Chrome Balls

[Crisco]

Mick's RHS ball is fairly pitted and weeps a bit, to the point it drips on the ground - not sure it will pass roadworthy.

I've searched and read about the repairs, coating, one shot grease etc. seems a little temporary, this ball has been done before. Re- chroming is probably not going to help unless the pits can be ground out which is not easy and the chrome is $250 a side. The pits aren't too deep though so maybe okay.

I want to do long trips so would like a better fix.

Has anyone tried replacing them by cutting off and welding on a new set? If so which ones fit or are they specialty 101? Change to later beefed up bolt on (I read they are weld on because the bolt on series ones cracked)?
Get a swivel housing with caliper ears too?

Thoughts? Am I dreaming? I have a pretty well equipped shop with a lathe (won't take a whole axle through!), tig, mig and a pro welder friend.

I'm new to 101's so appreciate the assistance!

[Crisco]

Thinking of stripping the chrome with hydrochloric acid and grinding/polishing by hand with a fine abrasive cup http://www.starabrasives.com/pic/big/cup_grinding_wheel.jpgof the right sort of size - that should maintain the sphericity.
Then get them rechromed with a couple of coats - that will be cheaper too as $250 included strip and linish.
Caliper ears would be nice so I can put on some large Wilwood calipers and rotors without having to machine up an adaptor.
Ideas?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Remind me. Are the balls on the 101 removable?

If they are, All Four x 4 in Kotara NSW (near Newcastle)All Four X 4 Spares - Australia's 4WD Spare Parts Supermarket (http://www.allfourx4.com.au) have series balls re-chromed so they may also be able to do the 101 as well.

AS far as I know the pits in the balls are repaired and then re-ground to be spherical before re-chroming. That may be part of the reason for the cost. It would be worth a phone call.

[101 Ron]

just fit new seals.....a easy job.
Most Aussie 101s have pits in the chrome balls, due to been used on South Australian outback roads.
They are exposed and stones chip the chrome.
Don't use one shot as the C/V and top swivel bush will not get correctly lubricated.
You should find fitting new seals will last a few years.
I used a die grinder running a extremely fine buffing head useful in smoothing the ball surface.
The pits can be filled with expoxy or similar.
The 101s C/V joint ballhousing are not removable.
If some one was to cut and shut the balls to rechrome them, at great time and effort, it would be a perfect time to do a front diff rotation and fix the front tail shaft rumble .
The C/V joint ball housings are bigger than anything else in the Landrover range of vehicles and will not match other Landrover models.
Leakage can also be caused by worn or poorly set up swivel bearing/ bush.
I find any sort of high speed / highway work will encourage the C/Vs to leak.
The 101 when run at its designed convoy speed of 40mph tends not to leak at all........the 101 in civie hands travels much faster than designed.
After saying all that , I have not known a 40 year old Landrover or Jeep or Dodge 4x4 etc not to weep abit around the C/Vs after a hard run, its all part of the breed of older 4x4s and a Landrover must mark its territory.
Ron

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Cookey's business used to do spring overs on Toyota FJ40 and Nissan Patrols. He made up a jig for the king pin inclination. He then cut the welds rotated the housing and re-welded the balls to the tube when the pinion angle of the axle housing was correct. It was a similar process changing balls.

Do we know if the 101 balls are orphan LR parts or something off some other marque? (Thinking Unimog or similar)

[Homestar]

Everything on the front axle is specific to the 101 and if you cock it up, you may be buying a whole other vehicle to get the parts....

The welds that hold the swivels onto the axles are super hard and would need the right rod and technique to reproduce. Some have had the balls cut and rewelded to lift the nose of the diff up, and the jigs used to exist in Aus for this but I don't think any have been done in ages, so think about how you will realign everything - close enough won't be good enough.

Also, the extra weight your front axle is carrying will put a lot more stress on that weld that a standard engine would - you would really want to trust the welder.

If you're that worried about it, epoxy the pits, file and sand the repair smooth and a new seal will fix it for a long time. Seals are easy as they are split, so it's a 5 minute job to change them.:)

Zeus say they have 101 disk brake kits in stock. Yours already has a twin diaphragm booster on it, which would make the disk brake conversion work very well.

[Crisco]

Thanks guys, I'm across the cut and weld issues.
Was mainly interested if replacement balls were available which it seems not - confirmed?
I'll do my own brake kit with better gear - I get OEM prices from wilwood :)

[Homestar]

Ah, ok. Yes, confirmed - new balls are not available. :)

Sounds like you're all over it - would be interested in how you do the brakes - can you post details when you start this? If you are looking to recoup some costs with the design, etc - I'm in the market for a set, if you come up up with something, let me know. :)

[Sitec]

I'll do my own brake kit with better gear...

Morning. The issue with bespoke brakes on the front of 101's is room... There is physically not enough room between the swivel housing (as its so huge) and the current 16" rim.. The Zeus kit is ok, but not anything amazing.. I'd settled on the fact that to get decent stoppers on that front axle you'd have to go up to a 19.5" rim or similar (like the later OKA's run) which gives you tubeless truck tyre options, and a lot more room for a huge disk and calliper.. Just my thoughts...

[Sitec]

And here was the tyre Id found that would be close on identical O/D to the XZL's you have now... 285/70 R19.5 or 305/70 R19.5 from memory... Its somewhere in this thread... :)

[Crisco]

Sure thing will do.
Are the oil seals specific to the 101 too to match the unique ball size?
Best Aussie source?
Thanks!

[Sitec]

Yes they are, and as Gav said they're a split item. 10 min job. They were both new when the engine went in, but that was 40000km of fast dirt and road ago.. Talk to AJ at British 4WD Imports.. 0409211548. He has them on the shelf and will happily post.

[Crisco]

Great thanks Simon. I never know whether to use real names on forums!
I like the current wheel tyre combo with more rubber and less rim for this application. I think you can fit something decent in there with a bigger pad area and thick vented rotors to deal with the heat. I'm not planning the Dakar (yet!) and the 101 is not that heavy (nor is the cummins really, just a couple of large passengers worth!) or fast, so heat load on the brakes is pretty low. Large rotors would be nice tho. The brakes are pretty good I'm just not a fan of drums.
I assumed you replaced the seals which is why I was looking for a fix of the ball itself. I'll put a new seal in and that should get by roadworthy. I'll fix the chrome later. The relative movement of the seal and ball is pretty small in any driving conditions (including 110km cruising!). With pitted balls once the seals go hard they leak. The corrosion will only get worse too so worth fixing.
Did you service the cvs or bearings?
Cheers

[Crisco]

They do linish the balls after stripping the chrome but they won't spend long on it. I'd rather do that bit. About the same amount of work as epoxy and paint.

[Crisco]

You can do the plating yourself too HC1 Hard Chrome Plating Kit 4 Litre (http://www.caswellplating.com.au/store/store.php/products/hard-chrome-plating-kit-4-litre)
Very good kits apparently.

[simmo]

HI I have had some success repairing pits and chips with devcon, plastic steel or similar. It the chip or pit has a strong well defined edge all the better.

My experience is most chrome pits of chip have a fairly sharp edge, that's what cuts the seals. you have the choice to "fair them in" if they are shallow and small. But once you remove the metal and make it smooth you can't easily do the Devcon repair.

Get the pit very clean by solvent, electra clean etc, have a dig around in there with a a scribe make sure it's clean. Mix up the resin or devcon etc and fill the hole, sand it smooth the next day. final sanding 2000- 3000 grit paper. The seals should easily seal on it as long as its smooth and follows the profile of the sphere. ( I usually buy a cheap set of thongs and cut them up to make a curved flexy sanding block).

Devcon is an industrial product and has a great reputation as an engineering repair product. There's no reason to expect a repair won't last for a few years, I would say less than $100 should do the job.


My existing spheres have some minor chips in them, if I feel one when doing a service I just give it a rub don with wet and dry paper.

good luck simmo

[Crisco]

Thanks Simmo, the pits are quite shallow just the chrome gone and a little corrosion.
When I have it apart I'll try a repair.
Cheers

[simmo]

Crisco,

I think i read earlier in the post your seals can be replaced insitu because they are split type.

If that's the case you could repair the sphere pits without dismantling, that would be a big saving in your time and effort.

cheers simmo

[Crisco]

True. At some point the wheels will come off!
My mechanic said roadworthy was 'not an issue' so I can leave as is for a bit.
I need a Qld mod plate for the engine change as the SA rego still has it as a v8 and the numbers need to match.
Just waiting to hear from the engineer to decide whether to do that now or do all the planned mods at once (seats and seat belts, power steering etc).