Thread: Front axle assembly alert

Just as a caution for all Series owners!

This morning, I noted some fresh oil under the 2a. Nothing unusual yoou say? But this was not from any of the usual locations.

Two minutes was enough to see that the oil was coming from the join between the RH steering ball and the front axle housing. Another couple of minutes showed that at least some of the bolts were loose.

It took quite a bit longer to jack that side front up, remove the wheel, and remove the bolts one at a time, degrease them and refit them with some loktite as well as the non-plastic self locking nuts, adjusting the grip of the nuts as necessary. As those who have been there will know, you cannot get a ring or socket spanner on any of the heads of the bolts, and only on a couple of the nuts. So using open end spanners, it took a long time.

It is probably twenty years since these bolts have been loosened (last time I replaced the swivel seals), so I have no idea what allowed them to come loose. Obviously I checked the other side, it was tight.

Rather to my surprise, the bolts are BSF - I would have thought that for the 1970 model they would have been UNF. But, of course, the front axle may have been transferred from an earlier model in service.

I had, when driving back from town on Tuesday, noted that I had developed a slight shimmy after hitting bumps, and decided I needed to check the swivel preload, but I have no doubt that this problem was in fact the cause.

So, word of caution - look for bolts that have shown signs of movement every service, and investigate unexpected oil leaks!

Yeah, when doing these on my series 3 a little while ago I learned they were BSF which I wondered at the time if earlier parts had been fitted at some point, but my parts supplier put me straight on it. A bit strange that's for sure, but I suppose 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' could apply here.