25, so I wanted to check whether it might be appropriate to my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special", on which I wanted to change the effective gearing by about 5%, either by fitting larger circumference tyres or substituting a different final-drive ratio.

The vendor lives in Maldon, Essex, which is not too far from Canvey Island, Essex, for my friend and I to go and collect it in his car. The vendor also has an extremely-rusty late-model 1979/80 Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL Automatic which is about to be cut up, so I am hoping to salvage a few parts from that, with which to further upgrade my Toledo. Sadly, there are few parts they don't have, including a front bumper with mounting brackets and fuel-gauge sender with integral warning-light switch.

Looking in my two Triumph Toledo manuals and the official BLMC Triumph manual (brown-plastic, loose-leaf, four-ring file) for the 1973 Triumph Dolomite 1850, they seem to differ in wheel-track measurements, so I am wondering if there is any difference in rear-axle width and/or whether wheels of different offset were used!?!

[Carledo]

Only 2 ratios were used on the 1500 models, manual, manual with overdrive or auto all the same. Early cars used a 3.89 ratio and later cars approx late 78 onwards used the 3.63 from the manual 1850. I can't remember the ID codes off the top of my head, no doubt someone will be along with them presently!

Steve

Thanks for that Steve.

I have been offered a rear axle, complete with brakes, from a Triumph 1500 TC Automatic, for the princely sum of £25, so I wanted to check whether it might be appropriate to my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special", on which I wanted to change the effective gearing by about 5%, either by fitting larger circumference tyres or substituting a different final-drive ratio.

The vendor lives in Maldon, Essex, which is not too far from Canvey Island, Essex, for my friend and I to go and collect it in his car. The vendor also has an extremely-rusty late-model 1979/80 Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL Automatic which is about to be cut up, so I am hoping to salvage a few parts from that, with which to further upgrade my Toledo. Sadly, there are few parts they don't have, including a front bumper with mounting brackets and fuel-gauge sender with integral warning-light switch.

Looking in my two Triumph Toledo manuals and the official BLMC Triumph manual (brown-plastic, loose-leaf, four-ring file) for the 1973 Triumph Dolomite 1850, they seem to differ in wheel-track measurements, so I am wondering if there is any difference in rear-axle width and/or whether wheels of different offset were used!?!

Your original Toledo diff is of course a 4.11, i'll let you work out the percentages!

The 1500TC auto diff (if original) will be a 3.89 and the 1500HL will be (again if original) a 3.63.

I don't have all the wheel track data to hand, but I do know that you can put the diff and shafts from a 1500 into a Toledo case, 1500 and 1850 axle parts are similarly interchangeable,so my guess is the explanation for the track difference is down to wheel size (width) as the Toledo has narrower wheels from the factory than either the 1500 or 1850.

On another subject, with 2 autos breaking, your man may be able to help another member here who is desperate for a 21 tooth speedo driven gear for an auto 1850!

You can still get the 3 pin tank senders new from Fitchetts in Telford and probably other sources too. The bumper is a little more problematic! I have a late HL one here which is not TOO badly bent that it couldn't be tidied up and used, has irons and a semi respectable pair of underriders too. It's not rusty, just has a small kink at the nearside end and a scuff on the O/S corner. Will be cheap, but a bit big to post!

Steve

[naskeet]

Only 2 ratios were used on the 1500 models, manual, manual with overdrive or auto all the same. Early cars used a 3.89 ratio and later cars approx late 78 onwards used the 3.63 from the manual 1850. I can't remember the ID codes off the top of my head, no doubt someone will be along with them presently!

Steve

Thanks for that Steve.

I have been offered a rear axle, complete with brakes, from a Triumph 1500 TC Automatic, for the princely sum of £25, so I wanted to check whether it might be appropriate to my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special", on which I wanted to change the effective gearing by about 5%, either by fitting larger circumference tyres or substituting a different final-drive ratio.

The vendor lives in Maldon, Essex, which is not too far from Canvey Island, Essex, for my friend and I to go and collect it in his car. The vendor also has an extremely-rusty late-model 1979/80 Triumph Dolomite 1500 HL Automatic which is about to be cut up, so I am hoping to salvage a few parts from that, with which to further upgrade my Toledo. Sadly, there are few parts they don't have, including a front bumper with mounting brackets and fuel-gauge sender with integral warning-light switch.

Looking in my two Triumph Toledo manuals and the official BLMC Triumph manual (brown-plastic, loose-leaf, four-ring file) for the 1973 Triumph Dolomite 1850, they seem to differ in wheel-track measurements, so I am wondering if there is any difference in rear-axle width and/or whether wheels of different offset were used!?!

Your original Toledo diff is of course a 4.11, i'll let you work out the percentages!

The 1500TC auto diff (if original) will be a 3.89 and the 1500HL will be (again if original) a 3.63.

I don't have all the wheel track data to hand, but I do know that you can put the diff and shafts from a 1500 into a Toledo case, 1500 and 1850 axle parts are similarly interchangeable,so my guess is the explanation for the track difference is down to wheel size (width) as the Toledo has narrower wheels from the factory than either the 1500 or 1850.

On another subject, with 2 autos breaking, your man may be able to help another member here who is desperate for a 21 tooth speedo driven gear for an auto 1850!

You can still get the 3 pin tank senders new from Fitchetts in Telford and probably other sources too. The bumper is a little more problematic! I have a late HL one here which is not TOO badly bent that it couldn't be tidied up and used, has irons and a semi respectable pair of underriders too. It's not rusty, just has a small kink at the nearside end and a scuff on the O/S corner. Will be cheap, but a bit big to post!

Steve

Thanks for that Steve.

I can't comment on Toledo steel wheels, because I have never had any. According to the official BLMC Triumph Toledo workshop manual and the owners' handbook, they would have been 4½J x 13 inch, but no mention is made of the offset.

I shall pass on the message regarding the 21 tooth speedo driven gear for an auto 1850!

I need to think about the bent front bumper. I probably wouldn't need the under-riders, because they would occupy the space reserved for my 7 inch, Lucas 20-20 Homo-focal "Rally" fog lamps which I bought from Halfords during the early 1980s for £18 each!

At the moment, I am debating whether to stay with a double-throw paddle switch in my steering-column nacelle for the front and rear fog lamps, change to two separate single-throw paddle switches in the same location or retro-fit in the instrument panel or elsewhere, two late-model Triumph Dolomite pattern fog-lamp switches (same switch-knob shape as the hazard warning switch), of which I so far have one at the moment!?!

[Carledo]

I think some of the very last Toledos had 4.5" rims, which are the same as the 1500/1850, standardisation and all that! My earlier car (late 73) had 4" rims on it when I bought it which I gather is the correct size for that and earlier years and possibly up to 75.

Steve

[naskeet]

I think some of the very last Toledos had 4.5" rims, which are the same as the 1500/1850, standardisation and all that! My earlier car (late 73) had 4" rims on it when I bought it which I gather is the correct size for that and earlier years and possibly up to 75.

Steve

Although the owners' handbook and Passport to Service were not in the car when my father took delivery of the 1974 Triumph Toledo in May 1975, Mann & Egerton did quickly source a handbook and unused Passport to Service booklet (i.e. no dealership stamps for completion of PDI, 1500 or 3000 mile servicing) before we drove the car home.

The 64-page Triumph Toledo 1300 owners' manual I have, is marked Publication Part No. 545116, 4th Edition on the un-numbered Page 1 and PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY THE NUFFIELD PRESS LIMITED, COWLEY, OXFORD 25/14 (87669) 10/74-5,000 on the un-numbered Page 64.

I suspect the entry 10/74 might refer to a publication date of October 1974

According to the entries in the GENERAL SPECIFICATION section on Page 60, the wheels are Steel disc type, 13 x 4J rims, with either 5•60-13 D75 tubeless for early models or 155SR-13 radial ply tubeless for later models. No information is given about the wheel-offset!

Track (with four persons) is quoted as 4 ft 5-1/4 in (1352 mm) for the front and 4 ft 1-7/8 in (1267 mm) for the rear.

Noting that wheel-track corresponds to the measurement from tyre-tread centre to tyre-tread-centre, from one side of the car to the other, the variation in wheel-rim width will NOT affect track, but wheel-offset will.