The hub is in! No more grinding. Now another couple of questions. What size are out lug nuts? The sockets we had didn't seem to fit right and the tool in the trunk next to the jack did not fit on them either. And it looks like I am going to need brake pads here soon, what are your recommendations as far as brands?

 

Congrats!

Lug nuts are 22mm but most techs I know out here use a 3/4" socket. I used both for a while before deciding to stick with a 3/4". Sometimes water gets in under the chrome caps and swells them up. 22mm socket becomes useless at that point.

As for brake pads textar is what I put in, work great. I believe this is what LR uses anyway.

 

a 3/4 inch socket is 19.05 mm.

If you need an imperial socket for 22mm (0.866") then use 7/8" (0.875") it will be sloppy, but will work.

The lug nuts definitely have a chrome cap and many factors make them swell up or become misshapen such as water freezing inside, corrosion build up, or repeated use of an impact gun. After cutting off the chrome caps to reveal a 13/16" (21mm) steel nut with a hole in the center that was rather ugly; I could have opted to clean and paint them but then the paint comes off every time you use a socket. Other options include finding some sort of removable cover to dress them up, but who has time for that?? haha.

I found that mine were hard to deal with (even with the larger 7/8" socket) and decided to spend the money on new lug nuts to avoid the frustration. New lug nuts are not cheap either; at $10.50 each, I replaced all 20 at a cost of well over $200CAD from the nearest LR dealer. I kept half of the old ones as spares. This will come in handy for when I fab up a rear bumper tire carrier (with a double jerry can holder, pic shows one, but I will mount two).

Also, to prolong the life of the new nuts, the old nuts could be used in the winter months to keep the corrosion to a minimum, but that is not very practical.

 

P.S.

As for brake pads, you get what you pay for. Consider your needs. Are you on steep terrain, off road, packing a large payload, or towing a heavy trailer? I went middle ground on mine as the local parts store had three choices.

Before you order up the parts for a brake replacement, consider the following:

* Brake pad wear sensor (one on front left and one on rear right). Sometimes these break. They are kinda flimsy pieces of crap plastic and wires. I replaced the rear and the light stayed on, turned out the wires on the front were basically (but not completely) broken, the new one is on order.
* ABS/wheel speed sensor. I have a post somewhere that refers to the replacement of these sensors. Mine were corroded so badly that the only way to remove them was to break them off and carefully drill out the remaining bits. Then clean up the bores and install the new sensors. Time consuming, but it worked out just fine.
* TORQUE YOUR HARDWARE!! IF YOU DON'T OWN OR HAVE ACCESS TO A TORQUE WRENCH, MAKE IT HAPPEN. DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. (Yes this is a picture of my own LR3 up a mountain with the damn caliper bolt MISSING. This is what happens when you get distracted mid job and don't double check. I ended up up swapping the upper bolt to the lower hole and limping home like a beaten dog. The damage was mostly to my pride, but the inside of the wheel has a nice scar to remind me that I own a torque wrench for a reason.) Also, an impact gun is not a torque wrench, the video showed very little of the 'actual' work being done; but on every bolt, the impact gun was rattled up with no sign of a torque wrench. This is fine if you like drilling, easy outs and re-tapping holes when bolts break, or you break the heads off the next time they are removed. Real mechanics use tools. Beg, borrow or buy. Sorry, but this is a pet-peeve, especially when the tire shop strips the lug bolt hole in the rotor of a VW, all due to laziness.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah we ended up using a 7/8 deep well on the lug nuts and even that was tight on a couple. Looks like it might be time to source some new ones. As fun as it is getting a vehicle up to participate with my standards, it seems like this is going to get expensive quickly.... might have to start working overtime just to buy parts.....

 

Ah indeed. But you will look cool buying them though. Welcome