VK / VL brake question

[Lowlife]

Hey guys and girls, just wanted to pick your brain and see if I can save myself some $$$. I own a VK calais (5L trimatic salisbury) and the diffs getting a little noisy. I've been offered a VL borgy diff for nothing, not sure about ratio but don't really care as there plenty of bits around for them. Only problem is the Calais is 4 wheel disc brakes and the VL diff is drum. Does anyone know if I can bolt my discs to the VL housing/axles??

Cheers people

[jakbob]

I don't think they will bolt on but I have a feeling you'll easily be able to bolt on disc brakes from the back of any old vn.

[Darren_L]

I'm fairly sure the bearing retainer used on the disc brake diff is different to the drum brake setup. If you could find a set of retainers, you could swap them over (need a press to remove & refit the axle bearing). Otherwise calipers & discs would be a straight swap

[DANNY8]

Where are u located? If u wanna keep using a 10 bolt, I know a guy just North of Adelaide that's wrecking a VK Calais that has a 10 bolt under it. He wanted $200 I think.

[Lowlife]

Where are u located? If u wanna keep using a 10 bolt, I know a guy just North of Adelaide that's wrecking a VK Calais that has a 10 bolt under it. He wanted $200 I think.

Christchurch noo zeeland dammit!!! Salisbury gear is frikken horrendous over here Thought I could change to BW and have a better selection of gears and lsd

[DANNY8]

Ah ok. Yeah a borgy sounds good. Pretty cheap to find parts for as well. I've bought 2 sets of 4.11's, one set for $200, the other for $220, and a set of 3.9's for $150. Also had a couple of LSD centres for sale a few months back to suit the VL diff but got rid of them coz now we're using locked diffs. But even they went pretty cheap. Think I got $150 for one LSD centre, and $100 for the other. Keep an eye on ebay and search google for sumfin like "borg warner lsd for sale" (or watever ur lookin for) and it normally finds results from for sale sections in car forums....which is normally where ya find good bargains!

[Lowlife]

Cheers for the help people

[Lowlife]

Just an update for anyone interested. VL borgy bolted straight into VK and the brakes bolted on like factory. Just use VL housing and axles with VK backing plates and its easy. If you're clever you can even do it without bleeding the brakes. Just unbolt the backing plates, pull the axles and unclip the brake line that runs from one side to the other. Tie them up to the body with some wire and swap the housings, then bolt it all back on again. Now I've got a 3.45 diff instead of the factory 2.6 and a plentiful supply of parts. Just gotta find an LSD and I'm sweet

[DANNY8]

So ur using a borgy drum diff, with salisbury backing plates on it, and also the salisbury calipers?

Did it go together alright? Any leaks?

[Lowlife]

Thats the one, went together like a stocker. Just gotta remember to get new bearings fitted to the borgy axles and DISC BRAKE seals. I've been told if you use the wrong seals they leak like a british car!!

[VK 401]

Before you go ahead check the length of the diff at the front from a Salisbury to a borgy i think the borgy is shorter than Salisbury and the yoke may also be different in size then you may have to change the tail shaft just the rear half and if you have to do that take it to a shop and get them to do it because you may through the balance out

[Lowlife]

Yeah sorry, I forgot that bit. Just use the front half of you original shaft and the VL rear half. You can just undo the 6 hex head bolts behind the center bearing and swap them round. As VK401 pointed out it is best to get the driveshaft balanced after you're up and running as driveline vibrations will drive you mental!!

[woodywoodpeckerin02]

been ther done that still havent got mine balanced yet ive got a bit of a bitser vn frount and vl rear sharft with vk S2 diff and the seals do and dont leak some times as ive done disc swaps b4 one worked and one didnt