I must get these things sorted out I'm just a lazy pig

Dear All, 

Recently during my mooching I see that my front nearside swivel seal has gone and brown schmoo is oozing out. 

I've watched several videos online and briefed myself on the fitting of replacement seals but since mine has the death wobble (not under braking only when at 'speed') I figure while I'm doing that it would be worthwhile doing the kingpins and fitting some shims.

As one man should I budget two days for this job if I were to do the shims and kingpins and hub seals? The kingpins are an unknown quantity but since I've been rattling around Northumberland for the last year or so and it gets a wobble on from 54mph up to anything higher (although to be fair I've seen much worse on other examples) I will assume these will need to be replaced as or even one of those I 'might as well' jobs?

There's no real bearing play that I can assess with it on stands but again no idea what condition things are in especially if I've got a leaky seal.

I'd like if possible to support our cause and buy all the bits from the BigJimny store. 

I've also been waving at any Jimny I can see in Northumberland recently I hope I caught someone! I'm around the Morpeth area.



 

Last weekend doing both sides on my daughters motor took about 5 hrs ...ABS sensor bolt snapped ....but drilled out OK'!,
This weekend got another to do on another one ( not had this one long so it is an unknown quantity ) but doing it over a bank holiday just in case!
Check you can get the filler plug off the diff first .
Should be 2-3 hrs with a cup of tea ....on early model without ABS. ...WITH ABSi in the lap of the gods ...to paraphrase Baz Loman ..."coper-grease"

Thanks Fossie that's less time than I thought it would take, mine does have ABS but the hardware is in pretty good condition (they do still look a lot like bolts and not coach bolts).

Oh I forgot about the diff plug thanks mate I'll check that out!

Because of the amount of off road work I do I get to change my kingpin bearings quite frequently so I'm practiced with the process also all my hardware doesn't have long enough between intervals to corrode in place. So therefore I need about an hour a side. If I weren't familiar and could expect corrosion of hardware then I'd budget a day for both sides.

Lambert.

As a matter of interest, do you change your bearings because they are worn out or have suffered corrosion due to water ingress? Also, how many miles between changes?
Cheers.

Roger

I did my Kingpin bearings, large knuckle seal and shaft seal on my 2011 Jimny in March. The driver's side had play on it, the passenger side didn't so I ordered a kit from Martin and did the driver's side.

Everything was siezed, it took a day to strip everything off (Sat), then clean everything up (Sunday morning) and Sunday afternoon to put it all back together. Tip, get new knuckle seal bolts, mine were gunged up and not easy to get out, they took 30 minutes to clean.

Every bolt was in very tight, the Kingpin bolts were especially tight and need a long bar on the socket wrench. The split pins on the steering arms needed drilling out as did the ABS bolt, but that drilled out easily and replaced with a stainless steel bolt I had in the workshop.

The lower Kingpin was siezed in place, that took a blow lamp, a large hammer and around 45 minutes to get it out.

Another tip, remove the steering rods, before attempting to remove the seal bolts and Kingpin bolts, you can swing the wheel around to get access.

The Kingpins were okay, the bearings, especially the bottom had rusted, the knuckle seal was okay, but I had bought a new one, so replaced it.

The circlip on the end of the shaft is fiddly to do, it helps if you have a good pair of circlip pliers and a spare pair of hands.

The finished result was great, wobble much reduced, but not gone so I ordered a new set for the otherside and did the passenger side in one day a couple of weeks later.

I wouldn't say I was a slow mechanic or super fast, I estimated a day to do it first time and if a few bolts had come out first time I might have done it in a day.

In my opinion if you are doing both sides, first time it is going to take all weekend. As for fitting shims, that is probably going to add another few hours. I don't want to put you off doing the job, but it is the same first time you do any job, it just takes a lot longer than you think.

I am just down the road from you in Northumberland, but in the Tyne Valley, close to Newcastle.

Robin