Salisbury Axle Drum to Disc Brake Conversion

I have been wanting Boost alloys on my 1993 200tdi since I bought her 2 years ago. But of course a 1993 110 Salisbury has Drum Brakes and not Discs. I did not want spacers either so have spent a good year researching the topic of a brake conversion to discs so I can fit alloys without spacers.
I have read many threads here and on other forums and I know there are many ways to do it.
I decided I wanted it to be near factory as possible so with the help of James Martin, who has advised throughout the process (many thanks again James, I did it!) I consulted the parts book and ordered the attached parts
View attachment Rear brakes cost.txt
Yes the cost was around £500 but TBH I could not be arsed looking for 2nd hand hubs and other parts I could get of ebay etc. I wanted New as part of the fun for me is nice shiny parts that are clean and will go together all in one go!.
So the sun was out yesterday and the wife was out so I decided to go and have a go.
Below are some pics and comments for those newbies like me who need all the help they can... Yes I know you experts will know how to do this but I want to give something back to the forum as two years ago I knew 0% about defenders....and still don't !
Anyway on with the piccies

Before


Drum and shoes off removing Hub 6 bolts with nuts on the back. I was lucky that I had no seized nuts or bolts on either side and both sides were stripped to the axle case in about an hour.


Stripped to the axle. I spent some time cleaning of the old gasket


New Hub with Copper grease (in case it needs to come off in a few years)



Attaching the new disc to the Hub...I don't have a bench with a vice so I laid the hub into the wheel to tighten to the required torque!



I left the old brake pipe attached to the back plate of the drum so not to leak fluid everywhere...I will disconnect when I have the new callipers on.



Next I attached the FTC 3306 calliper bracket to the axle by fitting the new stub axle and plate. You have to use 4 longer bolts here. I was disappointed that the ones I ordered had a long shank (or the unthreaded bit!) and as the calliper brackets were threaded they would not go all the way through. I had to dig out my thread and tap kit and spent a good 1 hour re threading 8 bolts!




Once the stub axle and calliper bracket was on and torqued up. time to fit the discs and hub. New bearings and seals all around. Knocked the bearing sleeve down both sides of the hub using an old sleeve from the drum hub...


More picces to follow

Continued

Bearings in and ready to put on the axle....new washers and nuts




New calliper all ready for fitting onto the new bracket ....crunch time..will it line up?




Yes it does! Disc is bang in the middle of the calliper and has good clearance all round! fitted Pads and onto the Half Shafts




So now new half shafts and drive members. Went for the Heavy duty ones as they look good! Found it easer to put them together 1st then slide back through to the Diff



After ! finished job......wait Brake Pipes!




and had to wait for the Wife to get home to pump the brake pedal to bleed...as you can see she was not happy I got her out of the Bath!!!!



So all done in a day and went for a test run today...have done about 40 miles and all seems well. Pedal seems to be harder and the braking smoother. I anchored on from 55 miles per hour and stopped really quickly and dead straight....
SO EBAY for them BOOST ALLOYS HERE I COME

hi great thread and well done, im also considering doing the same job , I have a 1990 /90, I have a few questions, I thought I had to buy a full axel , were did you get your parts from and what parts would I need to complete the job, ive never done anything like that before
regards

Nice work.

Will the boost alloys not still foul on your front axle drive members, or have you changed those for the later thinner type as well?

spatuk said:

hi great thread and well done, im also considering doing the same job , I have a 1990 /90, I have a few questions, I thought I had to buy a full axel , were did you get your parts from and what parts would I need to complete the job, ive never done anything like that before
regards

Click to expand...

Hi
Have a list. Thought my link worked to a txt file but will post. Bought from LRDirect as a liked to choose the make of the parts. I.e. did not just get the cheapest (or britpart by default)

Retroanaconda said:

Nice work.

Will the boost alloys not still foul on your front axle drive members, or have you changed those for the later thinner type as well?

Click to expand...

You have me there! Thought it was just the drum not the drive member? Front axle is not a Salisbury but standard disc brake. Are we saying I need to alter that as well?

I thought Boost alloys usully fit the front and rear the rear is Never the problem the problem for many alloys is the front but Ithgought Boost ones fitted out of he landy alloys.

Because the drum takes 6-8mm off the wheel naiveplate/hub mating face the drive member sticks through less on a drum braked axle. the front hub/drivemember sticks out more than the rear and the issue with fitting many alloys inc RRC 3 spokes is that the drive member bolts/hub protrude too far to get the wheel on as it should be.

Boost alloys fit tho don't they???

saxmanuk said:

You have me there! Thought it was just the drum not the drive member? Front axle is not a Salisbury but standard disc brake. Are we saying I need to alter that as well?

Click to expand...

Afraid so.. Flange caps are too long if you want to keep the plastic caps on the boosts. I run boosts on mine and just went for the terrifirma 30mm spacers and jobs a Gooden.

jai_landrover said:

Because the drum takes 6-8mm off the wheel naiveplate/hub mating face the drive member sticks through less on a drum braked axle. the front hub/drivemember sticks out more than the rear and the issue with fitting many alloys inc RRC 3 spokes is that the drive member bolts/hub protrude too far to get the wheel on as it should be.

Boost alloys fit tho don't they???

Click to expand...

I might just borrow a boost from someone and try I think! if they don't can I run them without the cap? As the boost will seal the shaft from dirt etc?

Retroanaconda said:

Nice work.

Will the boost alloys not still foul on your front axle drive members, or have you changed those for the later thinner type as well?

Click to expand...

Can you explain please? Later thinner types? Do I order 300 tdi drive members or HD ones like I fitted to the rear??
EDIT Yes I see what you mean...funny I don't notice until its pointed out. The front Drive members and Half shafts protrude a good 6 mm (as Jai points out) from the outer rim of the steel wheel. The new HD member on the rear sits in (or is near as dammit flush) to the rim.
Back to the drawing board now for the front axle!!

Retro...you mention in your other thread (in another forum) you have done this or was going too?
Thanks

As you can see from my pic just put boost on mine, but yep they wont fit the front, its either fit a disco axle, but i have just renewed the brakes etc shave a bit out of the wheels and fit new bolts, or as i have decided, new 30mm spacers!
I do have a disco axle for sale if you want to take that route...

correct me if im wrong, but if I fit 30mm spacers to my wheels(1990/90 defender) I can fit more stylish wheels ?

Correct.i got mine for £110 new from ebay.

A couple of things from my experience. You might want to check the wheel bearings after they've bedded in for a few hundred miles and adjust as necessary. You might also want to give the brakes another bleed after you've driven around bit and let the system settle overnight. I've been amazed at how much air can hide in a Defender hydraulic system. All looks very nice to me. Bet you're pleased with it. I love putting things together with new bolts too.

Brown said:

A couple of things from my experience. You might want to check the wheel bearings after they've bedded in for a few hundred miles and adjust as necessary. You might also want to give the brakes another bleed after you've driven around bit and let the system settle overnight. I've been amazed at how much air can hide in a Defender hydraulic system. All looks very nice to me. Bet you're pleased with it. I love putting things together with new bolts too.

Click to expand...

Thanks...was planning on doing just that....love shiny new parts.
Just need to sort out the front axle now. ...will most likely go with a 300tdi and swap over as they don't cost as much as a rear Salisbury.

matchmetisse said:

As you can see from my pic just put boost on mine, but yep they wont fit the front, its either fit a disco axle, but i have just renewed the brakes etc shave a bit out of the wheels and fit new bolts, or as i have decided, new 30mm spacers!
I do have a disco axle for sale if you want to take that route...

Click to expand...

Hi, might be interested in the axle...if it has radius arms as well and is good nick.....PM me the details and what you want for it please?

Just don't fancy spacers myself as I have heard it puts strain on the bearings etc. I also like the look without spacers i.e. just nicely sits under the wheel arches etc.

Thanks for you advise and interest

saxmanuk said:

Can you explain please? Later thinner types? Do I order 300 tdi drive members or HD ones like I fitted to the rear??
EDIT Yes I see what you mean...funny I don't notice until its pointed out. The front Drive members and Half shafts protrude a good 6 mm (as Jai points out) from the outer rim of the steel wheel. The new HD member on the rear sits in (or is near as dammit flush) to the rim.
Back to the drawing board now for the front axle!!

Retro...you mention in your other thread (in another forum) you have done this or was going too?
Thanks

Click to expand...

I've never done it as I'm more of a steel wheel fan than alloys but the comment came from my understanding that it was always the drive members, their bolts and their protrusion outwards that caused the issue rather than the drum brakes themselves. People refer to the drum brakes because the drive members changed to the later thinner ones the same time drum brakes disappeared from the rear.

You have two options:

1. Fit a complete front axle from either a later Disco or Defender which will allow you to fit the alloys. If Disco then you'll need to swap your brake callipers and discs over from your old axle but I think they'll fit. And possible radius arms as well as some later ones had wider bushes at the axle end.

2. Replace the front CVs, stub axles, hubs and drive members with parts off a later vehicle.

Grinding the inside of the allow wheels to allow them to fit is not something I would consider personally, and you still wouldn't be able to fit the centre caps.

One word of advice about wheel spacers is not to scimp out on the cheapest set you find. I went with terrifferma because it's a trusted brand. Worth spending the extra money in my opinion. You don't want any coming loose or cracking under the stress of some rough muddy tracks!

So, just to finish this thread and info for others wanting to do the same.
I have now completed the 'fit boost alloys' project.
The Rear axle is as previous posts but it was pointed out to me that the front would need fettling as well DOH!

I did purchase said axle from 'matchmetisse' (previous posts) and a quick thanks to him for delivering it door to door. Overall the front axle was a really good one! I stripped it down to check and refurb, on inspection decided to change both swivels as they had slight markings, as I never want to touch the axle again I decided to change them and the one shot and bearings etc.
The discs too were OK BUT when I looked at the calipers (altho they were OK) they were smaller than the Defender 200TDI calipers and the brake pads were smaller as well! As I wanted as much stopping power as possible (and the existing 200tdi axle calipers were only 2 yrs old) I tried to change them over but the 200tdi calipers do not fit the 300tdi disco axle. the shape is slightly different. As you know I like Shiny parts....so decided to go to local Landy parts heaven shop and I purchased shiny new vented front discs...also found some original defender wider cailpers on Fleabay for £50 (nearly Brand New!) so in for a penny etc I changed the lot!
Also new Radius arms bushes etc to finish the job.

Fitted Boost today and BOOM


shiny new discs as well!



Just need to sort out the body work to match the shiny alloys!