Thread: MD drive flange bolts sheared

Originally Posted by Mr Ploppy

Thanks mate. I have a similar hub nut socket for doing the bearings but don't have the socket welded inside it. Good idea though. The flange nut from what I have heard and my recent experience is it can be a bugger to get off hence the 3/4 drive. As luck would have it though my brothers socket set only goes to 50mm, so off to my mechanic tomorrow to see if I can get a loaner for now.

If you live near a place that cater's for Land Cruisers try them for a wheel nut wrench as I have read somewhere that their socket fits the Land Rover.

Sooper She-ip does have these wrenches down our way and eeeBay as well if you can wait.
Getting the socket that's narrow enough to fit, is the problem.

What causes the bolts to break? I think it goes hand in hand with bearings that are on the way out, when you pull the cup out of the hub that had the broken bolts, have a look at the inside where the rollers were running, you will find light chatter marks. These marks are what are making the growling noise and that is a mechanical vibration which plays hell with the surrounding parts.
Just pause and think if this bearing was in that turbine engine you last sat next to, on that plane you travelled on last !!!

Fresh bolts that hold their tensile settings should be a step in the right direction.
Doing this for the first few time, use a tension wrench to get the feel of where the correct torque arrives, from then on, you should be ok getting the correct tension near right if you ever need to fix a bearing away from a workshop.

Before assembly of the flange into the hub check by feeling around the holes in the hub for any protrusion of the edge of the hole, deal with that either by filing or a very slight counter sink of the lip by using a lot larger drill bit than the hole size, this work is best done before you have cleaned the hub, so any swath is cleaned away.

Also don't forget while cleaning the hub to check the depth of the bolt holes. use a neat fitting drill bit held between your fingers, there is nearly always some old silicon residue at the bottom of those holes, this can be gouged out easily by twisting the bit around with your fingers.
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I bought a tube spanner from Four Wheel Drives in Melbourne to get the hub nut off; it was rather inexpensive

I also turned a steel disc to go in the end of it, in which I had filed a 1/2" hole, which allows me to use a tension wrench with it - the disc is welded in.

The preload on the bearings can also be set using a dial indicator to give the correct amount of end-float, which means the bearings will not overheat, provided that they are lubricated. Oil is the best lubricant!

The flange should really be located by dowels, rather than relying on the bolts to do the job. Because the bolts have to have a clearance fit on the flange, there is always the potential for the the flange to rotate back and forth, until the bolts come loose and then they break. Anyway, the Rover engineer decided not to have dowels and we have to live with it

It is also a good idea to clean the female threads with a tap - if a lot of metal comes out it is best to buy a new hub - squirt some solvent into the hole, such as electrical contact cleaner, or some fiendishly-expensive but very good Loctite cleaner, before using a thread-locker,

Cheers Charlie