Joys of buying 2nd Hand cars

Had a Jimny a couple of months now, seems to do all I want it to do which is start first time & take me to the farm a few miles away so I can see to my daughters horse & my granddaughters pony. Once the weather improves this will be done on the bike, but for now the warmth (relatively) & the dryness (relatively) of the Jimny suits, but it's not come without it's interesting features.

First when I bought it the lad said it had got hot, so I swapped out the thermostat before I drove it, what a stupid place to put it!
Second was the wandering, but this has been tamed with a steering damper & castor correction bushes in the front radius arms, it's now acceptable, although the back does seem a little loose, so maybe new polybushes in there is required.
Third was the CL only working on the key, this has been replaced with a Chinese unit from Fleecebay which works on the fob
Fourth a 2nd hand towbar minus the special bolts, simple fitting, what was weird AFTER fitting it I found an unused set correct special bolts in the back of the Jimny, go figure
Fifth Topped up all the fluid, front diff, rear diff, gearbox, transfer case, although the transfer case was only topped up as the studs holding the heavy duty protector are sheared.
Sixth swapped out the standard electric motor mirrors for a set of heated electric motor mirrors

Which then leads onto the next issue, since filling up the front diff it has started to leak oil out of the NS hub, now was it cause & effect, did it not leak before only because there was no oil in it, or did I cause the seal to go by adding too much oil?

Anyway as I was going into the hub I bought two sets of the Koyo kingpin bearing & a driveshaft seal, it's not a bad job, hardest part is removing the circlip on the driveshaft one of the holes is so small none of my pliers would fit & I ended up damaging the clip removing it, I NEED 2x new ones, does anyone know where to get them, or the part number? Not doing the other side till I have new ones. Anyway on pulling out the driveshaft I found



Which could explain why it was leaking, the kingpins had SKF bearings in so somebody has been in before, maybe they didn't seat the oil seal correctly?

Which then led me onto the next discovery, the question of whether my vacuum hubs worked or not, well it appears it doesn't matter either way as somebody on the past has welded the bloody things so the diff is being driven all the time!!!!!

 

So now do I try to get a set of vacuum hubs or admit defeat get manual ones & resign myself to the fact I will have to get muddy & or wet if I want to engage them.

If it is only relatively warm & dry there is something wrong with it!

It is Japanese- the heater works very quickly, and it was put together properly (unless you have a Spanish built convertible) so it doesn't leak.


You don't need to remove the circlips, you can snatch the whole driveshaft out with the hub, but it is a bit awkward to handle with the driveshaft sticking out and flopping around!

You could simply refit the welded vacuum hubs if you are only doing small mileage, others run around with them locked and have no problems, it will do a little less to the gallon, but you won't notice unless you are driving hundreds of miles each journey. It worries me that there are no bearings at the ends of the axle tube to support the driveshaft like in a LandRover,which puts all the load from bending the driveshaft on the oilseal, and there is only a plain bush between the CV joint stalk and the inside of the stub axle- but you can change it if it ever wears out....

My guess would be that the vacuum system failed somewhere in one of the lines and rather than repair it someone bodged it by welding up the hubs, rather than paying £150 for AVM manual hubs.

Personally I would go manual hubs, if it looks slippy or icy engage them before you set off and then use the in cab 2/4WD control to switch between them, that’s what I do on mine. TBH since fitting manual hubs they have stayed in 2WD apart from when going off road and twice in winter when there was snow and ice.

Robin

I've always left the CV shaft in the hub when doing kingpin bearings. It does make it more awkward to handle but it saves a good amount of time and hassle with removing the vac hub and circlip.

If it was mine I'd get some good vacuum hubs, run new hoses and get the original system up and running. It's not complicated and I find it very convenient. But that depends on what else has been "fixed" by the previous owner.

facade wrote:

You don't need to remove the circlips, you can snatch the whole driveshaft out with the hub, but it is a bit awkward to handle with the driveshaft sticking out and flopping around!

So you remove kingpins as normal then pull the whole thing out? Does that not make it hard to get the shaft & bearings back together?

Phaeton wrote:

facade wrote:

You don't need to remove the circlips, you can snatch the whole driveshaft out with the hub, but it is a bit awkward to handle with the driveshaft sticking out and flopping around!

So you remove kingpins as normal then pull the whole thing out? Does that not make it hard to get the shaft & bearings back together?
 

Grease the kingpin races, drop in the top one, put a clean towel under the axle end and have the lower bearing in easy reach.

Feed in the driveshaft and fit the hub, you might need to slightly rotate the wheel flange and wiggle the hub to start it in the diff splines, then you pull the bottom of the hub back out enough to slip in the lower bearing.

If you drop it, it lands on the clean towel.

Some people rely on the grease to hold the lower bearing in place but it usually falls out a microsecond before you have the hub far enough on to hold it.

You are trading the time taken to remove & refit the vacuum hubs and that circlip against the awkwardness of cleaning & regreasing the Hub & CV assembled and refitting as an assembly.



tbh, I'd undo the circlip, I don't recall it being a significant problem.

Just to add to this if you have abs then taking the sensor off is usually the worst bit as the m6 screw holding it on snaps for fun meaning that once you have the knuckle off you have to drill the remainder out. This is why I prefer to take the knuckle separately as there is just nicely enough cable on the sensor to get it clear without disturbing the sensor.

Welding up the hub is a bodge, it's not as bad as welding up the diff. but it's very close. Firstly you need to ascertain that both hubs have been welded as just having one done will will put extra loading on the diff. sun gears which will cause extra wear and tear. Temporarily replace the drive shaft. Put the car in any gear and with the other front wheel on the ground, try and turn the drive shaft that you have just put back. If it does turn the hub is open and you must return the hub that is welded to a standard configuration with or without air hubs or manual locking one's or weld up the other hub. If it wont turn there is a direct drive through the hub which probably means that it is welded.
There may be a problem with the welds on the hub. From memory the CVJoint should be hard up against the face of the hub but at least two of the welds appear to be proud of the face and that may cause a problem in refitting.
Finally, the seal on the drive shaft is fitted to stop diff. oil from passing from the diff. case ( pumpkin ) into the hub housing and care should be taken when putting the drive shaft back as it is very easy to damage the seal lip. Consequently, it is better to dismantle shaft from housing so that the shaft can be manoeuvred into position with greater care.

Roger

Decided to do the other side earlier, before reading the post, but I figured as it was the drivers side the shaft was a lot shorter so should hopefully be a lot easier to deal with which turned out to be true. This side didn't come apart anywhere near as easy as the passenger, had to resort to hammer & chisel to get the bottom kingpin out.

 

All cleaned up & back together now, just need to get 4 track rods so that they all can be done, then taking for tracking, before thinking of new tyres.

Both hubs have been welded so at least they were consistent, but on the lookout for a set to replace them with, not urgent as mileage is very low.

A common(ish) bodge is to run a self tapper into the centre of the vacuum hub which pushes the diaphragm over into the lock position and keeps it there. I suppose you have to run it in until it holds the diaphragm, measure how much sticks out and then grind the pointy end back the same amount. No welding required, and the hub is just as bust.....

As I said, some people drive with the hubs locked for years.

I fixed the vacuum system on mine, there is a lot to go wrong, and mine had multiple problems- a jammed vacuum valve, a broken pipe and the passage in the hub blocked with grease from a new wheelbearing....

The screw through the hub trick is one of my hacks. 20mm is the length you need, I carry a couple in the glove box incase I'm ever unable to fix the vacuum system. The screw pushes against a metal piece inside so does no lasting harm, and the small hole made in the face of the hub can easily be plugged to get the vacuum system working again.
I'll also take credit for the welded front diff seeing as Roger bought that up, although I don't think anyone else has been brave enough to try that one yet! Mine's still going strong after a couple of years and ~20,000 miles.
Welding the front hubs is a perfectly acceptable way to convert them to locked hubs, albeit a lot more work than putting a screw in and completely irreversible. I can't think of a situation where anyone would weld just one hub.

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Just for clarification if it was missed both hubs have been welded, I have also found another set for £40 so once they arrive I'll check them over & install to see if they work, I would prefer them to be freewheeling & work on the vacuum.

Edit:- Just to add I had to go up the farm this morning & I can't believe how much difference it appears to have made, now it might be psychological as there didn't seem to be any play in the knackered bearings