Oil (suspected) OSF hub

I replaced all the oils in the axles, gearbox & transfer box the other day, very little white oil came out of the front axle, the other were fine, but now I have a damp patch on the drive by the OSF wheel, so I am presuming that there is a oil seal somewhere in the hub that has gone. Presumably it wasn't leaking before as all the oil had already leaked out, now it is leaking again, is there an exploded diagram anywhere of what's in there. I did find a post to a HowTo but the link is broken.

Axle oil seal available in the big Jimny shop 
While you are stripping it all down I would strongly recommend doing kingpin bearings at the same time 
You will need a specific hub nut tool circlip pliers and waterproof grease 

jackonlyjack wrote:

Axle oil seal available in the big Jimny shop 
While you are stripping it all down I would strongly recommend doing kingpin bearings at the same time 
You will need a specific hub nut tool circlip pliers and waterproof grease 

Is it wise to also do the swivel seal at the same time as it has to come off by the looks of it?

Unfortunately the tool is currently out of stock, anybody North Notts, South Yorks, North Lincs, North Derbyshire got one I can borrow/purchase?

The tool for Kingpin / oil seal job is a torx socket to undo the hub flange. I got mine from Halfords. You don't need the bearing tool, unless you want to change the wheel bearings.

Scimike wrote:

The tool for Kingpin / oil seal job is a torx socket to undo the hub flange. I got mine from Halfords. You don't need the bearing tool, unless you want to change the wheel bearings.

Got a full set of Torx both male & female, I watched the video in the wiki, but now it makes more sense, you can remove the whole hub & leave the bearing in place, Thanks 

So the only question is do I do the swivel seal, extra £20 but at least I know it's done then

If the swivel is covered in rust I wouldn't bother. The seal needs a smooth surface to stand any chance of working, fitting new is unlikely to extend the service life of the lower kingpin bearing in this instance. Spend the money on some quality waterproof grease.
If the swivel surface is rust free (smooth) then yes, new seals will help. Suzuki have also changed the design to incorporate an additional felt seal (as per G4), so expect these to work better than the original design. If you have the time and want you can refurbish the swivel surface, this helps, but eventually you will be swapping the kingpin bearing again. Consider it a service part with a 1 to 5 year life expectancy dependent upon many factors.

If you have got a front drive shaft oil seal leak you almost certainly have a king bearing gone or going. As they need to come out you might as well change them.

The large knuckle seal only serves to keep the dust out, I changed mine when I did the king pin bearings but as Scimike says the waterproof grease does all of the work in keeping the water out.

Robin

I always strip my hubs just so I can clean and visually check cv wheel bearing 
When I change kingpin bearings just what I do

Surely you can check the wheel bearing without removing it?
When I do kingpins I don't even take the vacuum hub off. Just undo the brake carrier, steering arms, hub seal and kingpins then pull the shaft out with the hub assembly.

If the swivel has rusted then the swivel seal will rapidly deteriorate and water ingress will follow and that water will likely contain material that will destroy the integrity of the grease on the kingpin bearings and then the bearings themselves. On my LC the hub was fitted with a tapered plug on the op of the housing and I used that to put an amount of EP oil into the hub to lubricate the kingpin bearings. Yes, some would escape past the swivel seal, but this was easily wiped off. Overall the oil helped to prolong the life of the bearings.

As a matter of interest, when members replace the bearings, was it wear or corrosion that prompted the replacement?

Roger

Rusty swivel or not, the dust seal does not prevent the ingress of water. The bottom bearing fails due to corrosion, it's well documented.  
Defenders also use an oil bath in the swivel but it's still not a perfect solution and makes any maintenance more awkward. I'd rather change 5 sets of Jimny kingpin bearings than disassemble a Landrover swivel once. It's a 45 minute job on a Jimny once you know what you're doing.

I don't recall the LandRover being particularly difficult, it is just heavier!

As I recall, you just lose the brake, crack the steering joints and undo 6 bolts on the axle tube and the whole hub & swivel come off as one to do the housing seal. (Which means the swivel housings are replaceable when they rust unlike the Jimny- and they are hard chromed, not wafted with thin paint.)

The swivel bearings are virtually the same, there is a bit of faffing with shims and preload, but you don't get death wobble when you set them up properly, as there is a railko bush rather than a roller bearing at the top to act as a damper.

The trick is making sure that you are far enough from the wall that you can pull the halfshaft fully out (don't ask how I know.....)