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

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 ..?