06:00 and a balmy 30C on the stoop. It's going to be a few degrees more in the workshop. Forecast is for 39C. My old bones will not cope with axle work in that. Today will have to be admin. Chasing people to do what should have been done long ago. DUNLOP SA first on the list. E-mailed them weeks ago trying to arrange export deal on 30-50 tyres. NO RESPONSE. Couple of lawyers... nuff said. The 3 suppliers I sent a detailed parts list to asking for a quote - weeks ago...
Posting the rear axle pics and writing it up.
Reassemble speedo and gauge cluster. Because I am concerned about future rust/dust in there, Rudi recommended I reassemble in air conditioned place with dry air. Problem is, the only two such places close by are the pub and the beer cooler in the bottle store... that is not going to work for me as my fondness of beer will not allow work in such circumstances. Humidity today is only 27% so that will have to do for dry air.
The axle came apart easily. I followed the steps in the Haynes manual I have.
THE PIECES.
As reported earlier, the right rear had no brake components other than a lonely rusted and empty wheel cylinder carcass. This despite the vehicle having a fresh roadworthy certificate at the time of buying.
The brake drums measured 299mm diam. May not exceed 297mm, so those can go for recycle. The two brake shoes from the left seem to be new - lots of material left and the re liner's paper sticker still on one. Place one side as possibly re-useable.
Return springs and retaining clips/springs rusted to hell - toss.
Wheel cylinders set aside for later inspection.
Drain axle oil by removing filler plug and turning axle on its back... Why not just remove the drain plug? Dunno. That's the way I did it. It's the wrong way. (See next para.) About a litre of beige smelly oil and a bit of water drains out.
Remove cover. Remaining half litre of oil gushes out all over my foot and the floor... No pieces of metal, swarf, or components fall out. This is good news, no?
Follow Haynes instructions, remove pinion shaft. The spacer, pinion gears and other goodies I was preparing to disassemble carefully according to the instructions miraculously self-disassembled and landed in the muck on the floor. Haynes says: "Installation is the reverse of the removal procedure..." Can't wait to see how those bits re assemble themselves!
The rhd axle lock ring fell off into the bottom of the housing while I was turning the shaft looking for it. Nice one. I was expecting a fight with those.
Pulled the rhd axle out. Hmmm. To my untrained eye this looked a bit dicey. Set aside for cleaning and inspection.
Pulled lhd shaft. As it came out there was some more spontaneous disassembly which startled me somewhat. Turned out to be a couple of rollers from the wheel bearing making a bid for freedom. Guess that's one bearing that will have to be replaced. Shaft looks about the same as the other.
AXLE END.
Started clean up with copious amounts of petrol old paint brushes and rags. I know this is against all safety legislation elsewhere in the world, against good sense, dangerous and all those things. But that's the way we do it in Africa. In my defence I used un-leaded.
Pack the cleaned parts out on the grimy floor. (I learned this skill as a child when I had to display my toys next to the Xmas tree to show Santa I had looked after them properly during the past year... Just thinking about it, that was OK with Dinkies, Corgi, Matchbox, and Meccano toys, but what do the little buggers do these days with Chinese made that break out the packaging? How do you explain that to Santa? Has he become more lenient to allow for poor workmanship and materials?)
But I digress. It's the heat does it to me.
Check right shaft. Another spontaneous disassembly. A rusty plate like thing detaches itself. This appears to have been held in place by the wheel studs, which it appears did not hold it tight resulting in the holes wearing out. I think this is what Haynes refers to as a "brake drum oil deflector. Judging by the amount of oil it appears to have had to deflect it was a very hard working part in its day.
The bearing and seal surfaces are rough... grooves worn in by the seal. I don't know enough to judge whether or not this can be easily fixed or just ignored and a new seal and bearing fitted.
(Informed opinion please.) How bad is this.
RHD REAR SHAFT. BEARING AND SEAL SURFACE.
The splines on both ends look OK to the untrained...
SPLINES.
THE TWO BEARING ENDS.
As can be seen from the above, the other shaft's oil deflector (if that's what it is) is still firmly rusted in place. According to Haynes, if I read their drawing right there's a gasket in there somewhere as well. Why?
My enthusiasm and happiness was by now somewhat tempered by the reality of what was being revealed.
All new brake components required.
New bearings and seals.
Two new "oil deflectors" and gaskets.
All new wheel studs
All new lug nuts.
Maybe two new shafts.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
At that point the morning was gone and I decided to regroup around a beer and a nap. Temp had hit 40C.
One thing still puzzles me. Haynes: "To remove the inner race, grind a groove, then use a hammer and chisel to remove it from the axle shaft." Mine ain't got that. Where'd they go to?
