changing front swivel seals

[86MUD]

Hi all..

Ever since I had my front Maxi axles and locker installed, my swivels have been leaking. I guess the 20 year old seals are stuffed.

is there any trick to it? My plan is to:

remove brake caliper
undo the 6 bolts holding the swivel to the axle housing
withdraw the entire hub/axle as one piece
replace seal
replace hub/axle back into axle housing.

Cheers
Andrew

[DL]

Hi 86 MUD,

You should consider replacing upper and lower swivel pin bearings at the same time.
If they are shot (20 years old too?) then new seals will not keep oil in for long.
Also doesn't hurt to replace the axle seals that are in the flange on the diff housing holding the swivel ball at the same time.

(And now wait for the chat about diff oil lubing wheel bearings to begin!)

cheers, DL

[86MUD]

yep...I think I will replace as much as I can while I am there.

And yes, I believe I now have fluid filled bearings....

I also notice that the bolts holding the swivel hosung to the axle housing have weird heads, not just a normal hex. Does anyone know where I can get a spanner for these? Snap on??

Cheers

Andrew

[Lucus]

The bolts are 12 point bolts. Any normal double hex (or 12 point) socket or spanner should fit..

[Reddo]

If you want the bearings to last, leave out the axle seals and replace the hub seals with double lipped ones OEM early Rover Cortico brand -as recommended by maxi Drive - they have a fact sheet on this issue. Better to have oil weeping out than water leaking in I reckon