Upgrading early 90 axles

[Snagger]

1 hour ago, muzaz said:

Spot on, Bowie.

Took both swivel housings apart. Found both of them bone dry and if they were once serviced they had oil not grease. The driver side was good, no wear or play in the cv joint, took the cage and balls apart - no significant wear marks. Swivel ball is good with no pitting at all.

 

The passenger side is another story! The cv joint disintegrated inside the hub. Pieces of the cage and balls got wedged between the swivel housing and swivel ball, scoring the ball and probably the reason why the steering got stuck. It also has some severe pitting on the chrome. The top railko bearing and pin is rusted and worn, the bottom bearing damaged. Half shafts are both good.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I'm not sure if I'd be better off finding a good used axle rather than repairing it as the parts cost is not going to be cheap!

 

How do you know a used axle is good until you strip it?  How likely is it to be much good at the age they now are?  Far better to rebuild the known item.

That CV failure was pretty catastrophic.  It could have caused a lot more harm, so you may have been lucky.  Do you think the oil had leaked out, or had been forgotten to be added outright?  Someone I know over here had a new CV explode when the dealer forgot to add the grease after rebuilding the swivel.

[muzaz]

Ye, quite nasty. I suspect it had been negected for a long time. I bought the landie last November from a retired farmer who's owned it for 30 years. He used it daily but for very short distances, it's only got 120k miles. My guess is it's never had its swivel housings serviced.

I made the mistake of delaying a general service as I planned to swap the engine.

Thinking about it I'll follow your advice and stick to it.