Swivel ball replacement question

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payydg

payydg

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Aberdeenshire
I'm replacing the swivel ball on my 200tdi defender 90.

Basically, the new top pin and new railko bush are a super tight fit. In fact I'll have to drift the pin into the bush. Is this normal?

It seems a bit weird to me because the old one would drop in without any force. Obviously I know that's worn but if it's super tight I can't imagine I'll be able to set the preload on the bearing properly by measure the resistance to swivel as per manual.
 
You can always disconnect the steering arm and test the swivel, before you fit all the rest back on. I have had tight ones, we used a smear of valve grinding paste to free a tight plain bush off. you shouldn't leave it on there. I find oil, can free up things and help you judge it better. By theory you shouldn't need to hammer together anything apart from a slight tap.
 
did mine the other week.

new railko and pin + new bearing in original housing.

all went together by hand....and a very very light tap with a rubber mallet to check it was seated.

preload was easily set

Drives like a shiny new pin on the road now. old pin came out easy by hand and was flappy like sausage thrown down mainstreet
 
When we did this on the Series (many years ago) the new ones were pretty tight. We put them together and took shims out so there was no slack initially. The bush material settled down and they became easier to move after a short while and then we did another final adjustment and took a shim out to enable a suitable degree of resistance, and all was well for a few years until we sold it. I'd rather it was tight than loose, at least in the early stages.
 
Thanks all.

It was bloody tight. Starting to losen up a bit. Going to check the resistance in a sec and see what it's like.

Will keep you posted
 
Ended up having to carefully file the bush back a bit. God know what they're made of, I've probably got a mesothelioma now.

Didn't have the shin selection to get the resistance spot on. Closest I could get was 5kg, I assume that's on.

Now onto the wheel bearing.
 
Just overhauled my swivels yesterday. I also have the early type with railko bush top and taper bearing bottom. The top pin slotted easily into the bush. Using a drift doesn't sound right.

Theres lots of different figures out there for preload. In the end I went with 5kg with the seal off. Not sure if thats too high, easy enough to change though.
 
What make parts did you use, I fitted a Brittpart kit including swivel and it all fitted perfectly and just set the preload by feel
 
It was a bearmach kit. Little disappointed.

Got it set up now and seems pretty smooth.

Thanks for the help everyone.

1-2kg seems rather low, even without the seal...
 
payydg said:
It was a bearmach kit. Little disappointed.

Got it set up now and seems pretty smooth.

Thanks for the help everyone.

1-2kg seems rather low, even without the seal...
Click to expand...

I read about 4kg for a railco without the swivel seal fitted
 
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