Thread: Play in swivel hub - will removing a shim help?

yep removing the shims is the way the preload is adjusted....

Take the time to get a decent torchlight down in the hole removing the pin leaves to check the wear.

Hi Mark,

As Dave said, in the 110 you have upper railco type bushes, and a taper roller brg on the underside.

Excessive play can sometimes be due to the lower brg failing, and/ or the upper bush wearing out. This is the reason we change swivel oils every service in 110's and others. If left with low oil level or contaminated oil, or even if filled with grease, the counties will wear out the top bush fast due to no lube getting up to it. The oil should splash lube the top bush during use, grease wont and obviously poor / no oil wont either. If the vehicle has reasonably high mileage or a suspect service regime I would look very carefully. Removing shims may not help in that case.


JC

Removing shims to correctly adjust the preload will remove free play and noticeably improve steering. However, if the railco bush is worn, the pin worn, or the bottom bearing damaged, this will only be temporary.

As Justinc says, have a look at the pin when it is out, use a torch to look at the bush (although if it is simple wear this may not show). And while adjusting the preload, you will have the trackrod and drag link disconnected - take advantage of this to make sure that the swivel moves smoothly - if it doesn't, it is likely to be the bottom bearing. I found that my railco bushes lasted a bit over 400,000km, and while polished the pins had no measurable wear. The bottom bearings were unmarked. But as commented, you will not get anything like this unless they are kept properly lubricated!

Taking a shim out and adjusting the preload without replacing anything has the advantage that you should be able to find out in doing this whether to order pins and bottom bearings as well. It should also give you a good insight into how well it has been serviced.
John

When Ive done them Ive found that if the bottom bearing is shot when you adjust the top shims to get the preload right if you measure it with a spring gauge and not by "yeah that feels like 12lbs of pull" you will notice the gauge wavering as the hub turns. My theory is that its caused by the bearing "lumping" as it rotates.

Remember its not the initial force to start it moving your measuring but the force required to keep it moving.

Thanks gents.

I removed a couple of very thin shims and the preload is now about right with no play. I presume (hope) there is no gasket or silicon required under the pin or shims? It was hard to keep a steady spring gauge reading - hope the bottom bearing is OK.......It certainly feels smooth enough to turn by hand from side to side. And amazingly the swivel housing was full of oil.

How does a railco bush work as opposed to a conventional tapered roller bearing?

its just that,

A bush IS the simplest form of a bearing.

so instead of an upper and lower roller bearing you have a lower bearing and uppper bush.

as most of the weight is on the bearing it does most of the work and the bush does location stuff only... (well more or less)

A bush is not as prone to lack of lube failure like a bearing is..