Swivel housing reconditioning

Good evening guys.

This Christmas i am going to be over hauling my front swivels and brakes on my defender.

If i can i would like to keep my original swivels as i have more trust in the original casting than the after market ones.

Has any one had their original swivels re chromed?

Just wonder what you think to my plan.

Cheers Landy Lee

landy-lee said:

Good evening guys.

This Christmas i am going to be over hauling my front swivels and brakes on my defender.

If i can i would like to keep my original swivels as i have more trust in the original casting than the after market ones.

Has any one had their original swivels re chromed?

Just wonder what you think to my plan.

Cheers Landy Lee

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Are they pitted and so leaking?

Al2O3 said:

Are they pitted and so leaking?

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No pits seals leak a little but the top bearing has gone so i was thinking if i have it all striped down maybe re plating them would be a good idea?

landy-lee said:

No pits seals leak a little but the top bearing has gone so i was thinking if i have it all striped down maybe re plating them would be a good idea?

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It can be a bit of a bugger getting them off the end of the axles. If they're not pitted I wouldn't bother. I'd just change the bearings and use Timken ones.

landy-lee said:

No pits seals leak a little but the top bearing has gone so i was thinking if i have it all striped down maybe re plating them would be a good idea?

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Re-plating? As far as I know, the swivel balls on Defenders were never chromed.
Older Series ones were, but the ones on my Ninety were not.

Turboman said:

Re-plating? As far as I know, the swivel balls on Defenders were never chromed.
Older Series ones were, but the ones on my Ninety were not.

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What stops the swivels from rusting?

landy-lee said:

What stops the swivels from rusting?

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Probably a film of oil left on them during use when the seal rides over them.
Some steels rust much less than others in any case.
I have seen chromed ones pretty badly rusted as well.
All the rusty balls I have seen were off vehicles that were left parked up for long periods of time, which is what leads me to believe that oil is what prevents them rusting.

Some of the defender were Teflon coated(look black)
If the chrome is badly pitted this is what affects/damages the seals.
Change to one shot grease it don’t leak as bad as the oil

They are definitely chromed on my 1985 90, and were on my 1990 Defender 90. My older balls (oh-err) seem to have a thicker layer of chrome, they're still very good - same goes for the axles and suspension bits - must have been better steel.

I’ve got britpart swivels on both sides I put on 5yrs ago and not a sign of leaking or putting. Just change em if you’re worried

Ive replaced my defender & disco ones with the Teflon coated items no issues with them after 3 years

We all like a few pics Did mine not so long ago. My balls were in excellent condition B) it was my swivel seal, stub axle and bearing grease which were the issues. New bearings fitted whilst I was in there. No problems getting the balls off (1987 landy), just no access to torque the bolts when replacing.

It’s possible to fill the pits with good araldite with suitable prep to minimise any leaks, and do the housings up as Huddy has done , I used britpart chrome balls a couple of year ago on my series 3 they had a good reputation