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