Thread: New series 3

Originally Posted by jplambs

I lasted three weeks, sold the fender three weeks ago and tonight I picked up a 1974 (or 6) leyland land rover. Drove her 40 kms home with out to many problems. I found her on a local farmers place last week when I went to buy a new to us combine.

Picked her up for 600, the engine is really good, brakes are very stiff and she has a genuine 90,000 kms on the clock.

A couple of questions to get me started, the front free-wheeling hubs - I'm presuming that they are greased not oil bathed? What about the rear hubs? Are they oil bathed or grease? The other question is what does everybody run in the diffs and gearbox/transfer etc as far as oil goes?

Thanks for your help.

Free wheel hubs are usually lubricated from the oil in the wheel bearings, but there are so many different types that this may not be true in all cases (what brand are they?).

All Series Landrovers (except Series 1 with semifloating axles) have oil lubricated wheel bearings front and rear, although they are installed with grease to ensure initial lubrication (up to about 1958 they had a filler plug on the drive flange for an initial oil fill).

Specified lubricant for diffs/gearbox/transfer/steering box/relay unit is EP90.

If you paid only $600 and drove it home, I would say you got a good buy!

John

Hi John, the front hubs have selectro-heavy duty on the them. The only real problems that I have noticed wiht her so far is that there is a slight shuddering in the steering at 60 but that then goes away once you hit about 70. The other problem is that the shackles holding the springs on at the very rear of the vehicle are on a angle sideways, particularly the lefthand side. The engine had a new head gasket and the head checked about 8 years ago but the farmer bought himself a rodeo shortly afterwards and hasn't used it since.

Thanks for the info on the oil.

Jonathan.

Sounds as if the shackles could use attention. Probably all the spring bushes need looking at (All movement should be by springing the rubber - if the shackle pin moves inside its steel tube or the tube moves in the rubber, then the bush (and possibly the pin) need replacing.

The steering vibration could be any number of things, but the most likely is worn swivel bushes so there is inadequate preload. Check for any lost motion in the steering and correct it - should be less than 25mm on the rim of the wheel. Wheel balance is another likely contributor to the vibration.

If the engine has not done much since a new head gasket was fitted, I would be re-torquing the head ASAP. By the way, which engine?

John

Hi Jonathan,

You may find the attached doc useful for your hubs. I have the same on mine - they are lubricated from the wheel bearing so you need to engage them every once in a while to keep lubrication up to them. I just lock them and drive up to the shops and back once in a while.

Usually these things have been left in the "free" position for years so I recommend you strip them down for a clean and a re-grease. I used wheel bearing grease on mine and it seems to work just fine. I have heard people recommend the CV joint grease but I didn't have any of that at the time.

As John said, the hubs are oil bathed so you need to top them up from time to time. You can put grease in there too.

Sounds like you got a pearler of a car, where's the pics?

Cheers,

Adam

Thanks John and Adam,

John its a 4 cylinder rover petrol engine - I don't have a torque wrench so I'll see if I can beg borrow or steal one.

Sorry Adam, I forgot about the rules, :P I'm just about to go and do a full service on her so I'll try to put some up in this thread tonight.

Well so far I have found a few things that need fixing.

1. The front prop shaft - absolutely had it.
2. The rear prop shaft - had some free play until I greased it
3. Both front cv seals are leaking, the left badly.
4. All shocks need replacing as do the tyres and bushes for the springs.

The front diff looks like it might be leaking slightly but as I am not engaging four wheel drive I can't tell as of yet.

The transfer case, gearbox, rear diff and engine are all leak free.

Where do you suggest I start? Which is the most important? The gearbox makes a whine when it is engaged but once you hit about 80 to 90 it drops away so as not to be really audible, is that normal? I found some small pieces of flat brass in the cup of the drain plug of the gear box when I drained it. All gear select without too much fuss and it does seem to be allright.

Sorry there aren't any photos as of yet, it got dark this evening before I got the camera out.

I took her for a 50km round trip into town to get fuel and the shake seems to have lessened since I got the mud off the rear tyres however when deaccelrating from reasonably high speeds it really really badly shakes for a few seconds.

Originally Posted by jplambs

Well so far I have found a few things that need fixing.

1. The front prop shaft - absolutely had it.
If you have free wheel hubs and only use the front shaft at low speed, may continue to be useable.

2. The rear prop shaft - had some free play until I greased it
If free play is in the U-joints, I would replace them at an early opportunity. You do not want a U-joint letting go.

3. Both front cv seals are leaking, the left badly.
Not unusual. While replacing them is probably necessary (and possibly the ball they seal on), it is worth bearing in mind that any free play on the swivel bearings means there is reduced or no pressure on the seal, so check this first. Note that they are cross and bearing not CV joints.

4. All shocks need replacing as do the tyres and bushes for the springs.

Shocks are less important with leaf springs than with coils, but the bushes and tyres are important.

The front diff looks like it might be leaking slightly but as I am not engaging four wheel drive I can't tell as of yet.

Leaks from seals are not unusual, and unless bad are not a major concern

The transfer case, gearbox, rear diff and engine are all leak free.

Where do you suggest I start?
Tyres, Spring bushes, swivel bearing preload.

Which is the most important?
Spring bushes, and tyres as these affect steering
The gearbox makes a whine when it is engaged but once you hit about 80 to 90 it drops away so as not to be really audible, is that normal?
I have yet to hear a totally quiet Series gearbox/transfer case
I found some small pieces of flat brass in the cup of the drain plug of the gear box when I drained it. All gear select without too much fuss and it does seem to be allright.
Pictures?

Sorry there aren't any photos as of yet, it got dark this evening before I got the camera out.

I took her for a 50km round trip into town to get fuel and the shake seems to have lessened since I got the mud off the rear tyres however when deaccelrating from reasonably high speeds it really really badly shakes for a few seconds.

Bit hard to diagnose this sort of thing by internet, but I would be concerned about the prop shaft and U-joints. Other things to look at would be engine and gearbox mounts, and check that the handbrake is not dragging.

Hope this helps,

John

Originally Posted by jplambs

The transfer case, gearbox, rear diff and engine are all leak free.

Be wary, this usually indicates it's out of oil.