So the swivels are off and cleaned up, ready to be reinstalled. In general, it went a LOT faster than I thought it would.

got into the first one, almost no oil or grease, but a lot of mud. Seriously. Some pics:




the swivel on this side has pits in the chrome: A little rough, but is this into replacement territory?


and also no needles left in the stub axle bearing. Query: do I really need to remove the thrust washer to replace that bearing? RAVE makes it sound like a royal PIA.


The CV that was in the mud side looks pretty good, but it had a fine coating of rust on the ***** and cage:


finally, my biggest problem -

yes, that's correct folks; I actually beat the rotor ring off of the mounting portion trying to separate it from the hub. *sigh*. And once I get it off, I still have to drill out a broken drive member bolt. It is soaking overnight in PB'laster.

Any suggestions, comments and opinions are appreciated.

-geek

 

For the pitting in the swivel ball, I filled with epoxy resin, let dry and smooth with very fine emery cloth.

Yes, the needle bearing replacement requires the thrust washer removal.

Yes it is a PITA, you have to make a small cut, or drill series of small holes in the side of the thrust washer, and basically chissel and peal it off.

To much work for me, I called roverguy.com, and bought a used stub axle with the seal, bearings and thrust washer on it.

I had 1 rotor of the 4 I could not seperate, so I took it to a shop and had them use a press on it

I found the dissasembly went quick, but cleaning everything prior to re-assembly took as long, if not longer

 

my has the same pitting..what kind of epoxy resin and harder did you use?

 

I just used off-the-shelf stuff that comes in the tubes with a plunger. If you readthe package, some are semi-flexible, some are not. I used the hardest,non-flexible I could find.
Worked ok soo far

 

The best you can use is JB Weld. Remember to clean very well the pits because you have to get a very clean surface to get a good quality job. I did one of my swivel ***** three years ago and it is still fine.

Check this article:

http://www.lrfaq.org/Series/Drivetrain.SwivelBalls.html

Good luck!!

 

Looks like time for a new set of rotors as well. Did you try PB Blaster for a few days in advance of doing the work?

 

I did, but it didn't help. Its crazy but there are still four peices of rotor stuck fast to the hub. It couldn't be welded better. Then I broke the extractor in the drive member bolt I was drilling out cause I was rushing to beat a storm. Dang.

It started raining on me and i felt like this:


so I scored a new hub from Car Cannibal for $50, and I scored a rooty toot black tungsten swivel ball off ebay for $35.

I'm gonna take pics and do a write up as I put it back together this weekend, if the weather holds.

 

A friend of mine gave me a trick once to break loose stuck rotors; Heat the pieces until they are red hot and then throw cold water to cool. The thermal shock is supposed to break the rotor loose. But honestly I would use this trick only in last resort.

 

Hate to sound like dad here, but watch the language. This isn't d-web..

Sounds like you have been lead down the right path in your posts..

 

Yes, this works but I would not recommend to use this process inn some sensitives pieces that need to have some structural strenght and/or need to keep a perfect geometry. Remember that when you throw cold water to an overheated engine you can bend the heads (change the geometry of the piece). The same will happen to a red-hot piece.

If you know the way that the samurai swords are made... before tempering, the sword is basically a rod made from two different types or steel. A harder one in the surface and a softer one inside the rod. Then, the sword is heated to a certain temperature and then are introduced in the water. The cooling process gives you as result a slightly curved sword. Another interesting technique they do during the fabrication of the sword is that before tempering it, they cover the sword with some kind of "clay paint", leaving naked the cutting edge of the sword. The clay will prevent the rest of the sword to cool too fast and the cutting edge will cool very fast, giving a very hard steel that is needed in that part.


In the case of the swivel ball, once the metal gets in contact with water, it start cooling. If the iron is thick, then the iron in the surface will cool faster than the iron inside the piece. The tempering process will basically give you as a result a piece made of "several types of iron". The iron in the surface will be harder than the one inside the piece.