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Warning - Diff Breathers and Wheel Bearings.

G

Guest

Guest
Morning All,
Following on from Jeremy's problems and also John B's problems I just
thought it was worth advising you about a couple of issues that even
the non technical among you should be able to check and hopefully help
you avoid potential problems and big bills in the future.
Firstly Diff Breathers - The standard factory diff breathers consist of
a rubber pipe that runs from the top of the axles to the chassis and
either has a small metal cap/valve on top or a plastic expansion
chamber.
The theory is that as the axle heats up the expanding air can escape
through the breather and also when it cools down the air can get sucked
back in. The problem can happen at any time but also tends to be made
worse when when going through deep water/puddles because the cold water
causes rapid cooling.
The factory breather is prone to blocking which leads to diff oil being
forced past seals in the axle and going into the CV/Birfield (the ball
on the end of the axle), flushing out the grease leading to premature
failure. A clear indication of this is oil (not grease) leaking past
the seals on the ball.
This is what has happended to Jeremy on his way down to Morrocco so he
now needs to strip down the end of the axle to replace the seal, a
messy job at the best of times, but less fun when away from home.
You can find some good info on the breather and also some info on
modifying it to reduce the chances of blocking at:
http://www.lcool.org/technical/80_series/breathers.html
Wheel Bearings
From looking at a few TLCs over the last few days as well as some of
the list members vehicles here, it is obvious that wheel bearings
aren't get checked in regular servicing. If the wheel bearings aren't
tight enough they will wear prematurely and you can also get things
like vibration on braking or even whislt driving normally.
It is very easy to check - just jack up one wheel at a time, hold it
top and bottom and then push the top/pull the bottom and then pull the
top/push the bottom. The wheel shouldn't really move at all (beyond
the flexing of the tyre) however if you have some movement or even some
clunking noise it means that the wheel bearings are loose.
If they are loose you can either just tighten them up or you might want
to get them stripped down, checked over and then repacked with new
grease.
If you need to get them tightened up, make sure that they are done
properly with the wheel being spun back and forth a few times during
the tightening process to make sure that the bearings bed in properly,
otherwise you can tighten them up one doay and they will be loose again
by the next.
If you want some notes on tightening them up, drop me a line off list
and I'll send you some guidance notes I have put together.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
Mobile: 07971 540362
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
Morning All,
Following on from Jeremy's problems and also John B's problems I just
thought it was worth advising you about a couple of issues that even
the non technical among you should be able to check and hopefully help
you avoid potential problems and big bills in the future.
Firstly Diff Breathers - The standard factory diff breathers consist of
a rubber pipe that runs from the top of the axles to the chassis and
either has a small metal cap/valve on top or a plastic expansion
chamber.
The theory is that as the axle heats up the expanding air can escape
through the breather and also when it cools down the air can get sucked
back in. The problem can happen at any time but also tends to be made
worse when when going through deep water/puddles because the cold water
causes rapid cooling.
The factory breather is prone to blocking which leads to diff oil being
forced past seals in the axle and going into the CV/Birfield (the ball
on the end of the axle), flushing out the grease leading to premature
failure. A clear indication of this is oil (not grease) leaking past
the seals on the ball.
This is what has happended to Jeremy on his way down to Morrocco so he
now needs to strip down the end of the axle to replace the seal, a
messy job at the best of times, but less fun when away from home.
You can find some good info on the breather and also some info on
modifying it to reduce the chances of blocking at:
http://www.lcool.org/technical/80_series/breathers.html
Wheel Bearings
the list members vehicles here, it is obvious that wheel bearings
aren't get checked in regular servicing. If the wheel bearings aren't
tight enough they will wear prematurely and you can also get things
like vibration on braking or even whislt driving normally.
It is very easy to check - just jack up one wheel at a time, hold it
top and bottom and then push the top/pull the bottom and then pull the
top/push the bottom. The wheel shouldn't really move at all (beyond
the flexing of the tyre) however if you have some movement or even some
clunking noise it means that the wheel bearings are loose.
If they are loose you can either just tighten them up or you might want
to get them stripped down, checked over and then repacked with new
grease.
If you need to get them tightened up, make sure that they are done
properly with the wheel being spun back and forth a few times during
the tightening process to make sure that the bearings bed in properly,
otherwise you can tighten them up one doay and they will be loose again
by the next.
If you want some notes on tightening them up, drop me a line off list
and I'll send you some guidance notes I have put together.
--
Regards,
Julian Voelcker
Mobile: 07971 540362
Cirencester, United Kingdom
1994 HDJ80, 2.5" OME Lift
 
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