A place for more technical discussions. Please make sure you post in the correct section on the site, this way it keeps the site tidy AND ensures you get a more relevant answer.
I’m sick of changing King pin & wheel bearings in my Jimny.
The other day I had an idea. The bearings general fail as a result of ingress of water / mud into the axle housing probably through the swivel seal.
Since I have long changed to manual hubs, my idea was to introduce a positive pressure down the 4 redundant pipes for the vacuum hubs thus preventing the water getting in.
At first I thought about tapping into the exhaust manifold but I’ve since gone off this idea due to corrosive nature of exhaust fumes.
So I’m currently thinking about a small pump such as windscreen washer pump or if this is not man enough a small compressor. This could be operated by a switch on the dash before entering water. Due to time constraints I probably never get around to trying this but what do you guys think?
I read an article in Total Off road about a chap with a Series LR who did not want to lose his drum brakes for some stupid reason but built it into a challenge truck, so was going through muddy water alot. He drilled his drum back plates and screwed fittings in for compressed air connected to a compressor and turned it on when wading.
It worked well apparently.
So it's worth a try and is something I've considered since reading that article, however, I am not happy with the other effects of muddy water on my Jimjam and would like it to last the test of time, so I've just stopped driving through crap!
Kirkynut
Sent from my HTC, using my fingers!
The underdog often starts the fight, and occasionally the upper dog deserves to win - Edgar Watson Howe.
Sounds a fair idea. I've been wondering if it might be possible to use rubber TWO swivel seals under the metal ring per side! Crazy or might it be practicle??
