Axles, Springs, Hubs, Swivels

 Started February 9 2023 (on going)

Axles, Spring packs, hubs and brakes

I dropped the springs and axles as one unit.  Of the 8 shackle bolts 2 gave me grief but we eventually persuaded with enough air torque, hammering, a pneumatic hammer, and PB blaster.  the only other problem we had was getting the steering rod to come loose from one of the rod ends; that took all of the above plus a torch.

Once the axles and spring were on the ground I flipped the over to undo the U-bolts without getting upside down under.  Now that the spring packs are off I have the diffs up on a work table so I can do all the work at waist height.

Spring pack refurbishment 

First front spring pack looks better than I had hoped.

The procedure for the springs was to disassemble, press out bushings, degrease, rinse, Ospho to kill rust, wire brush (a couple of times), self-etching primer, paint, press in new bushings, reassemble with new dowels and with copper grease between each leaf.  I should point out that the dowels are different sizes front and rear.  I ordered new dowels from Craddocks and the arrived without nuts even though their web site photos show them with nuts.  When I asked about it they asked ME what size the nuts were, and I referred them back to their own web site.  I still haven't' figured out what thread pitch these bolts are, maybe Witworth, but I want to put new nuts on the new dowels.

Springs reassembled with new center pins and com per grease between each leaf.  Just need to heat up and hammer down the leaf holders.  I measured each when finished and one front/one rear have a little more arch in them so I will put those on the driver’s side.

Removing bushing

The bushings in the springs came out Ok using a 20 ton press and an impact socket to push them out but the bushings in the frame will be a different ball game.

2/22/2023

What  pain in the butt the frame bushing are.  I looked everywhere for a tool, even call Landrover places.  There is not one or I would have paid a  lot of money for one.  Everyone just torches out the rubber and then hacksaws the metal part out.  I made a puller with some threaded rod and sockets but it only pulls the rubber and the center tube; not the outer tube which is too thin to get something on it to push it.  So the solution is to cut one side with a hacksaw and the chisel it out.  I got one out that way and have yet to do the other three.  I used a sawsall but it damaged the housing so on the next one I’ll just do it the slow way with a hacksaw.

What a crappy job.  Took me about 2 hours per frame bushing; first pull the center and rubber, then hack-say or saws-all the out sleeve (with is very thing and it it easy to cut into the frame), then chisel until you get it out.

Now I will use a ball hone (ordered a 1.25 Ball hone off Amazon) to clean the inside and put the new bushings in the a lot of copper grease.  They say to freeze the bushings first which shrinks them a tad.  I hope to push them back in wit the same threaded rod assembly I pulled them out with.

Hands down the worst job in the whole build (at least so far).  The problem is that there is no tool available for the job. Believe me I looked and asked and would have put out big money for the right tool; and even more now that I’ve been through it the hard wary.  Taking them out requires a hacksaw, torch and pounding.  To put them back in I first honed each hole (1.25 ball hone from Amazon: it would have been easier if I’d honed them more).  I made a jig using a 12” piece of  1/2” threaded rod (as it turns out I used 5 sections because they will bend under load).  I used the threaded rod with a selection of sockets that are the right size to fit the outside edge of the bushing you pulling through, and if you are inserting a bush: a receiving end socket for the center metal tube to go into (that part ends about about 1/8” outside of flush).  If you are taking out a bushing you need a large enough socket to received the old bushing when it comes out.  Hone the holes well; use copper grease inside the hole and on the bush.

Because this was all new to me I made some mistakes: first make sure you socket you use to push/pull is exactly the size of the outside metal so it pushes on it without pushing on the inner tube.  If you pulling one through the socket also needs to fit inside the chassis hole.  Also because of my ignorance in the matter, as in I didn’t know, I purchased all bushing of the size used for the springs, but the front two chassis mounts use a longer bushing.  I put a short one in a front hole before I realized that it was too short and began researching the matter.  So I had to order 2 more long bushings and 2 more short bushings because I damaged 2.

The good news is the the spring bushings all went is easily with the 20 ton press.

Renew the swivel balls with seals and bearings as needed

On initial inspection the swivel balls are not perfect but probably good enough to go with.  The seal retainers are very rusted and will be replaced.  All the bearings look OK; I'll reuse them.  The swivel housing need a lot of wire brush work to clean up the rust wear the seal retainer seats.

One thing I've notice (in general) on this truck is that studs often come out.  Happened on the trans, engine and swivel housing.  I will put them back in with lock tight.

Renew the brakes with all new components

One of the first things I noticed while disassembling the hubs is that the hub and brake backing plate bolts don't seem to  fit to either SAE or Metric and are more inclined to Witworth.  Checking to see hardware was used for Euro spec trucks.

I also noticed that the backing plates are much heavier that the normal ones.  I found out that this type of backing plate was factory option "mud" guard.  Here are some pics showing the difference between the two.  the ones are the right are the ones on my truck.  You can see that the normal plates are number marked but the heavy duty ones are not.

Renews the Hub seals

Swapping the differentials

The front and rear diffs on a Series 2A are the same.  Given that the rear gets a lot more use over the years it makes sense to swap the when you are torn down to this level.

I decided to swap the diffs (front to rear, rear to front) while I had the axles off and was amazed at the condition of these 54 year old diffs. They look like new, even the oil was clean.  Just need new gasket and a pinion seal, and put them back together.

3/28/2023

Reassembling the swivel balls, hubs and brakes.

Brakes: I replaced the wheel cylinders, brake shoes and spring.  Not a big deal but one of my backing plates came to me with nothing on it.  Again not normally a problem, except it was missing the retainer for the brake show which goes on all 10" brakes.  Since it is not an item that normally needs to be replaced, it is not readily available and I am still searching for a used one.  New ones are expensive.  Also the brake shoes were not tapped for the bolts that hold these on so I I had to tap all those hole to 1/4x20 (factory spec is about a 7mm but I don't have those).  Also there is a locking plate that goes on each one to hold the 2 bolts from backing off, but again I didn't have those and may order some from Rovers North later but for now I just used Loctite on them.

Swivels balls: Note to self check which recess holds the Railko bushing and which holds the other bearing.  When holding the ball with the holes top and bottom the short side should be at the top and hold the Railko bushing.  I found I had it the wrong way around and had to take the ball ack out of the housing, press out both and swap them around.  My 20 ton shop press (and the torch) have been a blessing.  When placed in the swivel ball housing the fat side of the housing it on top but the narrow side of the ball fits in the top of that.

In parting, a confession: I struggled for a few days trying to get one of the front axles in without success.  It seemed like it was touching the spider gears but not going in.  I’ve done these before so I knew it shouldn’t be hard.  In frustration I called Andy to take a look.  After a couple of tries he took a light and looked into the axle…..where he found the rag I’d left in there???

Springs and U-bolts

I had been given a set of U-bolts by a friend and when I went to use them I learned things I had not known:  The rear axle U-bolts are longer than the front, and the front has 3 that are one length and one that is longer. The size, shape and thread pattern can also change, although your can generally use either, as long as the nuts you have match the U-bolt you have.  When you buy U-bolts they generally come with nuts but not with lock washers.  Here is a write-up I found what researching the subject: