jackbw28

Vehicle age is '89. As a whole it's been changed quite a bit and now as a def spec 200tdi, R380 G/box and a rear axle off a puma. Front axle however is standard with the exception of later vented discs, callipers and diff. And today I'm very happy, just found time to swap the LHS stub axle and wheel bearings. Put the vehicle on the ground and the play is gone!! So the play I was feeling in the RHS after changing the stub axle that side must have been me feeling play from the left. very chuffed and another warning for pattern parts being more hassle than they are worth - they were machined to the wrong size as per my dimensions above! Thanks for the advice everybody and for the tip Dave.

Thanks for the advice. I've had another good look & feel including the rear - all good except for the existing play! Think I'll just wait until the weekend, change the other stub axle and bearings and see what happens. Thanks again all and I'll report back with what happens.

Thanks for the replies, I'm setting the preload using a common method (I think) that I've used successfully may times. With the drive flange off, road wheel lifted but still fitted to the hub I gently tighten the inner nut (with spacer fitted) whilst rotating the wheel. I tighten it a 'bit tight' then back off before re-tightening just enough to eliminate any play I can feel by rocking the wheel. I do this a couple of times for good measure and also tap the hubs with a soft mallet a few times to help ensure the bearings are well seated. Then fit the lock tab and other nut ensuring the inner nut does not move as the outer one is tightened... The thing is; the play does go away to what you can feel doing the above. All feels good and you can't get anything to move - but then put the car back on the ground and shake it side to side and there is a lot of play at the wheels!! I Think it's in the hubs but could be wrong... What typically causes a play felt at the wheels which can only be detected with the vehicle on the ground? No play when wheel is lifted. After checking all suspension fixings and bushing I still suspect hub/stub axle assembly over the swivels but it could be anything. Today I accurately measured the diameter of the bearing journals on my old and new stub axle as well as the inside diameter of the inner bearing race and think this could well be my problem and only shows up under load regardless of how tight I do up the nuts (I did test doing them up very tight!). Values below (mm): Old Stub: New Stub Bearing Outer Journal: Outer Journal 45.220 45.180 45.230 45.220 45.190 45.230 Inner Journal: Inner Journal 45.205 45.230 45.200 45.230 So, my bearings were indeed a loose fit on the old shaft - so much for pattern parts! My concern is now I still have some play on the side of the vehicle with the new stub fitted. I haven't got round to changing the other stub and there is still a lot of play that side. I'm just hoping the play I'm feeling on the new side is actually the play from the other side. I guess I wont know until I find time to change the other stub, but I've a feeling it's not the whole story...

Hi All, Just wondering if anybody has any pointers of where to look for a fault which is most noticeable as play felt in the front wheels when the vehicle is rocked laterally by the bumper with the wheels on the ground. I first noticed this back in Nov last year and assumed wheel bearings, however when the road wheels are jacked up off the road there is no play, even with a large pry-bar against a concrete floor. I've since replaced all bushes (inc panhard rod) and welded 'washers' over both panhard mounting holes as they were a little rounded. All suspension & steering fixings tight and all mountings in good condition. Only exception is lower front damper holes which need some welding to bring back to round. All ball joints are now slightly worn after only 25,000mi - I put this down to the play in the front wheels and will not replace until the play is sorted. Swivel joints fully rebuilt 25,000mi ago with new balls, bearings, bushes and pins. Preload set correctly with no seal etc. However, I did remove a shim recently as I started to get a steering shimmy occasionally and they seemed to have got a bit loose (tested after disconnecting all rods) after after initially doing the work. Pre-load not measured properly this time. Under the vehicle whilst it is being rocked laterally no play can be detected anywhere - none at all between the swivel ball and housing either at the top or bottom. None at any panhard rod mounting or the bracket that is bolted to the chassis via the steering box. Only place play can be felt is the the discs, rim or wheel. So, back to wheel bearings - I replaced them with SKF bearings and ensured the outer races were fully tapped in. Made no difference and the old Timken bearings were in good condition. However I did notice the bearing inner race felt a little loose on the pattern part stub axle journal, but didn't measure the clearance. Finally I ordered a pair of genuine stubs from the UK and managed to fit just one today (too much rain here atm!). The bearing is certainly a tighter fit on the journal. Whilst at it I replaced the bearings again (SKF) and inspected the hub itself for any damage - none to be found and the outer race is still a good interference fit, though again nothing measured. However I can still feel play on the wheel with the new stub, although it has reduced. The play on the other side is still of-course present and just as bad as it was before - which is quite bad. Only symptom's when driving is a slightly unpredictable brake pedal (again suggesting discs moving in relation to callipers pushing the pots in a bit), a light steering shimmy/vagueness if one wheel hits a hole or bump hard and some vibration at hwy speeds. Sorry for the long post, but any ideas folks?! sure I'm missing something trivial... Due to the above I'm convinced it's a problem in the hub/stub axle and not the swivels or a floating axle casing, but after today I'm a bit lost! Thanks.

I have done the same and it is a very easy task! Can provide more info if required but any auto electrician should be able to do it in a couple of hours. Otherwise its pretty simple to do yourself - the circuit diagram is available on-line.

Also, I have now done approx 10,000km since the instal and rebuild - and i can say that it really does work! I've just pulled a couple of hoses and found the hose from the standard cyclone filter a bit oily. It probably shouldn't be with only 10,000Km on a rebuilt engine but thats the way it is! The output hose from the ProVent is completely dry. Which is fantastic its working as intended. On a different note I did notice some oil leaking out of the turbo output pipe... Not very impressed and its definitely not coming from the crankcase! A quick twiddle of the compressor revealed considerable radial play in the turbo shaft! This was rebuilt with the engine... oh dear!

Ok Folks, here are some photos of my ProVent 200 install. I think I found a pretty neat place for it as it's nicely out of the way. Only downside is the long pipe across the engine bay. There are a couple of extra little brackets I made to hold the pipes and stop them flexing to much or rubbing against anything. It's close but all fits with no touching. The pipes are made from off the shelf items ( a few 90 degree bends, a couple of 45 degree bends a reducer and a few joiners). It is a bit fiddly setting up but the results are good. The drainpipe tee's into the drainpipe from the original cyclone filter then goes to the sum. I installed a check-valve to stop any oil going up the pipe, but this probably isn't really needed. Sorry the photos are so huge, I did 'downsize' them considerably...

I must say, that is a damn clean engine bay! bloody good job. As for the oil in the air intake system... I think the only way to do it properly is fit an extra oil catch thing. I finally settled for the Provent 200. It really is superb and drains the oil back into the sump so is maintenance free which is nice. But I understand after all that work you don't want more pipes! Perhaps the K&N thing might work... If it's cheap try it! I'll upload some photos of my installation when I can compress the image file size a bit!

Ok, a bit late I know, but I have finally got round to doing some tweaking. Sadly however I'm not too happy with the way its gone and would appreciate some advice! First I retarded the timing a little and left the pump alone. The engine was certainly quieter and revved up quicker - however no reduction in smoke or EGT (as expected). also a slight decrease in power. I did try retarding the injection timing further but just got white smoke so backed off. I then decided to go the other way and advanced the timing a tad. This had better results with smoke slightly down and EGT slightly down. But only very slightly. I then got a bit carried away and advanced it further! Now I thought I could notice more power on the highway but noise levels were up. Smoke still excessive (across the whole RPM range) and EGT high on hills. None of the above really cured my lack of mid-range power 1500-200 RPM. I then turned the base-line fuelling down (anticlockwise) by 3/4 a turn (in increments). Smoke and EGT now acceptable but power down! When I first drove the car like this I thought it was pretty good - seemed so on the highway. However on 'A' roads the power is certainly worse than before. I'm thinking this is to do with timing as I still get light black smoke throughout the RPM range so don't think fuel is being restricted. I didn't play with the diaphragm as I get plenty of smoke in the mid-range and simply adjusted the base-line fuelling such that I had a light mist of black smoke on full throttle. I still get black smoke throughout with this setting. Any ideas? I plan on putting the timing back to the stock setting and observing what happens.. Finally ... injector sealing. This could be the issue. I did change the washers after the obvious leaking photographed above. I did this before doing anything else - and though still smokey I had plenty of power. However I can now see the familiar trail of oil from No. 3 injector yet again! I'm just not 100% convinced its the injector or oil leaking from the rocker cover gasket... My old disco 200 never had issues with the injectors not sealing properly.. I will probably fit new washers yet again this week. Thanks, Jack

Thanks for taking the time to demonstrate the shortcomings of poor clutches Nige. Much appreciated and very interesting. Also, thanks to everybody else whose input has made me decide to import a LUK clutch. I'll be glad to know I'm going through all this effort for a part that should last some time! Unfortunately I still haven't had enough time to do much with the car as of late, fingers crossed she keeps running with the BB clutch fitted atm!

Not going too badly Paul, got a BritPart clutch in at the moment which is actually working for the time being, so at least I have a working vehicle which gives me time to sort out a proper solution. Thanks Ralph for the bearing number, that is the one. I had it filed somewhere... Oh wow, thanks Hybrid from hell - that will be very interesting, I look forward to seeing them. Also did you manage to confirm if your release bearing carrier/holder will work with the bearing part number above kindly supplied by Ralph? No rush really though, it'll be a couple of weeks before I order. On another slightly related note, I noticed dot 4 leaking down my brake pedal last night when I got home... I'm pretty sure this is a new development as I did watch the level and opened the cover on the pedal-box a few times during the clutch episode and found no leak. I'm going away this wkend but fortunately managed to source a TRW cylinder locally and fitted this evening. I'm of the mind TRW are still good, it cost 5* a birtpart equivalent! Changed the slave during my rebuild but left the master as it was only 3 years old... Jack

Thanks for the recommendations folks, Hybrid from hell; I'll get you that part number a bit later this eve so you can check to see if the skinny release bearing will fit your ss holder. Still a bit undecided about paddle/LUK clutch but either way I'll need to cobble together a parts order from the UK. Will update.

Thanks guys, Sorry for the late reply, haven't had much time this week. That is indeed a very good guide thanks very much for the link. I think I will do as snagger says and retard the timing slightly first before moving onto the pump. If/when it gets to the pump I will probably adjust the off-boost fuelling to start and go from there. The guide does mention the baseline fuelling adjustment on the rear face, albeit briefly at the end of the article. I need to double-check but the article suggests it's pretty easy to adjust off-boost fuelling, so much so I am tempted to just try that before the timing adjustment as it is quicker... I'll let you all know how it goes when I get about to making the changes.

Indeed Hybrid from Hell, Since this incident I did read that somewhere... When I bought it I did think I was getting a proper bit of kit. I do know the importance of it and try hard to source OEM spec parts. But, thought B&B were safe. Quite a shame to here about more and more of this, and sadly that is probably the problem. Just only 5000Km is ridiculous and I'd like to be sure i didn't f'up the fitting somehow! Well, I intend to replace the B&B pressure plate and britpart driven plate thats currently in there soon, don't ever want to be stranded like that again! I have managed to find a Valeo branded unit locally, but need to import the 'special' release bearing anyway so will probably import the whole lot. Another issue is with illegal fakes, especially where I am - even worse than the brand name being sold! So, yes, I'm interested in yours! Just had a look at your website - very good Buut, despite what your website says is a paddle clutch really that road friendly? I don't do any challenge stuff myself... One thing I would really like is a steel release bearing holder. Do you know if it will hold the 'skinny' release bearing I need? I can dig out the part number if required. Jack

Come to think of it actually; The driven plate would have got a hell of a lot of shock loading when it wouldn't release properly - starting in 1st etc. Also when changing gear with no clutch, I still depressed the pedal in some vain hope it would work... And sometimes it did (a bit) and it didn't re-engage smoothly at all upon releasing the pedal. At other times it just wouldn't work at all. I reckon that explains the final failure, to some degree at least. However, what caused it to intermittently not to release is a mystery. I imagine that is more controlled by the pressure plate, which upon inspection is fine. I am still using it on the vehicle now as it looked better than the new britpart pressure plate I pre-ordered.