Diff's

[ben]

hey markb not sure that a hq tailshaft will be right length but i will have the right uni and tailshaft yoke.youd just need to get it lengthened or shortened if its wrong length..


yeh probably have trouble with widths on a holden diff.. see how you go..  make sure its not 2.78 ratio either youll never get your van out of your driveway. althou you have a strong 6 ay.. hey man you should work on haveing your spare motor on a front end and everything.. thats what ill do one day have a spare motor front end and gearbox all sitting there in case something ever happens:) ben

[Mark B]

Benny, that's a flocking brillient idea bro  now that makes heaps of sense ay? That has to be one of the smartest things i've heard of. Do any of the vans your gonna wreck have front ends still? i'd still put new tie rods n bushes etc. on it - so doesn't have to be great??

[John Abbott]

Hey MarkB....I have a HQ diff in my truck and if memory serves me right,it has a ratio of 2.75? It was put in by the previous owner which said they bought an old HQ wagon and swapped over the whole drive train except the tailshaft. That was another whole story in itself because it is a lwb. My truck cruizes along quite easily on the freeway. But it will pull a heavy load as long as you take it easy. Has a 173 auto in it. Apart from the diff being a bit narrow i find it a good diff.

[Mark B]

Awesome, thanks John ! So the original Bedford tailshaft was used for the HQ diff? And if so, is this the case with any diff? Can you just use the original Beddy tailshaft? or is it about the uni joint..or ... um....er.... yeh - i'm confuzzled....might just call one of you blokes for a chat soon me thinks 

[John Abbott]

Mark...I ended up having a custom tailshaft made up by a company here in Perth (Hardy spicer) bloody brilliant mob. The original lwb one was just an abortion of a thing. Maybe one of the other members would be able to tell you.? Anyhow its not to hard to get one made up for your application.

[ben]

yeh i got a few front ends coming up..

yeh go the holden tailshaft bro.. would be easier cause it will all bolt up as long as its the right length..

ben

[Paulo]

Ok I have a lot of catching up as I plan the drive train, but back in the day I am sure that the salisbury 3.08 diff was all the go is this still valid or are there better options, and as cars are generally narrower than the cf what is required to address this problem
  cheers Paulo

[Zeeman]

The Salisbury diff is still a good option to keep the Holden stud pattern, or some people fit a later commodore diff (VL-VN?) to get disc brakes on the rear. If you're fitting a V8, a nine inch diff from a mid 60's galaxy is the go, large finned drums and the right width (about 1450mm from memory) for a Bedford. Will fit 15x10 wheels at the rear with flares.

[Paulo]

Thank you Zeeman
  I am more likely to go with an updated 202 from the commodore VK, as I am finding out that red tape here in SA is very expensive, I will be converting to all round disc brakes power steering and fuel injection setting it to run on unleaded, and move the old girl a little toward the 21 century while trying to keep the engineers payments to a bare minimum,
 Paulo

[Zeeman]

Sounds like a good plan. Consider a V6 conversion too, the VN-VP series motor is cheap, reliable, and has overdrive transmission already. Plenty of conversions been done before, so should keep the engineer hassle to a minimum. Lots of threads on here about brakes & power steering, Transit power rack & HQ discs used to be the most common, but there are a few other options nowadays.