Garage near Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire) for front axle seals/bearings

I’ve just driven 450+ miles south from Dundee to Aylesbury, moving house for a new job. A few days before the move, I discovered what I now understand is a common issue - a lovely mix of diff oil & CV grease leaking from the passenger side front wheel swivel. I couldn’t get it seen to in time before the move, but the car was still driving fine & I figured the only danger would be if the front diff ram completely dry. I had it topped up at a local garage (took 300ml) & asked them not to over-tighten the fill plug, so I could remove it & check the level myself halfway down & once I arrived. As far as I can tell, it’s still essentially full & there’s only a tiny drip on the driveway this morning.

I’m now trying to find a garage to fix the problem, but I’m not having much luck. I called a local Land Rover specialist (John Dennis) but they said they would struggle to get the parts & they wouldn’t fit parts that I provide myself.

Does anybody have any recommendations? Even if there is a local member who’d be willing to do the work, I’d pay parts & labour. My new job starts next week, so a potentially temperamental car is the last thing I need!

Photo taken before the move.

 

Too far south from me I'm afraid. There's a very good how to guide in the information section above and a novice should probably expect half a day per side with basic hand tools.

I toyed with the idea of doing it myself, but I'm actively trying not to acquire more tools right now. I actually got rid of a bunch of tools when I moved - things which I'd bought for one specific job, used literally once or twice & then just ended up storing for years. I've moved to a smaller flat, so space is at a premium.

I have a decent socket set, but assuming I could get away with using the emergency scissor jack from the boot I'd still need to buy axle stands, circlip pliers, the torx socket for the hub bolts, a ball joint splitter & a 1" imperial socket. Pretty much all of that I'd never use again, especially as I actually have a new car on factory order that will hopefully arrive before the end of the year.

Edit - I'd need a torque wrench as well, for putting the wheel back on.

I can't help with getting it fixed, but a FYI: The front diff is completely staionary when driving in 2wd, so requires no lubrication. Unless you are regularly using 4wd for long periods of time it's best to leave the oil level low until you get the leak sorted.

Also you don't need a lot of that stuff to do the job. You can leave the vacuum hub on and pull the driveshaft out with the whole hub assembly, so no need for the torx bit or circlip pliers. It's a little bit more awkward than ful dissasembly but it's perfectly possible. Ball joints are easily split with a hammer blow to the side of the bit they go through. The 1" socket thing is also a distraction as it's the outside diameter of the socket that matter, and that varies from brand to brand. There's a very good chance that you will have one that fits in a metric set. Or you can knock the inner races out with a punch/screwdriver/chisel etc. There's always a way!

My understanding is that the front diff & the front half shafts are always spinning with engine power, as 4WD is engaged at the vacuum hubs & not further back in the driveline?

This is the reason why you can't tow a Jimny with the front wheels elevated but the rear wheels on the ground, no? Because turning the rear wheels turns the front half shafts & you don't want those spinning at road speed when the wheels aren't turning, as heat builds up in the hubs?

That's incorrect. Drive is disengaged at both the hubs and the transfer case.
Towing a Jimny is a different issue. The gearbox is primarily lubricated by the rotation of the input shaft. When it's being towed in neutral the input shaft is staionary and the rest of the gearbox gets inadequate lubrication.

I have a couple of 1" sockets, both only go in a small amount, they get the bearing moving, but won't drive it out before they become stock. I need to take the grinder to one of them, but found a 'drift' works just as well.

This is the set I have
www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-PC12-Pin-Pun...ef=asc_df_B000LFVNNM

The Torx sockets aren't expensive either, but I understand if you don't want to buy more tools.

I have two torque wrenches, the biggest only goes up to 50lb-ft, at that it needs a good old pull so I tend not to bother, anything tighter and it goes in about as tight as I can manage. I only use my torque wrench for castings and cylinder heads.

Robin

wrote:

I’ve just driven 450+ miles south from Dundee to Aylesbury, moving house for a new job. A few days before the move, I discovered what I now understand is a common issue - a lovely mix of diff oil & CV grease leaking from the passenger side front wheel swivel. I couldn’t get it seen to in time before the move, but the car was still driving fine & I figured the only danger would be if the front diff ram completely dry. I had it topped up at a local garage (took 300ml) & asked them not to over-tighten the fill plug, so I could remove it & check the level myself halfway down & once I arrived. As far as I can tell, it’s still essentially full & there’s only a tiny drip on the driveway this morning.

I’m now trying to find a garage to fix the problem, but I’m not having much luck. I called a local Land Rover specialist (John Dennis) but they said they would struggle to get the parts & they wouldn’t fit parts that I provide myself.

Does anybody have any recommendations? Even if there is a local member who’d be willing to do the work, I’d pay parts & labour. My new job starts next week, so a potentially temperamental car is the last thing I need!

Would have thought pretty much any garage would do the work, doesn't need to be a specialist. No idea how many there are, but probably 20 or more places in Aylesbury itself.

There is also a Suzuki dealer in Leighton Buzzard who'd probably do it, but no idea what their labour rate would be, but might be worth giving them a shout.

Did you get sorted out?

I helped another member (Sir James Rusty) to do his Kingpin bearings and seals, he had been quoted £1,200 to do both sides, although he might have got some slighty better quotes.

I would have thought that your average local family run garage could easily do the job. Mine (in Newcastle) will even fit parts I supply if they are difficult to get hold of. Martin has the Kingpin bearings and seal kits for around £50 per side. It should only be a few hours labour for a garage to do the job.

Robin

Been a bit swamped with the new job, but it turns out that one of the perks is that there's a racing garage literally a few buildings down from us who will happily work on my Jimny if I can source the parts! I'm planning to just buy all the seals & bearings (<£100 total) so they can just replace the whole lot in one go - rather than ending up stuck with a car that can't be reassembled until parts come in.

The only complication they highlighted is that the chrome has been stripped off the CV, so it will instantly tear up a new swivel seal. How much of an issue would this actually be, if the leak of diff oil into the CV can be fixed? Can I get away with it, or am I realistically looking at replacing the CV as well?

Ah ha - a garage used to Landrovers.

The balls on a Jimny are not chromed, they are simply painted black. Its all perfectly normal. They can put some knifing filler in any pitting, smooth it off and paint it black if they really want to.

Landrovers have chromed balls and loss of chroming is an MOT issue for them.