So I'm close to buying a Series I Discovery. I married into a Jeep family, & have had 2 myself, so I understand Jeep stuff.

So, I saw that the axles on the Disco are 24-spline. In Jeep land that would indicate a rather thin axle, that would need upgrading before any serious off roading. A Dana 30 "light to medium duty" Jeep Axle has 27 splines, & a Dana 44 heavy duty has between 30 & 35 splines.

So my question is, how do the Disco's axles compare to the Dana line up in terms of strength & durability? Do people upgrade these parts? If so, how?

Thanks for any help!

 

Being a Jeep guy too I've bee looking for this answer for the past year and a half and still haven't found a conclusive answer. My best GUESS is they aren't that strong stock, upgrade the spider gears and they're just under a d44..put in upgraded shafts too and they're stronger than a d44. However, do not forget rovers are about 1,500lbs more than a Jeep so they will break axles quicker. Hope this helps.

forgot to mention D1 axles are full-floaters so that's a plus.

 

Axles are a common upgrade item, though I've been off-roading Land Rovers for about 35 years always on stock axles.
Great Basin Rovers and Rovertracks are to common dealers of HD halfshafts.

 

I have been told by numerous people that stock Rovers axles are equal to a Dana 44, but I cannot confirm this.

Now here is a little known "fun fact" about Rover axles...they are designed to break at the diff to protect the diff, kinda like a shear pin in a outboard motor.
The axles are cheap and can be replaced on the trail, if you have a DI, with basic tools.

A DII and you need a special socket and tourqe wrench to remove/replace the hub assembly.

 

Fun myth you mean.
There's no documented evidence that I've ever seen or heard of that Rover axles were designed with that in mind. My theory is that people just started saying that to explain broken axles, and it became "common knowledge".

 

That may be so Tom, I am not disputing you.
In the new Rovers North catalog/magazine Jeff Aronson talked about it and apparently RN told him this as he broke one of his axles in his series, the QEI.
He has a picture of his busted axle too, the splines are stripped.

So if I am wrong then I stand corrected.


On a side note, if the stock axles are strong enough for the Camel Trophy then I think they are strong enough for us.

 

kind of like how some people think "freeze plugs" are there to protect your block if the coolant freezes by popping out and giving the coolant expansion room, lol

 

I read that article in Rovers North "magazine". I took it to mean he was talking about older axle designs.

 

Maybe he was.

As far as I know the axles from a series and a DI have not changed that much.

But some one please correct me if I am wrong.

 

So then what are they for if not to protect the block from splitting if it freezes?

I am asking because I am one of those people who was taught in auto mechanics school that freeze plugs were designed to pop out if the block were to freeze.
So if I was taught wrong please correct me.