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Greetings from the Arctic Circle

G

Guest

Guest
Hi all,
Greetings from the Arctic Circle, or in fact very near it, currently
in Akureyri on North coast of Iceland. Waiting for the cruiser to be
fixed after a wheel fell off.
I drove from the ferry up to Askja caldera in the south highlands, and
then noticed the brakes going. I stopped to find lots of smoke coming
from front passenger side wheel, and the brake pads were burning and
hot grease/oil dripping out of the wheel. Loss of brakes presumably
due to loss / overheating of brake fluid.
Taking the wheel off revealed that the wheel bearings had gone
resulting in the disk wobbling and rubbing on the brakes. I pulled the
hub apart and found that the nuts holding the bearings in place had
come undone. The nut threads and lock washers were pulverised and the
stub axle or whatever the bit the bearing goes on was elliptical and
the thread knackered. However the bearing actually seemed ok.
Being about 150km from the nearest mechanic I was forced to effect a
repair, so I got my hammer out.
I cleaned the bearing in wd40 and put it back in the wheel. I then
retained the bearing and adjusted the play by hammering a tapered
punch in between the axel/bearing carrier bit and the driveshaft on
the end of the CV. This flared out the end of the axel so the bearing
was held in place and hopefully the wheel wouldn't come off.
It still wobbled a bit, and the disks would rub on the pads and
overheat if I applied the brakes, so I prized the pads apart as far as
they would go with a screwdriver and decided to try to drive without
using brakes.
I then drove about 100km over rough mountain tracks just using the
auto gearbox and handbrake. That was ok but I had to go very slowly
and keep stopping to let it cool down, and was amazed it all stayed
together over miles of corrugated track. The next 50 km on road was
worse due to long hills with steep drops at the side but I finally
made it to a guy who trailered it to the Toyota dealer.
All this was ok, but I'm with a friend in a Landrover and they took
the piss out of me, singing "three wheels on my waggon"
More later when I find out what the inside of the hub looks like now :)
Andy Haxby
HDJ81
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List
Further Info: http://www.landcruisers.info/
 
WOW!!
Renate
-----Original Message-----
From: [Email address removed] [mailto:[Email address removed]] On
Behalf Of Andy Haxby
Sent: 11 August 2009 12:18
To: [Email address removed]
Subject: [ELCO] Greetings from the Arctic Circle
Hi all,
Greetings from the Arctic Circle, or in fact very near it, currently in
Akureyri on North coast of Iceland. Waiting for the cruiser to be fixed
after a wheel fell off.
I drove from the ferry up to Askja caldera in the south highlands, and then
noticed the brakes going. I stopped to find lots of smoke coming from front
passenger side wheel, and the brake pads were burning and hot grease/oil
dripping out of the wheel. Loss of brakes presumably due to loss /
overheating of brake fluid.
Taking the wheel off revealed that the wheel bearings had gone resulting in
the disk wobbling and rubbing on the brakes. I pulled the hub apart and
found that the nuts holding the bearings in place had come undone. The nut
threads and lock washers were pulverised and the stub axle or whatever the
bit the bearing goes on was elliptical and the thread knackered. However the
bearing actually seemed ok.
Being about 150km from the nearest mechanic I was forced to effect a repair,
so I got my hammer out.
I cleaned the bearing in wd40 and put it back in the wheel. I then retained
the bearing and adjusted the play by hammering a tapered punch in between
the axel/bearing carrier bit and the driveshaft on the end of the CV. This
flared out the end of the axel so the bearing was held in place and
hopefully the wheel wouldn't come off.
It still wobbled a bit, and the disks would rub on the pads and overheat if
I applied the brakes, so I prized the pads apart as far as they would go
with a screwdriver and decided to try to drive without using brakes.
I then drove about 100km over rough mountain tracks just using the auto
gearbox and handbrake. That was ok but I had to go very slowly and keep
stopping to let it cool down, and was amazed it all stayed together over
miles of corrugated track. The next 50 km on road was worse due to long
hills with steep drops at the side but I finally made it to a guy who
trailered it to the Toyota dealer.
All this was ok, but I'm with a friend in a Landrover and they took the piss
out of me, singing "three wheels on my waggon"
More later when I find out what the inside of the hub looks like now :)
Andy Haxby
HDJ81
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List Further Info:
http://www.landcruisers.info/
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List
Further Info: http://www.landcruisers.info/
 
Hi Andy
Do keep us informed as best you can and fair play to your improvising
skills.
It would be great to know what to do in cases like yours and other cruiser
stopping issues.
cheers
john92HDJ80 1HDT
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List
Further Info: http://www.landcruisers.info/
 
Yeah too right!
One never knows when one needs this kind of help in a situation
I'll be watching this space avidly.
Renate
-----Original Message-----
From: [Email address removed] [mailto:[Email address removed]] On
Behalf Of john
Sent: 11 August 2009 13:10
To: [Email address removed]
Subject: Re: [ELCO] Greetings from the Arctic Circle
Hi Andy
Do keep us informed as best you can and fair play to your improvising
skills.
It would be great to know what to do in cases like yours and other cruiser
stopping issues.
cheers
john92HDJ80 1HDT
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List Further Info:
http://www.landcruisers.info/
--
European Land Cruiser Owners Mailing List
Further Info: http://www.landcruisers.info/
 
Hi Andy,
Sorry to hear of your woes, although you seem to have done a sterling
job sorting it out so far.
What I suspect may have happened is that the locking tab on the star
washer failed causing the two hub nuts to slacken off - I have seen
this happen a couple of times and there doesn't seem to be any rymn or
reason behind it.
Out of interest how many miles on and off road have you done on the
trip so far?
Once you get it all back together it would be worth checking the wheel
bearings on a daily basis, particularly if doing a lot of rough track
work.
Traditionally you need to jack up the wheels and hold them at the top
and bottom and try to jiggle the wheel to see if there is any play, but
actually if you repeatedly shove the top of the tyre hard enough you
can get the vehicle to rock sideways which shifts the weight on the
wheel - if the wheel bearings are loose you will get a dull metalic
clunking sound.
Good luck with it.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
0845 508 6863
Ledbury, Herefordshire. UK
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift and a few goodies.
 
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