• Welcome to the Land Rover UK Forums

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to register then please Register Now

1971 Series IIa 88" Overhaul

So tonight I removed the remaining pieces from the left side of the front axle. It was quite a bit more rusty than the right side but went a lot faster. It's weird how that sometimes happens. Well I guess it's not that weird considering that I learned how to do it from the first one and had all the tools at the ready...
20240505_232348.jpg

20240505_232440.jpg

20240505_232502.jpg

The U-joint on the half-shaft is completely knocked out. I've already got new joints to put in there so no big deal as long as it isn't so thrashed as to have wrecked the shafts too. We'll see once they're cleaned up.
20240505_232518.jpg

The swivel ball on this side is even worse than the one on the right: major loss of chrome and deep corrosion and pitting. No way this thing is going to seal. New parts is the obvious answer but the idea of doling out another $1000 for new swivels is, shall we say... unsettling. I'll put some thought into it while I clean parts.
20240505_233846.jpg
 
SWBFreeLoader said:
People have epoxied the swivels and sanded/polished them back down.
It's not 100% forever, but it does seem to last.
JB weld or something would be ideal.
Click to expand...
I could see JB Weld working if applied properly, for a while anyway. I might just go that route for the short term. I was also thinking about these gaiters:

DA3056 - Swivel Housing Gaiter Kit Rubber Series/Lightweight

DA3056, swivel housing gaiter kit rubber series/lightweight for Series 1, Series 2, Land Rover Parts and Range Rover Parts
www.johncraddockltd.co.uk www.johncraddockltd.co.uk

If they work then it wouldn't really matter how bad the swivels or seals are. Perhaps both fixes are in order here.
 
madmechanic 954 said:
This is more about the grease versus oil .... oil leaks out with pitted balls ( oh missus...) where as the grease should stay in the hub longer ... i think ...
Click to expand...
Greasy pitted balls - I think there's an ointment for that... šŸ¤£
I have these sealed U-joints that I had planned on removing the seals from.
20240506_154150.jpg

Maybe I could leave the seals on them and not bother to run oil in the swivels at all. I could install grease fittings on the upper and lower bearings and keep things lubed that way. Thoughts?
 
SWBFreeLoader said:
Planning to leave the axle casing dry too?
Or put a grease nipple on the crownwheel :p
Oil gets in the swivels one way or another, you might as well embrace it and welcome it with open EP00 grease arms.
Click to expand...
Ha! Well no I guess not. Perhaps I was expecting too much thinking the outer axles seals might actually work and keep the gear-oil in, after all it IS a Land Rover. šŸ˜
 
Neil said:
It may not be as expensive as you think.

Genuine, NOS, OEM and Military Series Land Rover parts

Genuine, NOS and OEM Land Rover parts mainly for Series 2 and 3 Land Rover including rare and military specific parts.
www.seriesparts.co.uk www.seriesparts.co.uk
www.paddockspares.com

Full Kit With Swivel Housing (LATE)

DA3181 Swivel Housing Kit (later type with steering arm on the bottom - from mid 1960s)
www.paddockspares.com www.paddockspares.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links Neil, I do appreciate it. Those are some excellent prices. The problem is that I'm a long way away from Paddocks and with exchange and shipping to Canada it gets expensive quickly. Also despite the fact that we both acknowledge the same monarchy my government see's fit to give me a good screwing on import fees, duty, and taxes. Import fees and Duty from UK to Canada - can you believe it?!

So cost-wise it goes something like this: with a 1.75:1 cdn to GBP exchange rate my price comes to around $361 each and times two is $722cdn. Add shipping at about $150 and it comes to about $870. Then my government needs to take another $100 at least and we're hovering around the $1000 mark. Ouch!

So to lay out another $1000 bucks right now and get it over with seems like the right path but at the moment I'm about at my limit for $1000 expenditures. It's less a money thing as I do have it but it's more of a wife thing. I told her I was done with the big cash layouts for a while and I'd like to hold that line if possible. Next winter? No problem. Right now? I'm going to get some flack.

So here's what I think I'm going to do: I'll clean it all up as best as I can and re-use everything except for new outer axle bearings and seals and new swivel seals. I'll JB Weld the swivels as best I can and drive it this summer. Next winter I'll rebuild the diffs and do the swivels at the same time as I install new springs. All its gotta do right now is last the summer! šŸ™„
 
Presumably you are in the happy situation where you can get imperial bearings from local suppliers? Or do you have to go over the border for things like that?
Oddly enough, or not, it is probably more difficult to get imperial bearings here than it is in Canada.
might be worth your while to 'phone Blanchard and see if they have any used swivels in stock, I ended up having to replace 3 of the hubs on mine (because of the damage inflicted by the previous boneheaded owner) and that was what I ended up doing. Buying used from Blanchard saved me taking out a mortgage to buy 3 new items.
Not sure if Peter still works there, he was going to retire, but beware. He can be Mr Grumpy on the 'phone.
Governments screwing the local populace? Gosh, whatever next?
 
SeriesG said:
Greasy pitted balls - I think there's an ointment for that... šŸ¤£
I have these sealed U-joints that I had planned on removing the seals from.
View attachment 531585
Maybe I could leave the seals on them and not bother to run oil in the swivels at all. I could install grease fittings on the upper and lower bearings and keep things lubed that way. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
My thought is as they are inside the axle/hub...then remove the rubber seals .. or at least that is what i did on mine ..
 
I've been the better part of three days cleaning and painting bits and pieces of the front axle now and it's a good thing I'm near the end as I've about had it. I'm so glad I'm working on the final dirty, smelly, and greasy assembly on this vehicle. Once I'm done this job my entire drivetrain will have been overhauled and should be relatively easy to work on from here on in.
20240507_003514.jpg

20240506_221103.jpg

20240507_230723.jpg

I started with the RH side swivel assembly. The chrome loss and pitting on the swivel ball is bad so I've given it the citric acid treatment and wire wheeled the bejebus out of it and now I'm going to smear on some JB Weld. We'll see how that goes.
20240507_224703.jpg

The tapered roller bearing on the bottom side looked poor but after a wash-up seems serviceable. The upper pin is badly corroded but the Railco bush seems reasonable albeit out-of-round by about 0.015". I was successful pushing the pin from the upper swivel pin casting so I think I'll push out the Railco bush, bore it oversize, and make a new pin to fit. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours I should think.
20240507_222724.jpg

20240507_222740.jpg

Mucho wire wheeling ensued and after an hour or so all the hardware was spiffied up. That's a nasty job that is. The picture shows about a quarter of it.
20240507_224025.jpg

So tonight I'll be taking the other swivel housing apart and cleaning it up. Hopefully things go as well with this one and I can reuse the existing parts.
20240507_224304.jpg
 
I cleaned up the front stub spindles tonight and installed new seal rings. After reading multiple horror stories about this job I thought I'd post how I went about it as I found it rather easy actually. Firstly I washed the spindles then gave them the acid bath treatment - optional of course. Another quick dusting with the wire brush made them look acceptable. Here's a before and after pic:
20240506_221131.jpg

To get the seal rings off I first center-punched the face aiming for slightly outside off center toward the outside, knowing that I'd be drilling on an angle toward the spindle. It took a couple of cracks but I settled on the middle one.
20240506_235107.jpg

I then drilled into the face of the ring with a 13/64" bit making sure not to dig into the axle threads with the drill chuck. Going slowly it came to a point where it broke through and caught the bit, so I let off the trigger and pulled the bit out.
20240507_210026.jpg

I then gave it a quick strike with a cold chisel and it popped open and off. Easy peasy!
20240507_210121.jpg

20240507_210127.jpg

I did this exact same procedure for all four wheels with the same results. All you need to watch out for is that your not drilling into the stub axle. If it looks like that's what's happening then stop and try again in a different location on the face of the ring, aiming for a center punch mark that's closer to the outside of the ring. It's not hard - just go easy.
As for the installation of the new ring all you need to do is make sure the stub axles are clean and burr free then heat the new ring with a propane torch and slip it into place. Get the rings good and hot but don't go nuts and make them change color - just get em' hot. With gloves on slide the ring into place on the stub axle, taking care to keep it square with the axle so it doesn't get cocked and stuck.
20240507_223004.jpg

As a side note I thought it interesting that the seal rings on the rear axle were made of steel and bent open upon removal versus the front rings which broke in two indicating that they were cast or sintered metal. Not any kind of revelation, just interesting. Also of note was that all four rings were made of very soft material. FYI...
20240507_222745.jpg
 
Looking good. I need to follow in your footsteps on this one I think.
My front axle certainly resembles the 'before' quite a lot...

Never needed to drill the seal lands, just a good hit with a chisel does the job, usually they distort and come right off no problems.
 
The swivel balls were severely pitted. The acid bath and thorough wire wheeling really brought it out.
20240508_151137.jpg

Once shined up I wiped them down with acetone and went over them with some JB Weld. I made a curved applicator from a plastic yogurt container which did a nice job of spreading the compound over the ball surface as thinly as possible while still filling the voids. Now they're basking in the sunlight while I go on to other tasks.
20240508_154541.jpg
 
Today I set about pulling the front differential unit for inspection. It came out easily and like the rear diff it is in good condition. Exceptional really. It doesn't even need bearings. Quite surprising really considering the condition of the rest of the drivetrain. Wait - did I already say that? Probably... With some effort I installed a new pinion seal into it (Corteco) and reinstalled the assembly. I noticed that for some reason the carrier casting is different than the rear and used a removable seal housing as opposed to the rear where the seal pressed right into the casting. It's definitely of different construction and I'm reasonably sure it's the original unit so I'm not sure what that's all about but whatever - it works and it's in and it feels good when I turn it. I'll just give it half an hour at finger tight to let the sealant set up then torque it down.

Ps: I'll clean it up and paint it next winter when it gets new springs and chassis bushings. šŸ™‚
20240509_005938.jpg

20240508_233925.jpg

20240508_233917.jpg

20240509_011353.jpg

20240509_011821.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom