Problem or not ?

[kowari]

I was starting to change the front wheel bearing in my defender today, first time for me so was a bit cautiouse, when i loosened the the bolts holding the brake pipe bracket to the top of the swivell housing, the EP90 from the swivell all ran out the bottom!!!!
I have no leaks from the swivell seals normaly, I aboarted the job and refilled the swivell housing. In doing that I removed the filler bolt and also the overflow plug, but with those open nothing came out from round the swivell as I filled?
Does anyone know why that would be and would you expect to lose oil when removing those top bolts when doing that job

I want to get back in and complete the job but dont want to pull it all apart if I actually need a seal that I dont have at the moment.

I have a new oil seal to go in and thought there was only the one to change in the hub on a 200tdi.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

thanks.

[JDNSW]

The bolts you loosened do not only hold the bracket for the brake pipe. They also hold the top swivel pin. This has a fibre thrust washer that it is preloaded against (by selecting shims under the flange on the pin) and this preload holds the taper roller bearing on the bottom swivel pin together.

As soon as you released the preload, you allowed the weight of the swivel housing and hub to push down, moving the tapered rollers a little out of their race. This allows the hub to move in at the bottom, tilted by the weight outboard of where it is supported, moving the seal away from it sealing surface on the ball. Hence the oil everywhere. This can be prevented by simply supporting the weight of the swivel by a jack under the bottom swivel pin. This will keep the ball seal sealing unless the top Railco bush is badly worn (in which case the seal probably would have been leaking anyway). Hope this helps,

John

[kowari]

Wow, no manual was going to tell me that!
great to know that there is no extra problem. the wife the dogs and the cats are starting to relax.

many thanks for your reply John.