Thread: Removing Free Wheeling Hubs and Taking Back to Original

Lionel,

Hello again from Brisbane.

I can't give you any cogent advice on the wear and tear angle. However, the parts bit is fairly straightforward.

It should only require a pair of driven plates - 12 or 20 spline drive depending on your present half shafts - , gaskets for the driven plates, new felt washers for each axle and new split pins. Plus the hub caps and possibly O rings for the same.

Cheers,

Neil

Yes - very straightforward.

Interestingly, I would be surprised if you noticed any increase in fuel consumption - other benefits include the fact that the front diff will stay lubed

I did this on Darwin Lionel - popped the freewheeling hubs off and put some drive flanges on from an axle i had laying around. Didnt take long. Could have bought them new , they are not all that expensive. Unsure about wear.
cheers,
D

Leave them fitted but leave them engaged, it's the same as fitting 'original' drive flanges.

The wear spoken about in conjunction with freewheel hubs is usually the top swivel pin in the swivel hub & the Railco bush rather than the drive shaft.

Whether freewheel hubs save fuel or not is up for debate. Disengaged they stop the drive shafts, diff & front propshaft rotating potentially saving wear BUT the lubrication to the swivel pin & Railco bush is compromised. If used you must regularly engage them and drive some distance to splash oil up onto the pin & Railco bush.

I'm just in the process of overhauling a set of Selectro freewheel hubs, they will be re-fitted but maybe left engaged.

If you are keen on removing them you need, as mentioned, drive flanges, gasket, felt washers, splitpins and hubcaps. The castle nut & washer should be inside the freewheel hub so you can use those. Depending on which freewheel hubs they are you may also need 10 drive flange bolts.

What freewheel hubs do you have ? I could always swap you for some s/h drive flanges.......




Colin

Hello Colin,

Mine are Selectro as well. The passenger side is dry and clean. Driver's side hub is covered with build up back oil, dirt and looks very greasy. As I have not yet taken the wheel off I am not sure if this is just a seal or from another source. I keep mine engaged as well. I have to take the wheels off to get to the brake wheel cylinders as the brakes were not that flash when I first bought Rebus, that was some years ago now.

Interestingly, both the left side front and rear hubs are clean and dry. While both driver's side front and rear hubs are greasy, oily and look pretty sad. The ground is flat so it is not from the oil leaking out of the lowest point caused by the vehicle being positioned on a slope.

Kind Regards
Lionel

I grabbed the above mentioned parts to put mine back to original.
Noticed no different in Fuel consumption on my Mitsubishi Challenger, after I added free wheeling hubs.
I swapped them back, after water got in past o ring seal, onto the outer bearing, whilst hosing mud off the hub.

whitehillbilly

Oily hubs will have leaked from one of the following :-

1. Hub cap or end of FW hub. Remove hubcap and replace the felt washer under the nut. You may want to consider ssome sort of sealant to seal the hubcap. For FW hubs, depends on the type, most are sealed with O-rings, some types are almost impossible to stop leaking!

2. Behind the drive flange or FW hub, also some FW hubs have another join. These are sealed with paper gaskets or in some FW hubs another O-ring for the additional join. Leaks here are almost always due to loose hub bolts. In many cases you will have to replace the gasket as it will be damaged. Hub bolts will normally stay tight if properly tightened, unless the wheel bearings have free play. This will loosen them. The standard flanges have spring washers under the bolts, some hubs may use thread locker instead. Do not lose or damage these bolts, as they are BSF, and a bit hard to come by.

3. From the seal on the inside of the hub. This usually oils up the brake as well. You will need to remove the hub to replace the seal - check the surface it runs on; this is a replaceable ring on earlier stub axles but late S3 you need to replace the stub axle.

There are a number of different types of drive flange. Series 1 and early Series 2 had a multi-lobed outline, later ones are circular outline. Up to early Series 2a had a removable plug for an initial oil fill, but this was then dropped and you are directed to grease the bearings for initial lubrication.

Up to late Series 2 all Landrovers had ten spline drive flanges, and despite the differences noted, all are interchangeable. Late S2a 109s optionally had a Salisbury rear axle, and this has a 24 spline axle and flange, and matching ones were fitted at the front on these. Series 3 109s had the Salisbury as standard, and hence 24 spline, and this was extended to 88s as well in very late S3 production. Since assemblies are pretty much interchangeable, it is wise to check what you have before ordering parts (this goes for many parts of Landrovers!).

I just put an advert in 'Markets' for the Selectro O-rings.

Undo the three screws in the cap that are closest to the hub & the cap will come off. The other three screws hold the cam mechanism in place.

DSCN4445 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

O-ring is easy to replace once you've cleaned things up.


Colin