Salisbury axle rebuild and diff swap

[ejparrott]

Right...seeing as I can't find the handbrake seal for the 88, I've already put a coat of paint on the lathe and I can't do anything with the engine this minute, I'll get on with the Salisbury instead! Much easier without it on a vehicle I must say, although the pinion nut did put up a fight - had to find the 3/4" socket set for that!

Mark the bearing caps so we know exactly which side and which way up they go...



Then remove, fit the spreader, only a gentle twist was required to get this one out, and gently pry the diff out, which I have previouisly checked is indeed 3.5:1



Revealing the pinion sitting nice and comfy in the bottom, and this one doesn't rattle around, nor was the outer cup loose in the casing...



Removing the pinion nut was a fight, penetrating oil and heat were used, then my 3/4" breaker bar and 3' of 50x50x3 box section too - went with quite a crack in the end. Special tool also in evidence, along with 2' of 3x2!



Collapsible spacer stayed behind this time, its scrap anyway, and from here I can bash out the seal and bearing the little end and give the case a good clean with old petrol - found that works a treat on old EP90, now I just need to find something to get the old oily petrol off my hands! This case also isn't red inside, no idea whether that means anything at all.



There we go, all looks in great nick to be fair, although the pinion was a little notchy so opting to replace the bearings was a good call - I didn't feel it when it was all build up.



I'm going to fit the defender diff, I havent got another pinion bearing and I need to get on with this in any case, so I might as well, so next up will be to remove the diff bearings to extract the shims for this case, then start building back up again, still haven't check my torque wrench, but I know there's a few around I can borrow.

[ejparrott]

I'm just gearing up to do the spacer, just wanted to check my thinking.

The spec in the book is for 34.5 to 46 Kgf cm for new bearings, Kilograms of force applied per centimetre. I haven't got a torque bar, although I need to get one for doing the timing belt properly, so I'll use my spring balance in one of the prop bolt holes in the drive flange.

Assuming a radius of 2cm for the prop bolts, (bit bigger I know) does that therefore mean I need to apply 17.25 to 23 Kgf?

[mmgemini]

IIRC wnen I last did one a spring balance was used. Certainly we used a spring balance at Fords school

[ejparrott]

did a quick google convert and 10 Kgf cm is 100 Kgf mm or 0.1Kgf m, so I think I'm on the right track!

[Snagger]

Keep the existing pinion shims and the collapsible spacer - they are set to the diff casing, not the pinion.

[ejparrott]

I've kept and refitted the V8 casing shims back in to the same place they came out of, just on the 110 diff instead of the V8 diff. Still got the spacer but I didn't mark it before taking the nut off, planned on using a new one.

[ejparrott]

More special tools for you Matt, best put your bib on....

I've painted the casing now, thought I might as well, and I've fitted the bearings to the diff and the casing as appropraite. I removed the bearings and shims from the V8 diff, and put the shims on the 110 diff exactly as they came off so crown-wheels side on the crown-wheel side etc. I'm glad in a way I did decide to do a rebuild rather than chucking it under and hoping for the best, the pinion bearing had just started rumbling. Couldn't feel it with the diff in, but I checked it with it out and you culd just feel it was starting to go.

So, special tool 18G1122...



Insert in to case, with the original V8 pinion shims in the same place they came out of and the new inner pinion bearing outer cup...



Assemble tool and wind until tight, then do the same for the other end, although looking at it you could do both at the same time





Jobs a good un. Couldn't get a speedi sleeve for the drive flange so I've re machined the seal land, fitted a stainless sleeve, then re machined that back to size. The next job is to set the pinion preload and collapse the crush tube, then drop the diff back in, check the mesh and then it's ready for fitting....he says...just waiting on new bolts to fit the stub axles to the casing, and new drive flange bolts.....suppose I should really go and start spraying the U bolt nuts and the shocker nuts too.....

[ejparrott]

Started work on the rebuild this morning but haven't got as far as I'd hoped.

So, to reassemble then. First up is to put the crush tube on the pinion. Now the book says flared end outwards. Mine are Bearmach, and I can't say either end is particuarly 'flared'. The old one is stood next to it....



The book then say's to insert the pinions shaft, fit the other bits and then knock the seal in, but how do you stop the pinion falling out again while you knock in the seal? So I didn't, I've fitted the outer bearing inner, well oiled, into the outer cup, followed by the slinger, then the gasket, again well oiled, and then knocked in the seal...





Just some reference photo's of the markings on the pinion so I don't forget...











With the seal fitted we can fit the pinion shaft into the hole, careful line up the bearing as it goes through, and the slinger, then slide on the flange, with it's shiny new stainless steel seal sleeve...





Fit the washer, fit the nut, and then we're on to doing it up tight. But I've got to leave it there and sort out dinner, tea, and getting off to work, so hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be able to get the pre-load set, get the diff in and get the cover on ready for fitting on Saturday.

[ejparrott]

Found a few more minutes before going to work so started tightening up. I'm at the breaking point of the 1/2" breaker bar an there's still free-play on the shaft. I think it's just the crush tube coming in to play, the new one is about 3mm longer than the old. Might just pop it out again in the morning to check, just in case. We're not even up to the bearings yet. I did have to use the 3/4" bar and a length of tube to get it off I know....

[pat_pending]

You have to put a considerable ammount of torque into it before the crush tube "gives".

Once it's started go carefully, it's easy to overtighten whilst hanging on a bar.

[ejparrott]

I'm sure that's what it is, and not something amiss, but I might just whip it out and check, can't hurt at the moment

[ejparrott]

It was the crush tube coming in to play. I took it out again this morning, removed the crush tube, built it back up and got to the bearings no problems. Re-fit crush tube and then break out the 3/4" breaker bar and 3 feet of tube! Got it up to about the right point now. Surprising how tight it is to turn by hand. Checked it with the spring balance and get 10.5Kg in one of the prop bolt holes, which is on a radius of 4cm good as. I think that works out right, but it's giving me a headache trying to prove the maths!

[discomikey]

well, if the figure is given in torque, it should be fairly simple.

NM is just newtons/meter. convert 10.5kg into newtons, and then divide by the distance (decimal of a metre)

if your figure is in lbft, just use the newton meter calculation and then convert at the end

kg into newtons is 10.5 x 9.81 IIRC

[ejparrott]

Otherwise known as 103N, so 10.5Kg at 0.04M, 2575...nah...times the distance as a decimal would give you 4.12Nm, which is 42Kgf cm. That I can believe....

[discomikey]

i may not be spot on haha, but you got there regardless haha, ive not done any calcs like that for over 6 months and i have never been the best at remembering the exact equasions (yet i can remember numberplates absolutely no worries, and also song lyrics. talk about useless talent!

[ejparrott]

Not to worry...between us we got there!

Its surprising when you're not used to it how tight that actually is, I mean you get a rover diff for a rover axle and spin it fairly easily, this you really have to think about!

[ejparrott]

Well the good news is after much sweating on the hottest day of the year so far, The 109 has a shiny new axle case.

It's not quite right though, the backlash on the crown-wheel is a little over top limit of LR's figures, and there was very little stretch required to drop it in the case. I do at least know that it's got new bearings in and all is well there, and also I know the crush tube is good and the pre-load on those bearings is just right. I suppose what I've got is a 'well used' axle just with new bearings. It will have to do for the moment, we've booked to have the front garden done next week so she has to be moved, and also the MoT is almost up, so she needs to go for that. I'll keep an eye on it for a while and see what happens.

The old case isn't cracked, what we though might be a crack turns out to have been just a spot on the casting where the sand had moved in the mould when it was cast, so that's a relieve. The old bearing had spun though and it's chewed the hole. To what degree I'm not yet certain, but I will investigate. I have the means to machine it out, drop in a sleeve, machine to size, make it good again, it's just whether I want to.

Next time, hopefully I'll not be in a rush, I'll be better prepared, I've now got a stock of shims although I'll probably order some more in to be save. All I need to do is figure out how to get the bearings off the diff without killing them, so that I can do the shimming on that as per the book, rather than just using the old shims in the same place they came out of. It's tempting to get another case and do it all again with the Stage 1 diff, then I'll have an axle all built up ready to go, just in case. I'll have a rest for a while first though, got things to do in the workshop, and I need to sort out other things on The 109 like rear wiper and a spare wheel carrier.

[Snagger]

Well done, Ed. Not so scary after all, eh? It sounds like you could do with a little more shimming on the left side of the diff carrier - the diff should have a tiny amount of resistance and the spreader should be working to get the thing in. If the mesh is out, you may have to transfer a shim from the right side to the left, too. Since you've gone to so much trouble already and done such a good job, I think you should make that one last effort to make sure it's spot on, for peace of mind if nothing else.

[mmgemini]

Well done.

[ejparrott]

I might well do it, but it needs to be mobile at the moment so it'll have to wait. I'm going to look at the old casing and see what the damage is, and I might well get another casing and build it up from scratch properly....I'll wait and see for now.

[ejparrott]

It looks like all might be well.... Took her out for a drive this morning, just down the road and back to start with, then a little bit more, then a little more, little bit more.... All four brake drums are warm which is good...I think...seems to be braking very well in any case. Hubs are nice and cool, so's the diff both on the input side and in the areas of the diff bearings themselves. We seem to be mobile again! Re doing it to get it bob on may not be a bad idea, and isn't yet rules out completely. I want to fit her with disc brakes all round, as previously mentioned, first I need to talk to the insurance company, if they won't cover it there's no point me doing it as far as I'm concerned, I don't want to change insurance. If I do then that might be a good time to do it, it'll be stripped almost all the way down anyway, so I can pop it right out again, put it back on the stands, and off we go again. Next time round I'll know what I'm doing!

Oh, and a good example of how carp Britpart is.....The LT77's been in all of what, 3 months tops? In that time she's covered maybe 10 miles with the diff going bang... Brand new Britpart gaiter fitted one of the last jobs, already it's split wide open around the HiLo lever...and it's not even been anywhere.....

[Bowie69]

HiLo gaiters are just useless, all of them I have replaced have split within a few miles, same goes for the handbrake, but there aren't any decent quality ones out there any more.

[ejparrott]

I know leather ones exist......I might go for a bit of bling one day.....