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

wrote:

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 usually get about 18 months from a side and I'm doing about a thousand miles a month. That said the last one only did 12 months before letting the grease out. The bearing itself wasn't awful but the outer race was cracked causing undue movement. Normally the bottom bearing is rotten. This is all a function of the front axle case being replaced with one of unknown age and provenance some years ago as a result of badly executed accident repairs. The chalice on both sides are exceptionally pitted and now it seems that the seat of the bottom driver side is wollowed out.I am currently staring down the barrel of a new new axle case when the next set of bearings dies. They're only about 900 quid give or take but it will mean perfect chalice surfaces and hopefully at least a few years kingpin bearing free.

The following is based on experiences with my LC 70 series.
The bearing preload is governed by selected shims and a figure between 5.5 - 9.9 lbs is given.
My Suzuki manual does not list a preload.
The LC kingpin bearings are listed as heavy duty by bearing suppliers.
Maybe your problematic splitting is due to the use of normal load bearings.
Are heavy duty versions available? If someone has the bearing dimensions I can check them out.
I repaired the pitted swivels with automotive filler and a few coats of spray paint and I was surprised as to how long the repair lasted.
The top of the steering knuckle was fitted with a tapered plug witch gave access to the central area, normally partially filled with grease. I would at yearly intervals remove the plug and squeeze in a dollop of EP oil. The resulting mixture would ooze out via the knuckle outer seals and I would wipe it off prior to the MoT. It kept the water out and the leaking oil helped to protect the painted surfaces.

A point mentioned in the Suzuki manual is the need to watch for deterioration in the main grease seal as the dreaded shakes will appear.

Roger

Pre load on Jimny kingpin bearings is around 3.5 Newton's which is set using a spring balance in the track rod hole. I use BigJimny bearings as they are factory specs. My issue with the outer race cracking is because the seat is oval through wear over however many billion miles the axle case has actually done. While I can't quite push the race in by hand it doesn't require much force and is currently secured with some massively expensive loctite bearing adhesive. It is on borrowed time and will be replaced properly as it should have been in the first instance years ago.

 I feel I must upgrade my estimation on time due to today's experience.  Not had this jimny long and when we collected it the MOT pass stated that the swivel seals had been done on the nearside . All came undone quite easy but to be honest it leaked  hub oil badly . Yep the ABS bolt snapped . ( a bugger but only 1/2 hr to drill and tap. )    The bearings did indeed seem new ..BUT the whole hub was packed with grease I mean packed ....  Probably why ! So far so good .....NOW replacing half shaft it just wouldn't go in , I jacked both sides level, just in case ....nope.....it went it 3/4 way then clunked against summat , wondered if turning tend sun wheel would help as it obviously just wasn't lining up.....this went on for a whillllllllllle.stopped had a cup of tea ...clunck its in!!!!     After that all went well until the nut on the tie rod ....I'll finish it tomorrow with a new nut. I did however regrease the sliders on the brakes as they were a bit stuck.

Sorry to crash the post but what did I do errantly reference  drive shaft ..?