300TDi front axle rebuild and upgraded brakes.

Well my current front axle passed it's MOT but there were some advisories i.e. swivels has some pitting, brake discs uneven wear (the edges!) and wheel bearings both sides. Also the diff pan is squashed but not enough to cause damage to the diff.

Anyway I've decided to rebuild both axles with the front first so I've purchased the following parts:

2nd hand axle casing complete with spring seats, radius arms, panhard rod, swivel pin housings and brake back plates.
New tubular turrets
New vented discs
New calipers
New calipers pins kit
New OEM swivels inc Corteco seals and Timken bearings
New Timken inner stub axle bearings
New Timken wheel bearings
New nuts and bolts throughout (inc magnetic filler/level)
New seals
New +2" flexible Goodrich stainless steel hoses (£15 bargain off ebay as the box is damaged!)

Plus I've got new bushes for the radius arms and panhard rod. I did the panhard rod 6 months ago when I replaced all the bushes except the radius arm ones so bought new panhard bushes again for ease. I replaced the suspension, steering damper and ball joints late last year too. I thought that using the panhard rod and radius arms I've just got means that I can still use the Landy whilst I clean up the replacements etc.

Right so the plan....

1) Press/burn out the existing bushes from the panhard rod and radius arms
2) Clean up the swivel pin housings, axle casing, panhard rod and radius arms then paint the suspension components in silver and the axle components in black.
3) Make sure the threads are all ok/re-tapped then install the swivel kits

Now I need to take my Defender off the road...

4) Empty oil from diff pan and disconnect front prop shaft
5) Remove calipers, wheels, spacers and rear steering bar then disconnect front steering bar, brake lines, front suspension and radius arms and remove front axle with radius arms attached.

6) Remove diff, front hubs, stub axles, CV joints and half shafts from my current axle.

7) Fit tubular turrets
8) Fit my diff, shocks, springs and rebuilt radius arms to new axle casing and lift into place then connect up.
9) Fit shafts, CV joints, stub axles, new discs, hubs etc with new seals/bearings/gaskets
10) Fit new copper brake lines, flexible brake lines, new calipers, pads etc and bleed.
11) Refit steering bars and adjust stops
12) Refill diff pan and re-attach prop shaft.

Probably forgotten a few things like the spacers and wheels but that is basically my plan over the next few weeks. Once done I'm going to probably do the rear axle. I've just finished getting all the parts which seriously add up!!! Just waiting for one of the swivel pin housings and brake back covers to be dug out and I'll get started with some pictures.

Well here goes....

I have the bits



You will notice the BLUE BOXES well the swivel housing rebuild kits are the G kits which means that all the parts are OEM parts:



Thats OEM swivel, OEM swivel pin, Corteco seals and Timken bearings.

The other Britpart parts are calipers, pads and discs which are absolutely fine.

All bearings are Timken and all seals are Corteco.

All nuts and bolts are new

So onto the actual tasks at hand.

This was yesterday:

First we have the replacement casing



I wanted to jet wash the casing and clean it up with a copper wire brush but didn't want stuff inside and also didn't want paint inside so I made some temporary covers



These fit onto the axle casing where the diff goes and where the swivels go



and

Now today I've jet washed the axle and cleaned it up with a copper wire cup brush on the grinder.

Once that was done I've painted the axle in some metal exchange paint, the stuff that when painted turns the iron oxide rust into an inert rust that acts as a barrier.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow then clean up the swivel pin housings, spring seats and brake back plates.

I'm putting in replacement radius arms and a panhard rod simply because I got them with the axle and it means that I can clean them up and paint them ready.

That's a neat job so far - keep it coming, always nice to see shiny bits and piccies

I'll post some images tomorrow hopefully but I've started to clean up the string seats, swivel pin housings and brake pipe brackets ready for assembly but I'm still waiting for the off side swivel pin housing before I can go any further as I was hoping to get everything cleaned up and ready then assemble as far as the swivel pin housings before stripping the Defender so I can keep it on the road as long as possible. I can't totally build the axle first as I will be re-using the differential, half shafts, CV joints, hubs and stub axles albeit after checking each one for wear and or damage first.

OK well lots of behind the scenes stuff going on getting a couple of radius arms so I can sort them whilst still using my current ones etc etc AND I've managed to bag a Sankey trailer

Anyway I've got the casing sorted and just given it the first coat of paint:



and a few of the other bits:

Looking good so far!

Brown said:

Looking good so far!

Click to expand...

Thanks. Will hopefully have the other bits in the next few days. I'm just cleaning up the nato hitch and going to wire up a nato towing socket whilst I'm at it so I can collect my trailer

Nice to see more good quality refurb work on here - big thumbs up from me !!

really liking the covers too

The Br*tpart "G" range do seem to be a lot better than the reputation the other stuff has too - but you do right using Timken bearings - we've never had one fail in fifty odd years of LR ownership

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made me laugh that the bl**dy auto correct has changed sPring seats to sTring seats

Disco1BFG said:

Nice to see more good quality refurb work on here - big thumbs up from me !!

really liking the covers too

The Br*tpart "G" range do seem to be a lot better than the reputation the other stuff has too - but you do right using Timken bearings - we've never had one fail in fifty odd years of LR ownership

---
made me laugh that the bl**dy auto correct has changed sPring seats to sTring seats

Click to expand...

The G range actually includes corteco seals and Timken bearings in the set with all the other parts as OEM.

The covers will come in handy as I'm doing the back axle later too.

Looking good, keep the pictures coming!

I've just had fun rebuilding the front of mine. Very satisfying when done.

Things I don't see though are stub axles - if yours are on any length of time the hub seal land is probably grooved - are you going to reuse yours or buy new ones?

I also said next time I did mine the calipers would be going to flexihoses all the way to the caliper as the current arrangement from the top swivel pin is bonkers. Are you swapping yours? I see braided steel hoses on the list

chris-the-gerbil said:

I've just had fun rebuilding the front of mine. Very satisfying when done.

Things I don't see though are stub axles - if yours are on any length of time the hub seal land is probably grooved - are you going to reuse yours or buy new ones?

I also said next time I did mine the calipers would be going to flexihoses all the way to the caliper as the current arrangement from the top swivel pin is bonkers. Are you swapping yours? I see braided steel hoses on the list

Click to expand...

When I take off my current axle I'm taking the stub axles, half shafts, cv joints and diff to my local Landy specialist who is now a friend of mine and he is going to closely inspect them all. He carries the stub axles and cv joints plus there is a diff on the scrap disco should it be needed but at the moment it is running very well. I bagged a made to measure set of goodrich hoses off eBay including the rear for just £15 new in the box! I've bought a decent full set of brake pipe making kit so will make new pipes for the ends. It does seem a little daft but it's working on others so I had planned on just keeping it.

I suspect you will end up with shiny new stub axles the don't seem to last forever. I know I did when I built mine. The rear ones were just oxidised grease that looked like rust and cleaned off with some 1500 git wet and dry, but the front ones were actually grooved and wouldn't seal. My CV's and halfshafts were good. If you have a wear patch on the halfshaft seal land, just remember you can drive the swivel seal in not quite as far and seal on a different part.

I found that the pipes that bolt onto the swivel top pin are a real PITA. Either cut a vertical slot in the bracket so you can lift the union out as the caliper comes off, or fit a second flexyhose.

It's looking very nice though so far - more pictures please when you get it done.

chris-the-gerbil said:

I found that the pipes that bolt onto the swivel top pin are a real PITA. Either cut a vertical slot in the bracket so you can lift the union out as the caliper comes off, or fit a second flexyhose.

Click to expand...

+1 for the slot.

I've given the axle casing, spring seats and brake pipe bracket another coat of paint today but then spent the rest of the day making a bed.

Hmm.....

This is a diagram of the swivel and housing etc:



Item 23 is listed as FRC2310 but when I search for this I get:




Which bears no resemblance to the diagram.....

I could be wrong here, but the hub bolts are now nyloc - item 24 the bolt patchlock. maybe the locking plate is no longer required, and has been replaced with something to make up the thickness of the original?