Drilling the swivels

[walker]

I am taking my swivel hubs into LRA this week to get them changed to suit the lift.

Just wondering, what do they actually do and where does the rotation come from?

[C.A.Moseley]

You can see it on thier site. They just elongate the holes which mount it to the diff housing to allow it to rotate a few degres. Therfore you are only changing the angle of your steering axis to the diff, not rotating the location of whole diff to the suspension with caster bushes , it works if your a super cheap auto man and your best tool is a big shifter.

[Tim D]

The way I did mine was:get a wheel alignment check done first to see exactly what castor you have,then strip the swivels bare.next mark directly above the top hole(can use a cold chisel).I made a copy tool(for lack of a better word)of the hole pattern(pcd) out of 10mm steel which located on the spigot of the swivel,then clamp that to the swivel with the holes lined up.At that point mark above the top hole again on the copy tool.Now weld up the holes in the swivels and grind back flush,refit the copy tool at the required angle and clamp in place.In my case i offset the marks by 4mm to achieve 3 degrees.Now you can redrill the swivels,it may be quite hard to drill after welding.Finish by reassembling the front end.Hope this helps anyone who may want to do the job themselves.The other way is to just slot the holes with a milling machine,or you could weld the threaded holes in the axle casing and redrill/tap new holes/threads at the required angle(I wouldn't want to try tapping the holes after welding).

[walker]

Ok, now I am confused. As far as I was told, getting the swivels redrilled was a much better and more professional option the using castor correction bushes. I was also told that doing this (swivels) would also rotate the diff.

Love to hear some more opinions. I am doing it to try to improve the steering and front end handling.

[460cixy]

if its only handleing issues you have from lack of caster from big lift then redrilled swivels with fix that. but if you have vibration problems ect from your lift it wont fix that. you will need to rotate the whole houseing to cure that. as for caster bushes the biggest wast of time and money ever

[6.5 rangie]

Doesn't rotate the diff, just the steering, works well, pinion angle isn't that great anyway. Just get em done.
If your installing them yourself then you need to pin them in place, hardest part is marking the holes that need to be drilled and tapped in the housing. Best way to do it is get a 10mm diameter bolt, cut it down and grind it into a point and somehow hit it with a hammer. not that hard really.

[walker]

Ok, thanks, that's what I wanted to hear. Don't have the time at the moment to do it myself so am getting LRA to do it.

thanks

[landy_man]

yeah.. I fitted mine myself and it was a HUGE PITA...
I used a bolt with some white grease on the tip to mark where to drill..

[DL]

Hi guys,

I'm going to have go down this path, with 100 mm front bumpstop clearance. Sick of the twitchy feel on the highway. (probably have negative caster) Will be rotating swivel balls and will weld up one of the holes on each and drill fresh hole to diff flange to provide non slip. I doubt if the housings would rotate on the diff housing with slotted holes, but for 30 mins work, take the doubt out of the equation.

Caster bushes are ok for correcting caster (and trail, which is what gives the straight line feel), but they turn the whole diff in a way that increases the angle that the front uni joint on the front drive shaft has to operate at. Might work for some, not for me.

cheers, DL

[shakes]

offset castor bushes also bind and flog out ALOT quicker than standards

Simon

[mickrangie]

I did mine myself... 2 hour job
They come with instructions and if u read them properly (land_man) u shouldnt have a problem.... just make sure u mark yr left and right... i used a punch so u and LRA know which side is which. and put the swivel ring on before you put the swivels back togeather (i know they are the saem but like all things land rover u never know)

Mick

[landy_man]

I did mine myself... 2 hour job
They come with instructions and if u read them properly (land_man) u shouldnt have a problem.... just make sure u mark yr left and right... i used a punch so u and LRA know which side is which. and put the swivel ring on before you put the swivels back togeather (i know they are the saem but like all things land rover u never know)

Mick

dont know why he referenced to me.. I had a problem with the machining work.. not the instructions..
Anyway.. its a great mod and works really well.. gave me "some" sort of feeling back in the steering..well as much as you can with simex..

[mickrangie]

I member u put them in upside down.......

and like all things hand made u will have slight differences

[landy_man]

nah i never put em in upside down..
fark if i had.. i reckon i would have thrown them out.. and would have had to redrill all the holes..

we did install 1 upside down once .. when we fitted the brake pad backwards

[mickrangie]

nah i never put em in upside down..
fark if i had.. i reckon i would have thrown them out.. and would have had to redrill all the holes..

we did install 1 upside down once .. when we fitted the brake pad backwards

dont we me i was workingo n my own car....

the only problem i had was nick not doing my wheel nuts up!!!!

[landy_man]

lolololololol...