A few days ago I noticed some small dribbles of oil on my front left rim. I had a quick look under the car before work and there's no signs of leaking from anywhere so I thought explore further on the weekend. Yesterday I noticed that the small black RR wheel centre has fallen out! With the dust cap that's meant to go onto the outside of the hub.
My question is: is it likely that the dust cap came slightly loose? Then during the hot weather some of the lubricant has leaked out since it probably wasn't adequately seated. Or are my hub seals boned?
I'll pull the wheel off on the weekend to get a closer look. Any suggestions much appreciated.
Your dust cap has fallen off your drive flange and it sounds like you have oil under it which is a different issue. As there should only be grease in there for your wheel bearings, the item #5 in the attached schematic may have failed allowing your CV grease stuff to travel through contaminating your wheel bearings. If you are keen to get your hands dirty it is not a terribly difficult job. It will not kill your wheel bearings in the short term but without the dust cap on it will make a mess. This happens with age of seals and is very common.
Oh thanks for the response Brian! So I have two options:
1. Leave it and just keep the fluids topped up OR
2. Replace the wheel bearings.
I think I might do the latter. May as well. Educational opportunity. Does the wheel bearing kit come with all the relevant seals and gaskets? I'll go and pick one up on Saturday and put it in.
I have not come across anyone who would sell a 'kit' as such, however your local landrover guru should be able to help you out with the individual parts that need replacing. You may not need to replace the wheel bearings yet.
Have a look at them when you get them out. You will need a new dust cap, maybe a new washer to lock the inner and outer bearing lock nut together, an inner hub seal, the seal for the inside of the stub axle and there is a brass bush inside the stub axle which will need removing. That brass bush will need replacing once you have got the old one out. It it somewhat a bearing/rubbing surface for the constant velocity joint. You will see what I mean when you pull it apart . As for sealing the stub axle back onto the swivel housing, you can use your favorite colour of RTV sealant for that. Same goes for the drive flange (the thing the dust cap has fallen off).
While you are in there, drop a bit of diff oil out of your front diff and see if it is oil colour or it has a greasy grey look to it. If the latter, you may have to replace the seal on the other side of the greasy crap to stop it getting into your diff oil. Some landy's have shiny silver swivel balls and some have the later black coated ones. The shiny ones can run a realy heavy oil instead of grease but the black ones are supposed to run grease. Don't know why, I'm sure someone will chime in
Once it's back together you will have to top up your CV grease gunk untill it comes out the top bung in the swivel housing.
Thanks once again for all the help Brian. Went shopping this morning and bought all the seals that may need replacement looks like a fun job for tomorrow. Need to do that ABS accumulator at the same time too.... what a day.
So with the wheel bearings, if there's no play/wobble in the wheel/hub when it's off the ground and inspection makes them look ok, then I just need to replace the seals?
I purchased two tubes of the hub goop as well. Looking forward to putting on my nitrile gloves and playing with that...
Regarding wheel bearings, clean them as well as the cups in the hub and inspect the rollers and the surface of the cup. Any scratches or marks you cannot remove are cause for replacement. Do check before removal for play up and down but remember to pry the tyre from underneath it(from the concrete with your hand on top the tire feeling for movement). It is possible to feel kingpin movement at the same time which has nothing to do with the wheel bearings. Kingpin is the term used for the top and bottom pivot point which allows turning left and right. Inspecting the bearings themselves is the best way to check condition. Compare the cages on your old ones to the new ones. You are comparing the thickness of the outer side of the opening where the rollers live. They wear where ends rub on the cage. If the cage gets worn out after a lot of miles the rollers are free to roam by themselves!
The big seal you have there belongs on the other side of the housing and seals against the shiny ball. To replace this one you will have to undo the 9 bolts which hold the whole show to the rest of the diff and carry the half shaft out with it. If you have CV grease in your diff oil you will have to remove this anyway to access the seal on the half shaft. When fitting a new half shaft seal make sure the little spring on the seal faces the grease and not the diff oil as the grease mixture level is higher than the diff oil level and will make its way back into your diff oil. Make sure to use some RTV gasket goo on the new shiny ball seal when it goes into the clean housing to prevent weeping the oily stuff that lives in the grease that some how sneaks out through the seal seat.
You will have lots of fun. Remember not to do up your wheel bearings too tight.
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Fossicker
. As for sealing the stub axle back onto the swivel housing, you can use your favorite colour of RTV sealant for that. Same goes for the drive flange (the thing the dust cap has fallen off).
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