Leaking swivel joints

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction here. The swivel joints on my gen3 are leaking diff oil. After spending a bit of time reading through the forum it sounds like the pitted swivel is pretty par for the course and the issue will likely be the kingpin bearings. I see they are out of stock in the shop here so I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of where to buy. Looks like the seals should be replaced too. Anything else I should think about doing at the same time? Thanks in advance 

The bearings are 30302 taper roller bearings, available online or at your local bearing shop. Any reputable brand will do.
For the driveshaft seal it's best to get genuine ones. I get them from ebay.  Here's a link.  In a pinch you can get a generic rotary shaft seal from a bearing shop with the same inside and outside diameters but they don't last as long as the genuine Suzuki seals.
Those are the only parts I ever replace. As you've discovered, the pitted swivel is a distraction really. The swivel seal and surface will never be good enough to keep oil inside, and it doesn't need to be as there shouldn't be oil inside the swivel. So that's nothing to lose sleep about.
The only other thing you really need is some waterproof grease. Smear a good dollop over the top of the lower kingpin bearing, inside the swivel. This is about all you can do to delay the inevitable corrosion!

That was my first port of call Martin, but they’re out of stock

Thanks Busta. I’m definitely not a mechanic - bicycles yes but not cars. I replaced the rear exhaust section on mine and I know which end to hold on a screwdriver but feel this is probably beyond me - maybe I’m wrong though.
My local garage had a look and said I need a new axle, due to the corrosion and pitting on the swivel but you helpful people here made me realise that’s not the case. I’ve never had an issue with my local garage - would you say the “new axle” comment is just due to them not knowing Jimnys very well?

Jimnys have been around long enough for any decent mechanic to know how the various systems work so your local garage is just pulling a flanker.


Roger

It's not unusual for garages unfamiliar with Jimnys to be alarmed at the condition of the swivels and suggest a new axle. This is because most UK garages are more familiar with Landrovers, which have an oil bath swivel design that relies on a chrome surface to keep the oil in. The garage assumes that the Jimny leaking oil is the same issue as Landrovers get when their swivel surface deteriorates, but as we know it's entirely different. On a Landrover you can replace just the swivel part of the axle for this reason.

If you don't desperately need to drive the car, whilst it is apart you can clean the rust off the swivel housings with emery cloth or something, (I just used a flap wheel in the drill) degrease & paint with a suitable hard paint, one of those epoxy paints would be good. Some recommend filling in the pits with polyester filler or that "metal" filler I forget the name of, but I just left the pits and painted them.
I used Aldi metal paint, which took about a week to go hard. It might go quicker in this infernal heat...

If you assemble it before the paint is hard the dust seals will scrape the paint off.


 


 

+1 on the por15