I plan on spending most of tomorrow replacing the seals in the LHS ball, it looks fairly straight forward but if anyone has some helpful tips to pass along let me know . It happened yesterday I took the off ramp from the highway and when I hit the brakes the truck pulled hard to the right . When I got stopped there was fluid all over my rim and rotor and of course the sweet smell of burnt gear oil. I knew there was a slight leak and when I filled up the ball maybe the vent was plugged somewhat for the oil to be sprayed as well as it did .Looking forward to the job and also it there anything else I should do while I have it apart thanks for the help.

 

Use the 00 grease instead of oil. Not even the dealer uses oil anymore.

 

When you re-install the shaft,make sure you lube it up good (the shaft) before you slide it in, otherwise you will tear the new seal before you even get rolling.

That's all I've got to offer, pretty straightforward really.

 

Everything has gone reasonably well so far but i thought I had seen the end of those F--ing stupid 12 point headed bolts when i finished the exhaust manifold. one snapped off at the swival ball end that attaches to the axle ,it should not be to bad to remove but what is the tiny bearing just inside the axle stub ,the bearings look like small short pencil leads and I lost I am sure half of them. I will have to get a new one .I would be helpful to actually know the size of the bolt heads as well is this listed anywhere thanks .

 

The bearing is usually referred to as a stub axle bearing.

Now for the not good news: to replace the bearing, RAVE says you have to remove the thrust washer that is press fit on the end of the stub axle. To remove said thrust washer, it has to be basically broken off. RAVE says to drill a small hole in the side of it, then use a chisel to break thru it.

When I rebuilt the swivels on my '98, I ran into one them bearings that was toast. Instead of going thru all that to replace, I bought a good used whole stub axle from Will(roverguy) for like 20 or 25 bucks. cheaper and easier than replacing that bearing