rear axle change

[4x4 tranny]

HI All,
I am wondering if any one has swapped there MK6 rear diff housing /axle's from a single to dual axle assembly? then fitting super singles in place of the dual's, the reason is that the Mk6 is load rated at 3550 kgs, but as I understand it the dual wheel rear axle vans are rated at 4490kgs. as everything else between the vans are the same besides there length. By doing this swap will bring the van up to this rating 4490. allowing for more carrying capacity. also my intention is to tow my race car or RAV behind as well, giving better braking,
Thanks for any advise, good or bad.

[Airthies]

You can't just stick another axle under it and say it carries more, it'll need inspected/ certified and changed on the V5 before you can carry any more legally.
And from my understanding there's more to it than just the axle for heavier capacity, not 100% sure what but think the front struts/hubs/bearings are different too.
Running it on super singles might work on your van if you can find the right size, but duals won't fit under STD single wheel van arches.

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[4x4 tranny]

Yep realize it will need certification, Also have available front struts, which also just bolt in, and checking the frame(chassis) it looks most the same bare the extra length, after the axle.
I also have the paper work and chassis plates, the main gut's of the question was have anyone tried it and found any problem with this conversion.
My main concern is getting wheels built with the right off set and right diff ratio. there appears to be two ratios for these axle's/ diff''s 4.6 and 5.1. can anyone confirm that and if there's other's would appreciate any info.
cheers guys and thanks for your input.

[Airthies]

Think you can put any ratio you want in there, I've not heard of any carrier break but it could be the case since they're Dana axles as far as I understand.
I have heard of a 3.73 twin wheel before.
Depending on what ratios your running now and what you want you can find a single with a higher ratio and swap the guts into your twin.
It's an interesting project.



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[4x4 tranny]

Thanks Airthies, for you input, well the single wheel i have in at the moment is 4.6 which is ok but quite hi in first for going over rough ground, at slow speeds, have to keep stabbing the clutch, so was hoping maybe a 4.9 or may have to convert to the 5.3 but as of now it cruises great at 100/110 ks and have had 6.9 litres a 100 on the flat, not towing but normally around 9.5 on a average. so don't want to change that much if i can . but towing with 5.3 would be good also as have more pull on the hills but don't want to rev its head off on the open road that's why the thought of maybe 4.9.
any way open to ideas and in put as i'm sure you guys had far more altering transit's over there then here.
cheers

[Airthies]

If your wanting best of both worlds them a Namby Pamby conversion is what you want
Running 3.73 on the road which gives you a cruising speed of 110kph @ 2400rpm
Then if you want slow for rough ground drop it into low range

Or source an old school independent drop box that you can just put inline with the prop to give you low ratio so you can have mega Cruisin and superslow plodding (you'd have to make sure it's not a centre diff type though otherwise it wouldn't work )

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[4x4 tranny]

well isn't that life though ? wanting best of everything....lol . well when I start this project 3 yrs ago now my intention was to do as you have but to do a complete ranger swap, after some time looking for a cheap van, the ranger i had my eye on (crashed but just a body damage roll) slipped through my fingers. so after getting the van which had a ps 90 in it stuffed, I thought i just do the build i wanted and do the 4x4 conversion when another ranger came up at the right price.
Well the build took longer than anticipated through work load, and sort of it got more involved as i went on, was only going to put one slide out in then after starting that though well why not another so it evolved like most things.
Any way long story short the first trip the ps 90 sh*t it self so though now's the time to do the transplant, well hole and behold no bloody ranger round at the right price or to badly damaged. But had the opportunity to get a ps 125 brand new crate engine for stuff all, so well need to get some use out of this, so got that and installed it, with the thought maybe change it to 4x4 later. well see you doing yours but after working the cost out the hole project was getting outts hand cost wise. so shelved the hole idea.
But the other week even though we with in the weight limit all up for weekend use I now want to travel more so have to carry more gear,an tow my race car and as I have a 4x4 rav that as well(not at the same time) then had this brain spin about axle changing, and since found a 4490kg van in bits so that the line of thinking now> well maybe hahaha
Had thought about a reduction box in line but stuff all room under there now, and like to fit a box like you have means taking all the water tanks heaters batteries etc etc and altering them so a big job and to be quite honest just want to get out and use it more..............lol
well thanks for thoughts and input, it might happen depends on how enthusiastic I get.........lol
so happy for any thoughts and input.

[Airthies]

A complete ranger transplant electronics and front wishbones the lot was one of the options I'd looked at but cost and time were big factors and so came round to the idea of just fitting the box and front axle.

Good luck with the build anyway, my next serious project is sorting out a viable replacement diff carrier with either LSD or Locker....

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[4x4 tranny]

Yea that also had crossed my mind, other than full 4 wheel drive, as been so close to getting stuck, just by parking on the grass on the road side when its wet, or surface uneven, which is in the main on the out back roads here. at this stage haven't done a lot of research, bar the possibility of a electric locker, but not to much there ether.
problem to many brain storm ideas and not enough time..........lol

[blfmtriv]

Interesting read, hopefully all you folks are still around, i have a dual cab mk7 2.4, with dual rear wheels and looking for a super single combination, i did this with my 4X4 sprinter found NZ runs a bigger rim so imported them, but back to the transit, i always thought with the dual wheels i was rated at 4.4ton, untill i looked at the compliance plate, shocked it read 3550 for dualies, theres a fellow in Brisbane (rim doctor)that will cut your centres out and reweld onto wider rims, but with Aust standards the rim now has to take or be certified for extra weight same as the tyre,the dualies have a mega centre hole and some tyre stores dont balance them as there machines wont take the large centre hole, my thoughts are that i take the axles off my mk6 and see if i can fit them to the mk7, as the PCD is much smaller than the truck style rims

[knobby1]

Interesting read, hopefully all you folks are still around, i have a dual cab mk7 2.4, with dual rear wheels and looking for a super single combination, i did this with my 4X4 sprinter found NZ runs a bigger rim so imported them, but back to the transit, i always thought with the dual wheels i was rated at 4.4ton, untill i looked at the compliance plate, shocked it read 3550 for dualies, theres a fellow in Brisbane (rim doctor)that will cut your centres out and reweld onto wider rims, but with Aust standards the rim now has to take or be certified for extra weight same as the tyre,the dualies have a mega centre hole and some tyre stores dont balance them as there machines wont take the large centre hole, my thoughts are that i take the axles off my mk6 and see if i can fit them to the mk7, as the PCD is much smaller than the truck style rims

Dual rear wheel Transits have a 6 stud hub...the single wheel machines have a 5 stud hub...so not really compatible. PCD on all single rear wheel Transits, Mk6 or Mk7 are 5 x 160. Heavy duty or Dualies are 6 x 180.

Make of that what you will.

Lord Knobrot (Smithy)