Removing the Rear Actuator

[IRLGW]

I began to strip out my rear actuator yesterday. First thing I did was clean off the whole unit and the mounting bolts with a wire brush. Having studied the shape and condition of the bolts I decided that a good ring spanner was better than a socket because the 10mm bolts are so low profile and as they have the concave washer incorporated it didn't look good for a high torque removal. I then heated the bolts with a small gas torch and tapped the spanner home with a hammer while releasing the bolts and eveything came out ok.

For the top two I found that the forward bolt was more difficult than the rear one because of the shape of the motor housing. additionally I removed the axle stablizer bar that sits direct above the upper bolts as this prevents getting a square mounting of the spanner on the bolts. I did cheat with an extra pair of hands for the top bolts to tap the spanner on via a socket extension bar and with the rear wheel removed.

I'm not really sure how other people get around this because none of my socket ratchets fit in the space between the top bolts and motor housing-even the 1/4" bar wouldn't clear it to fit with a low profile socket and I think that possibly this were the problem of ringing the bolts arises? Taking the upper bar out only took about 20min so think it was the quicker solution overall.

I also did not use any 4D40 or anti corrosion sprays because I wanted the spanner to have maximum grip. If you have a corroded bolt that it horizontal with the incorporated flange like these ones, then the lubricant is never going to get into where its needed anyway.

The heat works better and I just put a small piece of tin under the cables just in case

Bad news is that the bolts holding the cover plate on the cog wheel have sheared off so need to progress slowly to stand a chance of salvaging it

 

[frank rabbets]

I had to drill and clean out the threads in my housing and got away with it. Used a centre punch on the brocken bits and a drill press. Note that there are tiny locating dowels in the housing which locate the cover in exactly the right position. These are easy to overlook and file off when you are cleaning up the old surface.

I had to araldite my magnets in too.

Frank

 

[warrenpfo]

When i did mine i had to weld a ring spanner on and think the heat generated and the fact it could not slip meant i could get the bolts out but what shold be a 5 min job took most of the day.

I wish you all the best.

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Unless the bolts are perfect and I can use a spanner, I always go direct to molegrips for the top bolts on the actuators - usually it is just the case of freeing them off, once part undone they tend to come off easily.

The bolts on the front cover will pretty well always sheer off - if you carefully remove the cover using a chisel there will normally be enough of the bolts sticking out to get a good pair of molegrips onto to undo them. If the grips don't work then it's time to dust off the welder to weld a nut on - usually the heat is all that it needs.

Again use molegrips with the screws for the motor cover - they are usually too soft for a screw driver to be much use.

Once done replace all the bolts and liberally apply coppereaze when reassembling. If the mounting bolts aren't too corroded I tend to swap them top and bottom so if they have had any damage from the molegrips it won't matter so much.

If the magnets are loose, do indeed stick them back in, but make sure they go back in the right order - have been there and done that with the magnets in the wrong place.

 

[IRLGW]

Molegrips sounds like a better idea but surely with the stabilzer bar there is still little or no room to move them? I must look at this when I refit them....

great tips on the cover plate. Hadn't realised that there were locators as well so I won't be too agressive when it comes to removing it. My friends father recently took delivery of a 5-axis cnc for his aircraft parts factory and could well be paying him a visit with the debris

 

[Julian Voelcker]

but surely with the stabilzer bar there is still little or no room to move them? I must look at this when I refit them....

I don't recall it ever being a problem.

 

[IRLGW]

I guess I will need smaller molegrips then are you able to do this with the jeep on the ground from underneath or are you using a lift? I'm not be back at the jeep until the weekend so cannot picture it.

 

[Julian Voelcker]

I've never done it on a Jeep before so wouldn't be able to help there.

On a Land Cruiser it can be done with the car on the ground as well as lifted - depends on the suspension lift and your waist size

 

[IRLGW]

excuse my poor etiquette! 'án jeep' in our part of the world is anything that has diesel engine and four wheels. That might be why google never brings anything up in my searches...