The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I believe Darren (600+bhp sprint man) used a Nissan pickup truck axle.

I recall it is a Toyota Hi-Lux axle, but may be wrong...

trackerjack wrote:I would replace yours with a sprint as it will fit and bear in mind that suppliers of parts such as Rimmers want to sell you something.
If the engine is turbo charged it will load up gradually where if you use a stonking great V8 it will dump a bucket of torque all at once breaking things as it goes.
I believe Darren (600+bhp sprint man) used a Nissan pickup truck axle.

The engine is an AJ30 v6 so it's gentle torque lower down/I'll tune it to be gentle lower down

Talk to Dan at 3j,s http://www.3jdriveline.com/. They are very good. He used to be tranx. Don't touch quaife. They are not a plate diff. At that power half shafts will fail. But I'm looking at getting some better ones made that are stronger. The main problem is they have a tendancy to bend during Heavy cornering. You could always look at a 4ha axle. That's what the tr8's and Sdi's as well as the lotus sunbeams used when rallying. It's big but bullet proof.

paulsprint wrote:Talk to Dan at 3j,s http://www.3jdriveline.com/. They are very good. He used to be tranx. Don't touch quaife. They are not a plate diff. At that power half shafts will fail. But I'm looking at getting some better ones made that are stronger. The main problem is they have a tendancy to bend during Heavy cornering. You could always look at a 4ha axle. That's what the tr8's and Sdi's as well as the lotus sunbeams used when rallying. It's big but bullet proof.

Looks like I'll be using my spare English diff

300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

DF wrote:300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

Ok, sounds beefy, after talking on the turbosport forums, they say an English diff should be able to put up with 300nm of occasional use

DF wrote:300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

Isn't the hilux axle a really high ratio of 4.something?

Boost All The Dollys wrote:

DF wrote:300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

Isn't the hilux axle a really high ratio of 4.something?

I run a 3.73 from USA

DF wrote:

Boost All The Dollys wrote:

DF wrote:300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

Isn't the hilux axle a really high ratio of 4.something?

I run a 3.73 from USA

Did you have it trimmed down to fit? As I'm having trouble finding 48/49 inch rear axles

Description
Toyota 8"
3.54 Nitro Ring & Pinion


Differential: Toyota 8"
Gear Ratio: 3.54
Tooth Count: 46/13
Pinion Splines: 27
Ring Gear Bolts: 10 (not included)
Manufacturer: Nitro Gear & Axle
Warranty: 2 Years


Nitro gears are manufactured from 8620 steel gear forgings in the same manufacturing facilities as GM, Dodge, Ford & Toyota. They are precision machined using computer controlled processes, heat treated, CNC triple-lapped and Rockwell tested for hardness. These extra steps ensure excellent fitment, ideal contact pattern and smooth, quiet operation.

[quote="Boost All The Dollys"][quote="DF"][quote="Boost All The Dollys"][quote="DF"]300 mm will kill your diff ,my sprint diff with lad blew the crow wheel at 350 mm
I have used the hilux axle and diff with oil cooler 16" wheels 265 tyres 550 mm torque no issues
It's heavy yes but keeps taking the abuse .
I'm using the same on my new build with a lot more power and torque .

Isn't the hilux axle a really high ratio of 4.something?

I run a 3.73 from USA

Did you have it trimmed down to fit? As I'm having trouble finding 48/49 inch rear axles
No I run arches

Why use an English (unless it has a lsd in it and proper half shafts) as standard It's not that strong. Not compared to an atlas or a sprint axle. Also a sprint has semi floating half shafts so be wheel bearings are much stronger

I re-read this thread and am not sure what you intend to use the car for after the conversion and that will really be the determinant of what you need. I had a couple of S-types over about seven years (ironically using them as the tow car for my race Sprint) and the torque will be greater than a tuned Sprint engine will ever develop.

Splitting potential use into three categories:
A) Normal road use only giving good (overtaking) acceleration and comfortable cruising. Standard Sprint axle would be fine I am sure
B) Drag strip type use where getting off the line will be crucial. This will put huge twisting strain on ALL driveline components, especially if you have a multiplate 7" clutch and sticky tyres - both will have huge grip and pass strain onto everything between the two.
C) Circuit work, racing or fast track days, where you could have the all the issues of B, but also lateral forces far greater than a road car, AND far greater than when these cars raced in the 70s because of the far better grip of modern sticky race tyres - they used to slide, now they just grip.

While works race cars in the 70s did use standard wheels and axles, they did also have an additional bearing inserted part way along each half shaft to stop bending. Without these the halfshaft can lift off the outer oil seal, oil fill the brake hub and eventually onto the tyre with the consequences you would expect! Once was enough for me!

I did acquire a modified axle but when the inner bearing came lose and broke, the potential cost of doing that work again, the lack of spare Sprint axles in NZ, difficulty in finding affordable plate type LSDs and lack of diff crownwheel & pinion ratios, about 8 or 9 years ago I moved to a Ford English Axle from a Capri that came with 9' drums, same as Sprint. We simply cut off the Sprint mountings and welded them to the bare Ford casing. I now run a 4.1 diff with 3.77 as a spare. Changing is quick and simple. Plate diffs are cheaper than for a Sprint and parts are plentiful.

By the way I run 195.60 Dunlop Direzza 03G race tyres on 14in rims within standard arches, although they have the inner facing edge rolled up.

After the last full engine rebuild I fitted a 7' twin plate clutch which did significantly improve launch off the start line, but seems it also loaded up the rear axle more and in 12 months I snapped two halfshafts. I have now fitted a couple of billet heavy duty ones from 3J Driveline and Dan even had a pair of hub drilled to the Sprint pcd rather than Ford, especially for me. They were excellent to deal with. Only raced a few times since, but the difference as seen in the photo below is substantial.

Because of the regs I race under, I can only use period (available in the 70s) options so the Hilux isn't a starter for me, but it does sound the sensible choice if you intend to continue to increase engine power / torque.

Hope these comment go some way to informing your decision.

PS I trust you are also thinking about how you are going to stop this beast of yours? One of the reasons I use 14" wheels is to fit larger discs (vented) and Wilwood 4 pot callipers with bigger pads. Again my 'classic' regs only allow me to go up 1" on standard, otherwise I would be using 15" with even bigger brakes.

paulsprint wrote:Why use an English (unless it has a lsd in it and proper half shafts) as standard It's not that strong. Not compared to an atlas or a sprint axle. Also a sprint has semi floating half shafts so be wheel bearings are much stronger

It was just as I thought I had one laying around, turns out I didn't. Is it possible to use jag independent in conjunction with triumph Drop links so I can claim I have standard suspension with an additional support for the different axle