23rd April 2017

Front Suspension and Drive Train

During the course of the week another two boxes arrived from Paddock Spares - a new swivel housing to replace the damaged near side one and a set of covers to protect the swivel housings from dirt and mud.

The swivel housing rebuild was fairly straight forward enough with the supplied shims for the top bearing providing just enough turning resistance when fitted. Using a small spring balance that we use to weigh our travel bags I dutifully followed the fitting instructions in the MOD Land Rover Workshop manual to measure the turning resistance after the new housing and bearings were fitted.

New swivel housing being assembled

Britpart - Swivel housing gater kit

With the swivel housings reassembled I installed the Britpart gater kit that I hope will prolong the life of the seals and of the housing itself by protecting them from road dirt and spray.

The kit contained the two gaters, a pair of latex gloves, a tube of super glue and two metal wrap around ties. The gaters are fitted around the swivel housing and then the open end is closed together using the super glue. 

Wearing the gloves supplied I was extremely carefull to avoid contaminating the edges to be glued together with oil or grease before I applied the glue.

The gaters are an extremely tight fit and it was virtually impossible to get the two faces together. After holding the joint closed for nearly 2 minutes I left each gater to set for an hour before I fitted the retaining plate that holds the gater and the swivel housing seal in place.  The other end was secured using the metal ties provided with the kit.

Overall I was not that impressed by the kit and i would recommend that anyone else looking for one consider some of the others that are on the market.

Both rebuilt swivel housings were then refitted to the land rover along with new heavy duty steering rods and ball joints.

Swivel housing mounted on the cleaned and repainted front axle

The old steering box was an unknown quantity as it had been drained of fluid and partially removed from "Wolfie" when I bought it from the MOD. Rather than attempt and refurbish it myself I opted to replace it with a fully rebuilt exchange unit which came from National Power Steering in Leicester.

Suspension in place - heavy duty steering rods also fitted

 The standard steering damper which was fitted when "Wolfie" arrived was bent and unusable so It was replaced with an upgraded unit made by "Old Man Emu"

"Old Man Emu" Steering damper adds a bit of colour next to the new steering box

Before I can complete rebuilding the front axle, I need to install the new nearside CV joint which unfortunately was not delivered in time for last weekend. The original CV joint was damaged to the point of near failure through the nearside swivel housing having been previously run dry and when I removed it two of the ball bearing that should be contained within it actually fell out.

 

18th April - Suspension

The Easter weekend allowed me to spend a bit more time working on "Wolfie" and over the weekend I managed to get the rear hubs rebuilt, the rear suspension finished and a start made on refurbishing the front axle

Rear hub - new bearings, seals and brake disks

The rear hubs were reassembled with all new bearings, seals and brake disks before being fitted back on to the axle housing.

The last thing required to complete the rear suspension was the "A"frame which connects the rear axle to two forward mounting points on the chassis. The A frame itself consists of two cast steel members connected to form an "A" by a substantial bracket containing a large ball joint that bolts on to a bracket on the top of the differential housing.  

The two cast members were covered in a heavy coating of dirt and rust which came off pretty easily using the rotary wire brush fitted to one of my angle grinders. With the rust removed I treated the prepared surface with a coating of  Hammerite Kurust Anti-Rust Remover Protection Primer, and then two coats of Hammerite.

With a new ball joint fitted the "A Frame" was in turn fitted to the chassis completing the rear suspension.

Rear "A" frame member ready for cleaning

Despite significant surface rust the member was still in good condition

Inserting the new poly bushes using a through bolt and over sized washers

With the rear suspension completed it was time to strip the front axle back to component form.

The nearside swivel housing was dry and instead of containing oil it was full of grit. Both sets of swivel bearings had been destroyed to the extent that only parts of the outer shell were present. The needle bearings in the stub axle had also collapsed and the outer facing of the housing was severely pitted.

The offside housing was in good condition still full of oil and with a good outer surface, but out of prudence I will fit new bearings and seals to it when I re build it.

The offside front swivel joint was dry and full of grit

Not how it should look like

Swivel joint housing ready for cleaning

Swivel joint housing hung outside for painting

Looking a bit better

Rather than replace the front suspension turrets with the original enclosed turrets I have opted to upgrade them to heavy duty tubular units, which I managed to obtain for slightly less than the standard ones.

As with the rear suspension I have replaced the original springs with like for like ones, but have upgraded the shock absorbers to "Koni Heavy Track Raid" ones.

Front suspension in assembly

Rear suspension final assembly