so after a lot of research into possible alternative twin wheel axles to go under a mk1/2/3 twin wheel with better / taller ratios, i ended up looking into iveco daily units.....the reason being that i always felt that the tallest ratio available in the transit axles (4.63) still seemed well under geared, especially while running a turbo di engine, or even more so a torquey v6 etc.....
ive got my mk3 twin wheel van on the road a couple of years now running a nice lively turbo di, mt75 and 4.63 back end....but crying out for a bit more gearing.....another requirement for this axle solution was that i wanted it to run the original 14 inch wheels.....
after a few trips to the breakers measuring and sizing up different axles i figured the iveco daily one was the way to go as it was similar in width and size to a transit axle....and after researching more i learned they came with a great selection of ratios,...starting low similar to transit,....right up to as high as 3.3/1 thanks to some of the iveco gearbox,s having low ratios for some reason....
next i started trying to figure out what models and years had which axles etc, and i still find it all a bit confusing to be honest!!.......but as far as i can see a mk2 daily or turbo daily from about 1996 to 2001 and the later 35c or 50c models up to the late 00,s basically have the same axle with silght differences like brake setups and stuff like that...
so with this in mind i picked up a couple of cheap unknown condition axles to start playing with....one older drum brake type and one newer model disc brake type....
i had already learned in my research that the iveco shares the same pcd as a mk1/2/3 transit.....
so i figured i was off to an easy start with the drum brake axle,......just adapt the iveco handbrake cables to hook up to the transit bracket and use the complete iveco brake setup,.....until i discovered the inside transit wheel wouldnt fit over the iveco brake drum, which takes a 16 inch rim.......it would have been too easy...
so back to the drawing board...after briefly looking into adapting the axle itself to fit which looked simple enough, i decided to make sure of a brake and wheel mounting solution before doing any more.....so i stripped both the drum brake and disc brake axle of theyre hubs and brake setups, wondering could i run the complete original transit setup....ie....back plates....brake shoe assemblys...handbrake cables etc, in other words, the whole factory transit setup, so there would be no issue with brake balance or replacement parts etc...
after sizing up the drum brake iveco axle i concluded the deeper transit drums would need to be spaced out from the hubs quiet a bit to get the correct offset, which might leave me in trouble with wheel stud length and overall track width, so i had to give up on that option.....
amazingly on both axles the transit backplates were almost bolting straight on, thanks to the shank they sit on being spot on in size and 2 of the 4 bolts lining up and 2 others only needing half a bolt thickness to be filed out....
but on the disc brake axle i had the opposite issue to the drum brake version where the shank for the backplate ( calliper carrier originally) was much further in towards the spring.....i was just starting to calculate how far i would have to space out the backplate to be correct with the drum, when it occured to me.....what if i run the drum behind the hub rather than in conventional position in front of it?????
it was looking very promising at first glance, so next i cleaned up the centre bore of the drum along with the shank on the rear of the hub where the brake disc had been sitting, and again amazingly the hub popped snugly into the drum.....almost as if it was meant to be!!
and this arrangement would actually solve another issue i was facing if i was running the drum in the usual position sitting on the front of the hub........the original transit studs are a shade thinner than the iveco ones and are a loose fit in the iveco hubs,....meaning i would have to get the iveco hubs redrilled to bang in the transit studs tightly as they should be....of course i could have used the iveco studs and have the transit drums drilled out for clearance, but i wouldnt then have the original transit locating washers to match the wheels, along with having 27mm wheel nuts on the rear and 24mm on the front.......
the transit stud shanks banged tightly into the brake drum and out through the iveco hub clearance holes so the split locating washers could sit against the iveco hubs as they did on the transit drum....
so with a bit of anticipation, i popped one stud into the transit drum, and slid itself and the iveco hub into place on the axle tube to check the rough measurements i had taken........
and what a result.....with the hub locked back fully in position the drum was a couple of mm too close to the back plate but this was easily solved by shimming out the wheel bearing the required amount so the shoes were hitting the drum in the correct position....
as i was happy to proceed a bit further fitted the rest of the studs and also drilled through the drums into the hubs and tapped the hubs to take 3 m10 bolts to hold both together in place until the wheel studs are tightened, as the holes in the hubs are a loose fit .....
i used a couple of nos rims i had in stock to mock everything up on the floor, and tighten up all the wheel studs to make sure everything was sweet....another real stroke of luck was how snugly the centre hole of the rims sit on the shank of the iveco hubs.....so along with the locating washers, the transit rim is locating bang centre on the iveco hubs!!...i do wonder does the fact ford and iveco were sort of tied up for a few years helping matters with a lot of these coincidences.....
as i mentioned earlier, the transit back plates were very close to a straight bolt on fit....very little modding required....
so with that end of things figured out, i turned my attention to getting the axle to fit the van.....i had already measured up the spring mounting plates and found that they were a half inch wider each side than the transit ones........next i cut all the brackets off the iveco axle including its spring plates, but left the sides facing the axle ends so i could butt the transit plates up to them and maintain the correct diff nose angle...
before removing the spring plates and shock brackets from a scrap transit axle, i made up a bolt on jig that i could use to transfer them over to the iveco axle keeping the correct positions etc....
i also swapped over the load sensing valve/brake pipe bracket from the scrap axle....
and next it was just a matter of fitting my "new factory fit axle" into the van......
i had a transit to iveco adaptor flange made up by a machine shop when i started feeling confident the conversion would work!!
another useful feature that i learned iveco axles have is that the ratio is stamped on the nose of the pinion so theres no need to strip off the back cover of an axle to check a ratio.....
so after assembling hubs, brakes, shafts and re making brake pipes and bleeding, it was time for the very anxious test drive......my biggest fear was that the drums might not run 100 percent true on the back of the hubs and i may get a wee bit of "pedal hop" under braking....but they seemed bang on to turn by hand.....thankfully there were zero issues on the test drive and the axle i eventually fitted was nice and quiet.....but most importantly the main reason for the swap......going from a 4,63 to a 4.18 final drive ratio has totally transformed the way the van drives.....it now feels much more like a modern van at 60 mph, is still plenty lively and will cruise at 70 mph all day without blowing my ears off!!
i guess the only cons are that to adjust brakes or replace a wheel cylinder, i have to remove a halfshaft, hub nut and hub, but it wouldnt bother me and ive since learned that some modern trucks run this type of arrangement also....
ive covered almost a thousand miles since doing this conversion and im delighted with it.....it deffo took a lot of effort and mods to make it all work, but i think it was worth it....
ive got the result i was looking for......nice gearing while still running the original wheels....the overall track width work out about 15 or 20mm wider each side which was no issue...it also means its more or less the same width or marginally narrower than a mk1 or 2 which is great as i want to fit a taller ratio in my v6 powered mk1 truck im building...
the only small giveaway being the shorter iveco centre hubs and 8 bolts on the halfshaft flange rather than 6, but it would take a real anorak to spot it lol!!
