Thread: A Trap for the Unwary

Well after driving hope to Vic last Dec and having extreme vibrations on a few occasions (to the extent that the wheels felt like they were falling off) then having the car off the road for 3 months before making the trip back to Uni on the Central Coast, it was about time to address the issue of the railco bushes on the front swivels and the seals.

Apart from it costing well above what I had expected (the chrome balls needed replacing) and taking all week (in between classes) all was going to plan until yesterday when I tried to put the half shafts back in. I spent what must have been at least an hour carfully putting it in at various angles assuming neither shaft was lining up with the diff, before finally realising it was the bearing located in the swivel housing that was stopping it. Why?

Well I had reasoned that since the bearing races on the half shaft were in good condition still why go to all the trouble of changing them, the only problem was the bearings in the swivel hubs were replaced and they have a smaller diameter for the half shaft to fit through compensated by thinner bearing races. So much for a short cut , it wasted probably an extra three hours, (mostly spent scratching my head). Ahh well Sunday's taken up again with the Rover.

In other Rover news my suspension is really terrible at the moment. I need a short interim fix (before I have time and space to pull the springs right off and clean them up properly) and so have been reading the other current threads on the topic. My conclusion has been to use diesel and oil with weight off the springs, but I'm just wondering if WD40 would be helpful? Thoughts appreciated.

I jack each corner up so the wheel is at full droop, this creates gaps between the leaves.
Wire brush, spray down with WD40 and then paint some oil on. (old engine oil fine)
Seems to work well.