Reply With QuoteThanks allot for this just what am about to do to mine :-)
Series III Stage 1 Swivel Overhaul
This is the first of a two part series on how I overhauled the front swivel hubs of a Series III Stage 1. The front hubs on the Stage 1 are an evolutionary step between the Series III and the defenders, the main differences between the Series III being the CV joint, stub axle, inner wheel bearing (the lack of), swivel pin, axle oil seal and stub shaft retainer. The first part outlines removal of the hubs, the second part will be the rebuild...
After removing the road wheel, and the brake drum this is what we've got to deal with. If you look closely you'll see hub oil spilling out onto the lower brake cylinder. This was the reason for tackling the task in the first place – apart from the fact that the swivel balls were also leaking.
Removing the dust cap you will find a cir-clip on the end of the stub axle. This is one of the differences between the Series III. Remove the cir-clip with cir-clip pliers.
Before removing the drive member rotate the hub back and forward to see how much backlash there is on the drive splines. Mine were pretty sloppy so I decided to replace the drive member during the rebuild. To remove the hub drive member it helps to have a bar through the studs to stop the hub from rotating. The drive member on the Stage 1 and Series III is of the 24 spline variety. It may need a bit of encouragement to remove. This one needed a couple of taps with a hammer and a bit of leverage to separate it from the hub. Flange sealant had been used instead of a gasket – I used the same method in the rebuild.
With the drive member removed we can now see the outer lock nut with a tab washer behind it. Bend down any tabs on this washer that are inhibiting the lock nut.
Remove the outer lock nut. If you haven't already got one, buy a hub spanner. They're not expensive and they save the lock nuts from getting chewed up with cold chisel cuts.
Now you will be able to remove the tab washer – this will be replaced in the rebuild.
Remove the inner lock nut (with the hub nut tool).
Remove the key washer
Now the hub should be able to be pulled free. Again a bit of encouragement may be needed if either of the bearings are tight on the stub axle. If the inner bearing is tight it may stay on the stub axle (with the inner hub seal) and could require a puller to get it off. In this photo you'll see how the oil was getting past the oil seal.
And here you can see the rear of the hub with a very chewed up seal.
Remove the oil seal and remove the tapered bearings from the hub. The outer races of the bearings should remain in the hub. I found my outer races to be in good condition so I didn't replace them in the rebuild. I did however replace the bearings themselves just to be sure. I'm not sure how valid this is – maybe I should have gone to the trouble of removing the outer races as well.
Here are the bearings replaces back onto the stub axle just for illustration purposes.
This is a close up of the stub axle. The bearings have obviously spun on the axle but I have been assured that this isn't a major drama and doesn't require replacement (stub axles are expensive for the Stage 1). There is a bit of wear on the seal surface but it is acceptable.
And here is an inventory of all the parts that have been removed to this point.
Now we're onto removing the swivels. Here I've clamped the brake line in preparation for removing the brake line. This saves losing brake fluid and makes bleeding easier at the end of the rebuild.
Remove the brake line from the back of the brake plate
Remove the swivel oil drain plug and catch any oil that comes out. Nothing much came out when I removed this. I later found that the tube behind this plug was completely blocked.
Ahh, so that's what is inside the swivel. Nice colour isn't it? As I started to remove the stub axle this is what came out... So make sure you've still got that oil catcher at hand.
Here I've removed the retainer prior to removing the brake backing plate.
Remove the brake backing plate and now we have a clear view of the stub axle which will be holding on via a gasket. Note that I'm swapping between left and right axles a bit with the photography so don't be confused by the orientation.
The stub axle can now be removed (with a bit of encouragement). Again, sealant was used instead of a gasket. Now we can see the CV joint.
Here is a picture of the back of the stub axle with the seal retainer in place and the seal sitting behind it. Remove the retainer and the seal.
The CV joint is a tight fit out of the swivel but should be able to be pulled directly out of the differential. Below are a couple of shots of the CV joint.
Now is the time to remove the steering tie rods – two for the left and one for the right. While I was at it I replaced these – but that is another story. The tie rods can be fun to remove but there are plenty of useful tips on the forum that help. Here's the left swivel...
and the right swivel.
While the swivels are still attached its a good time to remove the top swivel pin. There are two tab washers that need to be flattened prior to removing 4 bolts.
Then the top swivel pin can be removed with all its shims. Note that the swivel pin and bush are unique for the stage 1. The shims will be re-used so be gentle with them.
Next, the swivel oil seal retainer can be removed along with the bracket for the brake line.
Take note of the one longer screw that sets the wheel lock limit. This screw is the front most screw on the retainer. You can see the mating tab under the axle housing bolt that provides the end stop.
Remove the swivel ball oil seal. This may require some serious encouragement with a cold chisel because it is bound to be rusted into the swivel housing. No problem, this will be replaced.
The swivel housing can now be removed. After a good clean up and inspection I decided not to change the lower swivel bearing. But as you can see the railko bush is badly chewed out and will be replaced with a new upper pin.
Remove the swivel ball from the axle housing. The bolts are a bit awkward to get to, but a bit of perseverance is all that is needed. At the rear of the swivel ball (sorry no photo during removal – see rebuild) are a seal retainer and a seal. Leave the retainer but remove the seal. This is another “special” for the Stage 1.
So now we've got the swivel removed here is a full inventory...
This is the time to clean all the parts and work out what can stay and what needs replacing. Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment where we try and get it all back together again...
Cheers for now
Pete
Fossicker
Thanks allot for this just what am about to do to mine :-)
After a good clean and inspection this is my shopping list for the re-build. Of course this is a bit subjective and may vary widely depending on the state of the swivels to be overhauled.
R217353 Hub nut lock washer (x2)
RTC3429 Hub bearing (x4)
RTC3511 Hub inner oil seal (x2)
RTC3516 Hub cap O ring (x2)
R549473 Axle cir-clip (x2)
R215331 Drive flange bolt (as required if any damaged)
R571711 Drive flange (x2) only if required
FRC3099 Stub axle oil seal (x2)
R531001 Swivel Pin Lock Tab (x8) only 4 required if only replacing top pin
FRC1942 Top swivel Pin (x2)
FRC1930 Railco bush (x2)
R528702 Railco thrust washer (x2)
R530984 .003” Swivel pin shim (x2) they're not expensive – get a set
R530985 .005” Swivel pin shim (x2)
R530986 .01” Swivel pin shim (x2)
R571718 Inner axle oil seal (x2)
RTC3528 Swivel ball oil seal (x2)
STC3435 Swivel housing grease sachet (x2)
3/8 spring washers (x24)
3/8 BSF Nylock nuts (x12)
¼ spring washers (x10)
Loctite 243 thread lock
Loctite 641 bearing mount
Loctite 518 Flange gasket sealant
The first step is to fit the inner axle seal to the back of the swivel ball. This seal is an extremely tight fit and I destroyed one seal on my first attempt. I had to turn up a special seal driver tool to get even pressure across the seal. This is the only seal that is really hard to fit.
Temporarily fit the swivel ball to the axle prior to fitting the swivel pins. This allows a nice stable platform to work on while fitting and fine tuning the pins. The bottom pins and bearings on my swivels were still in good condition so I didn't touch these. However both the top pins and railco bushes were significantly worn so both the pins and the bushes were replaced. The railco bush is inserted into the swivel ball then the swivel housing mounted onto the swivel ball and the top pin installed with the same complement of shims that were associated with the pin on removal. Note the railco thrust washer that must also be inserted with the pin.
The four bolts on the pin must be tightened to around 60 lb ft.
Now the comes the tricky bit of setting the resistance of the swivel housing and setting the shims. Using a set of spring scales, as shown below, aim for a reading of 3.6 to 4.5kg as the swivel housing is moving. Add more shims to lower the resistance, remove shims to raise the resistance. It may take a couple of goes but if you've ordered the set of shims in the shopping list you should be able to get a value that fits.
When the shims are correct insert the tab washers under the pin bolts, torque up the bolts and bend over the lock tabs.
A tip: you may want to leave one bolt out at this stage because this bolt size fits the end of the stub axle and I needed one at the last stage to pull the stub axle through the drive flange (see later in the series).
Remove the swivel assembly from the axle and insert the swivel ball oil seal and retainer. I've used some standard silicon gasket sealer under the oil seal and the retainer.
Use new lock washers under the ¼ bolts of the seal retainer and don't forget the brake hose bracket.
I've then used the locktite 518 flange sealer onto the swivel ball flange prior to mounting it to the axle. I'm sure this isn't the only product that will do the job but it should be a good choice.
The swivel ball is then mounted onto the axle with new nylock nuts. Don't forget the end stop tab for the steering lock.
The mating steering lock bolt on the seal retainer needs to be set to 13mm high as a starting point. This can be fine tuned once the whole swivel and road wheel are in place but if you've got a relatively standard set-up this should work.
It is time to replace the CV joint. I am using swivel grease instead of oil. There has been a fair bit of debate on this issue but because the stage 1 swivels are completely isolated from oil in the differential I think it's a good solution. Less chance of leaks from the swivels and less maintenance I hope. I pre-loaded the CV with grease before installation.
The right hand CV joint went in easily but the longer left hand CV required a bit of patience. In the end if found that exercising the swivel left and right while rotating the CV, the splines of the axle finally meshed with the differential – perseverance is the key...
The stub axle oil seal goes in next. This seal and its retainer went in nice and easy. The retainer just needed a light tap to seat it nicely.
Before fitting the stub axle fill the swivel housing with half of the available grease. This is pretty viscous stuff and difficult to get through the oil filler plug in the housing (I found this out on my first attempt).
Some more flange sealant onto the stub axle before mounting onto the swivel.
Bolt up the stub axle, retainer plate and brake backing plate (using new spring washers). Several of the original bolts had suspect threads so I replaced any that looked less than perfect. I've also put thread locker onto these bolts. It may be overkill but it doesn't hurt.
The bolts should be torqued up to around 35 lb ft.
On to the hub. Again I've made a tool to insert the hub inner oil seal so that it goes in nice and straight. It is important that this seal goes in right – as could be seen from the state of the seal that came out.
Pack bearing grease into the inner bearing.
Insert the inner bearing into the hub and wipe away all grease from the inner surface (this is because I'm going to use bearing retainer to stop it from rotating on the shaft).
Insert the oil seal with the inserting tool. It should bed down onto a small lip inside the hub.
After applying a bit of bearing mount onto the stub axle mount the hub onto the stub axle.
Pack the outer bearing with grease and insert it into the hub.
Followed by the key washer
Fit the first lock nut and tighten until there is no perceptible “rock” in the hub. I know this is a bit fuzzy but I don't have a micrometer to measure the play. This point was reached after the nut was tightened (using the hub spanner of course), backed off, then re-tightened to about 1/8 turn past finger tight. This resulted in smooth rotation and no play – but check hub temperature after a test run and loosen off if running more than warm. Also, when fitting the lock nut make sure that the cleanest face of the nut faces the tab washer (there may be nicks caused by previous use of a cold chisel). This makes sure that the tab washer doesn't rotate with the nuts when the second lock nut is tightened.
Insert the new tab washer
Then tighten up the second lock nut (with cleanest face to the lock washer)
and bend some of the tab washer across flats of the first and second lock washers.
Nearly there, it's time to put the drive flange back on. More flange sealant instead of a gasket.
Grease up the stub shaft splines before inserting the drive flange. Note the bolt borrowed from the swivel pin to allow the stub shaft to be pulled through the drive flange. Without this the stub shaft will move inwards and won't allow you to fit the retaining cir-clip.
Install the drive flange using new spring washers and thread retainer (to be sure). The bolts should be torqued up to around 35 lb ft. Again, there is a bar held across the studs to stop the hub from turning while the bolts are tightened.
Fit the stub shaft retaining cir-clip and replace the swivel pin bolt used as a puller.
Finally, squeeze the rest of the swivel grease into the swivel hub, replace the oil fill plug, replace the brake drums, brake hose and road wheel and bleed the brakes.
Hopefully this will give years of leak free motoring. I'm no expert (in fact, far from it) so if I've made any glaring mistakes in this procedure please don't think I'll be offended if you have a more correct solution.
Good luck
Pete
Master
SupporterAwesome thread Pete. Thanks for taking the time to share it on the forum as I am sure it will be well used and added to as others overhaul their Stage One swivels.
Regards Warrick.
Thanks Warrick, you can take some of the credit for shaming me into putting the photos into a bit of order. Next step is out with the radiator and get someone to check if that is up to scratch. Then it's out with the clutch and gearbox - that's going to push my ability to the limits. I'll take some photos....
Master
great read, and the photos are great to
YarnMaster
Your work is superbly well done Pete!
In fact; should you venture forth to Narrogin, I give you permission to work on my fleet - not even my mechanic son has received that privilege - you can work on one side and I on the other.
Seriously though; drop in for a laugh at the collection if you feel like it,
Cheers Charlie
Thanks Charlie,Originally Posted by chazza
In fact; should you venture forth to Narrogin, I give you permission to work on my fleet - not even my mechanic son has received that privilege - you can work on one side and I on the other.
This was one of the first stages in getting the vehicle ready for the Canning Stock Route - which it just finished with nothing broken except a speedo cable. This forum was an amazing resource for getting a very average car into reliable condition. Thanks for the invite - hoping to do the Holland track later in the year - and Narrogin is on the way isn't it...
Cheers
Pete
YarnMaster
Yes; it can be.
A good place to start, or finish, is at Holland Tank not far from L. Bryde in the Lake Grace shire,
Cheers Charlie
Mods, is it possible to retrieve the pics, such a shame to lose them on a post like this!
-Rolyrover
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