dear dear, pits on my balls

[newhue]

fellow enthusiasts,

I have discovered pitting on the ball ends, perhaps up to .5 to 1mm in depth.

I am re kitting the Swivel pin and all the front seals to hopefully stop all the leaks, and what looks like grease into the brake drums.

Is this worth replacing the ball ends as well? Rang Four Wheel Drives as they were advertised at 180 a side, which doesn't excite me. However they said they are now $360 per side because the mob who re-chrome them don't like one offs anymore.

Anyone have any alternatives, second handers, or know of places else where who would refurbish them around SE queensland. Would S2 fit, or just as likely pitted as will.

thanks

[chazza]

From what I hear, the re-chromed ones sometimes arrive as a weird shape and leak anyway.

I de-rusted mine in molasses solution and then I filled the pits with epoxy filler - the chap who put me on to it says that his had lasted for about 3 years with araldite in the pits,

Cheers Charlie

[Grumbles]

Chazza is on the money here I think. I recall reading years ago in the UK Land Rover Owner magazine about the poms having this problem - lots of salt on their roads. Rather than replace they cleaned, filled and then sanded them back to smooth. I don't recall this repair having a limited life and my Alzheimers is working well this morning and I can't recall what that filler was that they used. Sorry about that.

[Johnno1969]

[QUOTE=Grumbles;1563592]Chazza is on the money here I think. I recall reading years ago in the UK Land Rover Owner magazine about the poms having this problem - lots of salt on their roads. Rather than replace they cleaned, filled and then sanded them back to smooth. I don't recall this repair having a limited life and my Alzheimers is working well this morning and I can't recall what that filler was that they used. Sorry about that.[/QUOTE

I remember articles like that....may even be able to find them. I think they were using two-pack epoxy of some sort.

[chazza]

Quik Steel is the one I used but there seems to be heaps of varieties in the shops. The critical thing is to totally eliminate the rust first,

Cheers Charlie

[gromit]

My Series 1 had just 2 or 3 deep pits in the swivel housings. I derusted and used a liquid metal epoxy in the pits. Careful scraping and sanding gave a smooth surface for the seal.
No problems to date.

Colin

[newhue]

Thanks all, the metal epoxy sounds easy enough to do in house and a hole lot cheaper.

[clubagreenie]

It's not the chroming that's the issue so much as the re-ginding. If you look for a hydraulic piston rechroming shop they will specialise in hard chroming. I had to find someone to re-chrome steering box shafts many a year ago and they were ok as they were just straight and could be ground as a staight shaft.

The balls being curved and also offset are a cow to setup on center and grind. I had them done. I only had a set done once, we filled the pits as described then whetstone it smooth and chromed a thick (for chroming) layer that pretty much self levels.

[hodgo]

I have used this company (open sight below) in Adelaide to rechrome a couple of sets of swivel hubs in the past 12 months they do a good job and know how to surface grind them correctly they even show a picture of a landrover swivel hub in there advert
Poverty, our lastest project got done with knead it as time and budget did not allow us to send them away

Hodgo
Hardchrome Services

[Timj]

Hi Jason,

The swivel balls didn't change from 1954 (start of 86") through to the end of series 3. They may even have been the same in early defenders though I am not certain about that. The only difference between the ones in the 80" and the later ones was the internal dimensions and came about with the change from Tracta joints to universal joints. Externally they are identical still. From the Uk it is possible to buy brand new ones from as low as 69 pounds plus freight. They are Britpart from Paddocks but quality should be as good as an epoxy repair I would think. Other suppliers have very similar prices. Prices here in Oz for new ones go as high as $290 which is kinda ridiculous.

TimJ.