Mk 5 Rear Axle Types

Mk 5 cars were fitted with two types of axle – Salisbury and ENV.  It is important to know which axle type is fitted to your car before ordering axle parts.

If you wish to ascertain if your car is fitted with a Salisbury or ENV rear axle, look under the rear of the car at the back of the differential – if you can see clearly that there is an inspection plate bolted onto the differential then is it a Salisbury axle.  The ENV axle does not have a removable plate. 

In addition, if you look at the two rear hubs, a Salisbury axle has a large nut in the centre on the end of the half shaft, the ENV axle does not have a nut at this point because the hub is an integral part of the half shaft.