I had done it before when I first got the vehicle. This was because at about 40mph a horrendous wheel wobble manifested itself when driving on standard road tyres! After changing the pan-hard rod bushes & Hub bearings, I did a quick overhaul job on the swivel housings and then the problem cleared.
However, a year down the line and the passenger side started leaking a mixture of EP90 and CV joint grease on the driveway......something not right and I had clearly not done a good job.
This lead to finding some useful advice and an glimpse into this vehicles past....
Do Your Research!
For those of you unfamiliar with parts of a Land rover - the swivel housing is located on the ends of the front axle:
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| From Landroverclub.net |
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| The Swivel housing |
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| The Swivel joint |
The housing fits over the joint. Inside the housing is a CV joint (#2 on the swivel joint). This enables the drive from the differential to be transferred to the hub/wheel, via the half-shaft (#1 on the swivel joint), whilst allowing the hub/wheel to be steered.
I also did a bit of a search for guides on how to service/overhaul these swivel joints and came to a favourite channel of mine on youtube: Landrover Toolbox Videos
If you look though his playlists, you can find an entire playlist dedicated to replacing the swivel housing in detail and from someone in the know, also a load more on tool reviews and tips & hints; mostly Land Rover related +Land Rover Toolbox Videos
I then ordered a swivel joint overhaul kit: DA3164P, from Paddocks and made a start.
Stripping & Re-build
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| On the bench |
After taking the wheel off and freeing the track-rods, I undid the 7 Bi-Hex bolts holding the swivel joint to the axle, allowing me to pull the hub, housing and half-shaft out all in one go, to then take to the shed and start stripping it down and cleaning all the parts and inspecting them individually.
One thing I noticed when taking the half-shaft out was no EP-90 followed it out or leaked out when taking the bolts off! Probably cos it had escaped onto the driveway! A sure sign the seals had probably not been fitted properly!
After stripping the whole assembly down to its individual components and cleaning them in paraffin, I found a few errors I had made:
- I had left the old gasket from before, for the bottom pin on the housing!
- I had not put grease on the inside edge of the swivel housing
- I had totally pre-loaded the housing incorrectly!
- All surfaces for gaskets were not cleaned properly or at all.
Well that's what you get for a rush job! lesson learnt!
After I had cleaned up the parts I gave the surfaces where there would be a gasket (Housing face to stub axle, the face where the swivel joint joins the axle, and the face of the stub axle) a pass with a Stanley blade, a scrub with a wire brush and then a finish with some wet/dry paper to clean them up proper.
After I had cleaned up the parts I gave the surfaces where there would be a gasket (Housing face to stub axle, the face where the swivel joint joins the axle, and the face of the stub axle) a pass with a Stanley blade, a scrub with a wire brush and then a finish with some wet/dry paper to clean them up proper.
Using a vice to hold the swivel ball, I began to pre-load the the housing as per the video. Once happy with the pre-load I fitted the the axle seal, and the oil seal. then moved the whole assembly to the vehicle where I cleared the old gasket & gunk for the axle end and built the rest up on the vehicle.
All new gaskets were fitted with some sealant on the mating surfaces.
Fresh pack of one-shot in the filler for the housing and some fresh grease and seals in the hub & bearings and job's a good'un. No leaks so far, but will see after I top up diff with EP90.
What was learnt
- Pre-loading the housing bearings properly is vital!
- Clearing the crud of mating surfaces helps
- Greasing seals helps ensure a good seal to keep unwanted muck out and keep lube in.
- Taking the time to clean your parts aids to a doing a job properly!
Also found out that the front axle is of a series 1 discovery:
This is not surprising really, the vehicle was trailed a lot before I got it, so it's more than likely that they were swapped due to damage.
Unfortunately, I damaged some of the brake lines to the calipers whilst trying to re-fit the assembly, another job on the list then!
HEY-HO!
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