A very long overdue update on progress, delayed because of the distinct lack of it. My blind optimism that Christmas and New Year would be full of days spend happily bolting together bits of Land Rover turned into one fortnight-long game of being nice to the in-laws who never leave. Anyway, I've now got something to show you so without further ado...
I started stripping the drum brakes and discovered that one of them was full of grease. The photo doesn't really show it well, but it was pretty grim and I'm surprised the brakes worked at all on that side.
Stripping the axle down I was expecting to find a shredded oil seal but the only thing I could find was this pitted stub axle, which went on the list of bits to replace. I ordered new oil seals as well just to cover all the bases.
Then I started looking at the front axle. I'd already ordered a new swivel ball for one side but closer inspection showed that both needed replacing.
See...
Then the trouble started. I started to strip down the swivels and got as far as unbolting the drive flange when the heads sheared off not one but two of the bolts. I gave up on that end and stripped the other swivel just so my evening wasn't completely wasted.
For some reason there were two oil seal retainer plates on this side. Any idea why?
And here's one stripped front axle (except for the diff which I'm not touching as it seems fine). It's a hell of a lot lighter without all of the bits on each end.
One evening I plucked up the courage to tackle the seized drive flange bolt stubs, and finally they gave up. Took bloody ages though.
I had a look at the calipers to see if they were in a salvageable condition and gave them a scrub with a wire brush.
They've come up well enough, I think. I'll get some high-temperature silver paint and see how we go. As the pistons in one of the calipers are rusty (the left one, everything on the nearside is rustier than the offside for some reason) I'm also thinking of going the whole hog and buying a stainless steel piston kit.
Frustrating job number 93, removing the track rod ends from the track rod. The main problem is not being able to get any purchase to twist them. You put one end in a vice and then attempt to twist the other end with various things - stilsons, long bits of bar, but nothing doing. Hitting hard with big hammer: tried. Huge amounts of heat: tried. To cut a long story short, I've given up and having discovered that you can buy a new track rod for a tenner I'm regretting wasting a vat of penetrating oil on it.
And to add insult to injury the hub bearing nut had become inextricably attached to the lock washer and only purchase of an extremely expensive 52mm socket would shift it. Still, at least I can torque it up properly when I rebuild it.
Another full day arrives, I've taken a punt and am going Britpart on the new stub axle. Surely they can't bugger up a glorified metal tube. Time will tell, but it fitted fine and looks like a shinier version of the old one.
Old stub axle, brake backplate and gasket off, and the new one on. No photo for that for some reason. I was probably too busy getting everything ready for painting the axles. At last the time has come to do something constructive.
The axles are going to be painted using Buzzweld's Rust Encapsulator topped with their Chassis-In-One.
First impressions of RE weren't great. The Schutz gun was horribly spitty (if that's a word) and it turned out that the paint was really too thick for the venturi effect to pick it up nicely. I stuck the paint tin into a bucket of hot water for 15 minutes and that improved things somewhat. I didn't have any thinners and having got to this point I wasn't really able to put things off for any longer. So what I've ended up with is a bit of a mottled hammerite effect, which I'm not altogether displeased with. And if the residue on my hands is anything to go on, Rust Encapulator isn't going to be coming off in a hurry! The wheels and other assorted bits of Land Rover also give you an idea of the less than ideal windy conditions.
I then came to my senses and moved inside for the next bit. Buzzweld's Chassis-in-One (CIO) was much easier to spray than RE and after a few coats of this I'm now the proud owner of a much nicer-looking front axle.
And one finished rear axle.
So there we are. Not amazing progress for over a month, but hopefully things will start moving along a bit more swiftly soon.
And finally, while you're here, any ideas what this bit is and where it's come from? I can't find it in any of my photos and it's going to need replacing!