This post is for the information of anyone interested. With the possibility of having to drive the 2a to Yass this weekend, if the County starter did not get fixed, I decided to fit free wheeling hubs to see if they made any difference.

I have had a pair of these (Warn) for some time, as they came attached to the S2a remains that I paid $15 for because I wanted the springs to put on my farm trailer.

First thing was to remove them - no problems, but they needed to use a 3/8 drive 9/16 socket to get the bolts off - no room for anything else. They comprise two parts made from aluminium, the main body and the control Part. The main body carries a dog running on a needle roller, the dog fitting on the driving axle, and secured by the usual axle nut and split pin with felt seal. The control part has the operating knob, which moves a second dog by a multistart thread, the dog being keyed to the body by twelve 1/4" pins.

First step was to strip and wash clean all parts - no problems except it took me a while to find all the needle rollers on the first one. All parts were found to be in excellent condition, virtually unmarked, despite being probably forty years or more old and having spent years or decades sitting in the weather. One hub had three attachment bolts missing, making it even more surprising that water had not got in.

After cleaning up the hubs were reassembled with wheel bearing grease on the needle rollers and MOS2 grease everywhere else. Then removed the drive flanges from my front hubs and installed the hubs with new paper gaskets on the hub and the join in the FWH. Two slight problems arose. To install these hubs it was necessary to cut off the extension past the thread on the drive axle - this was done with an angle grinder, and replacing the missing three bolts.

For a start, these are much longer (3 1/4" vs 2") than the Landrover parts, and have non- standard heads - 9/16 instead of 5/16W which, as BSF thread they should be (Note that the drive flange holes in hubs remained BSF up to the end of S3 production!). Needless to say I did not have any, and a phone call to town revealed there were none there either. So I scratched through the shed and found three UNF bolts somewhat longer than required, cut the thread off and then threaded them in the lathe.

John