Ahh the cannon ball - or knuckle. Actually pretty good. Which is a surprise. They don't have to be like a billiard ball. The wiper seals don't fully keep everything out hence the importance of having grease in there.
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Another 80 front axle rebuild
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Towpack
Well-Known Member
I put a slug of grease in through the filler plugs periodically using a baking syringe. The grease mayor may not get to the swivels but, I reckon, if it replenishes the grease immediately behind the wiper seals it'll help keep water and road grime etc out.
I seem to remember some swivel housing gaiters being available for LR's years ago when I had a Disco but never seen any for an 80. Not sure how effective they were either.
I seem to remember some swivel housing gaiters being available for LR's years ago when I had a Disco but never seen any for an 80. Not sure how effective they were either.
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Now I use an adapter from a hydraulic firm which the nipple fits in and screws into the plug hole.
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How did you get the housings clean Chris? Rotary driven wire brush? I guess you don't have a blaster.
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Actually Frank, spot on. Knotted brush on an angry grinder but really only to smarten them up. As I said previously, they really weren't bad at all.
However, today has tested me to the limit. I have dropped a front diff in 45 mins from jack up to diff on the floor. That includes the prop too. Obviously not all of the shafts and swivels. But in the past I have done the whole lot in pretty quick time. Well today I didn't. What an absolute f******
I finally got the diff loose after several hours but it was stuck on the stud that passes through the locker motor. Which obviously I couldn't get off either. I tried to locknut the stud out but to no avail. Finally, I got things moving a bit but still couldn't get it off. Eventually something gave and bits of locker fell off. Effectively the middle section of the housing where the pinion comes out on the spindle had totally welded itself to the diff. Once I got the casing off, the spindle was left sticking out of the diff.
If' you've ever done one of these you'll know how tight the diff is in the axle. There's very little clearance. When you put the diff in, you need to lock the sliding sleeve to make it narrower then unlock the diff by hand once it's in. Well, with the diff jammed in the unlocked position it just would not pass through the hale in the axle housing. In the end I had to cut the spindle off and punch the pinion through into the diff. Which nearly fell on my head then. I have never had such a fight with a diff before. Other than the time on my Collie when I left a bolt in. Doh.
Not a good end to the day really but it was always going to end this way. So be warned.
However, today has tested me to the limit. I have dropped a front diff in 45 mins from jack up to diff on the floor. That includes the prop too. Obviously not all of the shafts and swivels. But in the past I have done the whole lot in pretty quick time. Well today I didn't. What an absolute f******
I finally got the diff loose after several hours but it was stuck on the stud that passes through the locker motor. Which obviously I couldn't get off either. I tried to locknut the stud out but to no avail. Finally, I got things moving a bit but still couldn't get it off. Eventually something gave and bits of locker fell off. Effectively the middle section of the housing where the pinion comes out on the spindle had totally welded itself to the diff. Once I got the casing off, the spindle was left sticking out of the diff.
If' you've ever done one of these you'll know how tight the diff is in the axle. There's very little clearance. When you put the diff in, you need to lock the sliding sleeve to make it narrower then unlock the diff by hand once it's in. Well, with the diff jammed in the unlocked position it just would not pass through the hale in the axle housing. In the end I had to cut the spindle off and punch the pinion through into the diff. Which nearly fell on my head then. I have never had such a fight with a diff before. Other than the time on my Collie when I left a bolt in. Doh.
Not a good end to the day really but it was always going to end this way. So be warned.
When I fitted my new pivot bearings I packed them with a marine grade waterproof grease . I don't think it will migrate either up or down to contaminate the CV grease but will help keep some of the water out from fording etc .
I only changed my CV's because they clicked slightly on full lock under load at 170 K, but has I had some new ones and a bit of time I just reset everything back to new spec .
While doing so I sandblasted the axle and painted everything with 2 coats of Hammerite Smooth Satin Black.
I painted the Knuckles as well , the Hammerite go's on smooth and set's hard so gives a bit of protection to the area prone to rust and attack by road salt rubbed by the housing seals.
I only changed my CV's because they clicked slightly on full lock under load at 170 K, but has I had some new ones and a bit of time I just reset everything back to new spec .
While doing so I sandblasted the axle and painted everything with 2 coats of Hammerite Smooth Satin Black.
I painted the Knuckles as well , the Hammerite go's on smooth and set's hard so gives a bit of protection to the area prone to rust and attack by road salt rubbed by the housing seals.
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I think the dealer repairers would have fitted a whole new axle Chris lol.
Well this afternoon the ratchet finally switched from loosen to tighten. Never had such a fight with a rebuild as this. It all came apart in 3 hours which was great with only one small bolt snapped. But the diff not only fought me coming out but getting it back in was like trying to put a cat in a cage. It just wouldn't have it. I't been a bit of a marathon has this one.
But all's well now.
All new bearings in the diff. Had to lap a shim in by hand as I didn't have one thin enough to get a pattern on the ring and pinion.
New:
Inner axle seals
Wheel bearings
Discs
Backing plates
Swivel bearings
Wiper seals
CV's
Dust seals
All gaskets, nuts and thrust washers
And....
Plenty of grease!
But all's well now.
All new bearings in the diff. Had to lap a shim in by hand as I didn't have one thin enough to get a pattern on the ring and pinion.
New:
Inner axle seals
Wheel bearings
Discs
Backing plates
Swivel bearings
Wiper seals
CV's
Dust seals
All gaskets, nuts and thrust washers
And....
Plenty of grease!
Well it pays to be thorough doesn't it. This morning I was checking the lower swivel studs when one snapped like a twig. If you look at the surface where it broke, it's just black. There's no shiny metal at all. As a precaution, we swapped all 8. I'd always change them on a full rebuild but we were trying to keep the cost down where possible and these looked ok initially.
Incidentally, if you've never assembled a CV and shaft before, here's how to get the snap ring into the splines on the CV. Squash it with a zip tie, like it up in the start of the splines then give it a deft whack with a mallet and it will go in. Then cut the zip tie off.
Incidentally, if you've never assembled a CV and shaft before, here's how to get the snap ring into the splines on the CV. Squash it with a zip tie, like it up in the start of the splines then give it a deft whack with a mallet and it will go in. Then cut the zip tie off.
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I think that's an old crack and has been capillaried with water. Steel goes black like that.
Yep, both the sheared taper pin on my seized steering ball joint (Steering arm pitman end) and the sheard sector shaft (the output shaft from the steering box just before the pitman spline) were black, like that, almost all the way across the section.
Not off hand no. I didn't replace the shafts and the CVs are from Roughtrax, so I didn't need any part numbers. If you want to look them up then you'll need the variant of your particular 80. Is it ABS non ABS, long CV or short CV.
Are you looking at trying to sort your temporary Mediterranean repair? It sounds like you might need a new stub axle more than anything.
Are you looking at trying to sort your temporary Mediterranean repair? It sounds like you might need a new stub axle more than anything.
THL
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Ah, didn't realise they had variants.
Yep, going to go all in and replace drive flanges, CVs, half axels and associated seals etc. Stub axle could be a possibility but only on one side. I was going to get a stub axle from 80sbreaker as, by Trevor's reckoning, its only an outside chance that will be needed.
Yep, going to go all in and replace drive flanges, CVs, half axels and associated seals etc. Stub axle could be a possibility but only on one side. I was going to get a stub axle from 80sbreaker as, by Trevor's reckoning, its only an outside chance that will be needed.
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Why the drive shafts might I ask? Rare you'd need to replace those and they are hugely expensive. What's wrong with them? We can tell you the part numbers if you let us know exactly which 80 you have. It's only the CVs really that are different and in any case you can fit the longer ones to an early 80 with the uprated drive flanges.
Roughtrax do a very good series of rebuild kits. Just pick your problem and buy the right kit. I used several this week and was impressed. A rebuild is easy IF everything goes really well. But as you can see from this thread alone, it doesn't always. Snap a stud or something and unless you've got the kit and the knowledge, you're stuffed.
If you fit a used stub axle, I'd be be careful to inspect the bushing in side for ovality.
Roughtrax do a very good series of rebuild kits. Just pick your problem and buy the right kit. I used several this week and was impressed. A rebuild is easy IF everything goes really well. But as you can see from this thread alone, it doesn't always. Snap a stud or something and unless you've got the kit and the knowledge, you're stuffed.
If you fit a used stub axle, I'd be be careful to inspect the bushing in side for ovality.
Another vote for Rougtrax here......one of the best company's I deal with .
Personally I would upgrade any 80 series stub axle to the 105 series needle roller set up , it just seems to be smoother and a better engineering solution . Roughtrax sell the bearings and the bush (both genuine parts) think they list them under 100 series .
You have to make sure you keep them greased though which was never really a problem with the old bushings ... I never had a spindle bush 'failure' on an 80 but I've had spindle bearing failures on the 100 and that caused binding and shaft damage. Not disagreeing just noting the maintenance issue.
