Advice on Leaky Swivels

If the swivel is OK just unbolt the whole lot as a unit, take it off, change the seal and put it back together.

discool said:

Just look a the swivel ball, if Chrome its oil plus a fill, drain and if your lucky a lever plug. If Teflon its grease with just a fill plug…simples… but it appears that its not well known.

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Son's Ninety has chrome swivels with oil fill and my td5 has chrome swivels and one shot grease.
At the end of the day I guess it doesn't really matter, good thing about oil is you can drain it and change it.

Stanleysteamer said:

That is not the case with mine. mine are chrome balls and there is no drain or level plug. Maybe this is because mine is an Anniversary model and maybe they were just emptying parts bins.
There is also info that they started off with oil then decided to change over to one time grease, so LR themselves changed horses midstream.
I do indeed wish mine had all three plugs but as posted above no drain plug and no level plug. Although it deffo has oil in.
Tell me, would it be possible to change my chrome balls for Teflon ones as both need changing?

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Like a lot of car parts, something is fitted new in the later life of a vehicle model and then they introduce a new model so completely different. It appears from what was stated years ago in the LR magazines there was a shortage of Teflon swivels for a time, but Chrome was still available and had to be used as a replacement.

If Teflon the items are still available, it may be possible to replace, but it seems a bit of a minefield with Vin numbers plus change points and including petrol or diesel to get the correct replacement now.

A least unlike chrome, teflon doesn’t rust which destroys the seal.

If an oil swivel is there is a quick bodge to stop it, assuming its only a dip now and again and its something I tried out on my RR and it worked so got the MOT and then sold it
The disco hasn’t an issue as it’s Teflon.

discool said:

Like a lot of car parts, something is fitted new in the later life of a vehicle model and then they introduce a new model so completely different. It appears from what was stated years ago in the LR magazines there was a shortage of Teflon swivels for a time, but Chrome was still available and had to be used as a replacement.

If Teflon the items are still available, it may be possible to replace, but it seems a bit of a minefield with Vin numbers plus change points and including petrol or diesel to get the correct replacement now.

A least unlike chrome, teflon doesn’t rust which destroys the seal.

If an oil swivel is there is a quick bodge to stop it, assuming its only a dip now and again and its something I tried out on my RR and it worked so got the MOT and then sold it
The disco hasn’t an issue as it’s Teflon.

Potential fluid leak right front wheel - can someone tell me what is the potential issue? This is a 1993 LR defender 90 200TDI 53k miles

www.landyzone.co.uk

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Cheers for the info!

Mike is based in Canada, near Montreal ...... just do a search for "britrest.com"

Try this part 1 of 3 part video

frostythor said:

Try this part 1 of 3 part video

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Your link although part 1 is very good so is part 2 to 4 its been posted already by ‘tilly2‘ in post #15.
So keep up

tilly2 said:

Mike has some good videos, mostly on Defenders though. I used the solder method, and a spring balance to set up the preload. Worked a treat, but dont worry about that at the moment...

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@tilly2 Thank you i will take a look at them.

Ben

Dr Strangeglove said:

Remember that doing a job like this tends to go into mission creep. If you are doing the swivel seals then you will still need to remove the brake caliper unless you use the method of cutting the seal at the top.

If you are removing the caliper then additional items may be required additional to what you expect, such as the small brake line and flex plus all the lock nuts, caliper bolts etc. I am a big believer in replacing nuts/screws/bolts if doing a job unless they look to be in great condition - I do this thinking forward to the next time I may have to remove them.

Also, looking at the last couple of years, we may have good weather in March or April so start with the penetrating fluid for all the things you will have to remove.

If you are replacing the swivel itself then look at videos on that to prepare yourself. I found aviation spanners (I think 14mm) great for removing the swivel from the axle case - plus the set has been useful in many applications.

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@Dr Strangeglove I agree that was something that concerned me, I've done a few classic cars and the bolts snap easily, I'm simialr to you i either replace or renew as i go. I was looking at replacing all the lines and planned on doing them in due course but i do take on board. My thinking was i get all the seal's bearings etc and just replace it all. It's better in the long run.

I have started with plus gas on the bolts as I've learned the hard way a few times. This will allow me to fill the swivel and see what happens.

The aviation spanners are great i have a set, i found old brake calipers they work well on.

Thanks,

Ben

Anaconda said:

If the swivel is OK just unbolt the whole lot as a unit, take it off, change the seal and put it back together.

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@Anaconda Thank you, i did see a video on Youtube last night that showed that method. It might be a good one to try if the one shot dosen't take.

Thanks,

Ben

bendisco said:

@Anaconda Thank you, i did see a video on Youtube last night that showed that method. It might be a good one to try if the one shot dosen't take.

Thanks,

Ben

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You're welcome, it's the route I took on my son's Ninety saves on unnecessary work if it doesn't need it.

Yes Discool, it was posted on #15, thats the touble with the longer posts., you lose track of whats posted

frostythor said:

Yes Discool, it was posted on #15, thats the touble with the longer posts., you lose track of whats posted

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Yup just the “ same old same old”

bendisco said:

Hi Guy's,

Planning on rebuilding the swivels in the summer when winter has gone, but was checking her over the weekend to fit a new diff guard and one is leaking down the tyre.

I can rebuild it and take the car of the road for a few weeks but with the bad weather and two family members being v seriously sod's law will happen and we will have snow or floods again and I'll need it. We have no chance with ambulances round here before anyone says it. We waited 5 hours last time.

I have one shot grease but my concern is it will leak in a week or two again. I must say this is not to bodge just to delay. If i need to rebuild the lot so be it but i don't want it running dry and breaking mid emergency.

Car gets less than a few hundred a week if its lucky. This is just incase situation.

Can I use some LIQUI MOLY Gear-Oil Leak Stop or something simialr to delay the leak with a one shot or something similar?
Thicker oil?
Any other ideas?

If at worst how long could it take to build a side as i get a feeling I'm going to need to take a week out.

Thanks,

Ben

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if its the large seal round the swivel ball ive heard of people changing it without strip out undo ring of small bolts off seal retaining ring and take out seal but not seal spring cut the new seal and put joint on the top with old spring in it you can put a bit of sealer on joint if you want if swivel is pitted waste of time strip it out and renew

robbie the greatl said:

if its the large seal round the swivel ball ive heard of people changing it without strip out undo ring of small bolts off seal retaining ring and take out seal but not seal spring cut the new seal and put joint on the top with old spring in it you can put a bit of sealer on joint if you want if swivel is pitted waste of time strip it out and renew

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There were adverts 30 odd years ago in the LR magazines showing a replacement seal kit which had split seal and included the “special” adhesive.

robbie the greatl said:

if its the large seal round the swivel ball ive heard of people changing it without strip out undo ring of small bolts off seal retaining ring and take out seal but not seal spring cut the new seal and put joint on the top with old spring in it you can put a bit of sealer on joint if you want if swivel is pitted waste of time strip it out and renew

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@robbie the greatl Thanks for the advice, i watched a video on youtube last night doing something similar.

discool said:

There were adverts 30 odd years ago in the LR magazines showing a replacement seal kit which had split seal and included the “special” adhesive.

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@discool its funny you mention that on one of the land rover sites i saw something similar like a CV joint gater that would work the same for the swivel.

Sorry for the radio silence on here i wanted to update you all quickly.

I filled up the swivel and it still leaks albeit slowly, It's hard to work out how long the oil would last. It does look like the seal might have gone its trickling down the bottom sidewall. Next weekend I'll need to take it appart and see what i find.

Sadley i had to take her off the road 2 weeks ago as i found a small hole and found a previous repair to the sill wasn't in great condition.

What started as a small hole inside the floor ended up being an 1/4 end of an outer sill, tiny bit of the inner and part floor. Water had been getting in from the front drivers wheel arch and allong the sill and just rust from the inside. The heater matrix coolant must not have have helped either. You would never spot it as someone had covered it in underseal. Only when grinding it back did i find thin metal.

I have cut the rot and welded in new steel. At the time i should have got a sill kit from YRM but instead repaired the rusting parts with 2mm steel and cut out bad and made new.

Welding the floor next weekend, I have plans to replace the whole sill in due course and weld in new as some of the other patches someone has done at the B and C pillar look somewhat suspect and are platted over repairs but atleast its metal and welded. Seems to be a common theme at garages these days or just bondo it up. Amazing what you find when removing someones undersealed work on cars these days. Atleast there was no body filler so the person has done an ok job.

I'll probably cut it all out over summer and make it 100%, I have noticed some here do the box section upgrade. I want some rock sliders on it to use as steps as a few of my family struggle in and out of it so that might be a better option. My Friend has suggested i use one of the garage 2 poster lift's and take the body off and paint the chassis but im not sure i want to do that just yet.