Balls....

....swivel balls

Recently greased my balls (with the "one shot" grease packets) and since then they have been leaking. Local lndy fitted new swivel bearings, told them about my problem and they said "yes they all do that".
Do l need new balls? They do have some scoring. The missus's are better than mine which can't be right as she's got twice the mileage on hers.
What will happen if l leave it as it is? I am getting some grease on the inside my tyres.

Depends on how badly they are leaking, more importantly why has your missus got balls? Is she a ting tong or summat
Did they actually replace the seals?

The swivels dont all leak, ive 2 defenders one with one shot fitted and one with ep90 fitted, neither of them leak, its your seals or badly pitted swivel balls

They didn't replace the seals on the swivel balls, no.
The receipt says "genuine swivel pin kit" and "OE swivel bearings".
I don't think they wanted to do it. Is it a nasty job?
I can see some scoring on my balls. Clearly this will cause some leakage. Do l need to change them now or can l leave it?
The Landy went in to the main dealer last year for an ECU software update and they put on the invoice "both chrome balls leaking and chrome pitting badly CV joint area"

Which l showed to my local Indy who said "they all are"

lightning said:

They didn't replace the seals on the swivel balls, no.
The receipt says "genuine swivel pin kit" and "OE swivel bearings".
I don't think they wanted to do it. Is it a nasty job?

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They dont all do it. Mine has EP90, doesnt leak at all, 26 yrs old and 128k miles. Seals have been changed at least once each side.

No idea why they didnt change the seals if they did all that!

Is it difficult? Depends. If your swivel pins and balls are fine, you can just unbolt the whole thing from axle tube and pull it out, then change seals. Pretty easy.

To change the pins and/or balls is a bigger job, you dismantle the whole thing. Not terribly difficult, but a bit more time consuming.

swivels arent over filed are they ie oil and a full sachet

Possibly.
But the Indy l use are pretty good and unlikely (in my experience with them) to have done that.
This is what l am seeing, oil on the tyre and on the ball itself.

lightning said:

Possibly.
But the Indy l use are pretty good and unlikely (in my experience with them) to have done that.
This is what l am seeing, oil on the tyre and on the ball itself.

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Always hard to say from pics, but that ball doesnt look in the first flush of youth. Seal looks a bit tired too. As I say, very hard to say without seeing it in the flesh though.
Myself, if I was going to take apart and do the swivels, I would always replace seals, and balls if in any doubt. Get the whole job dome while it is apart.

Turboman said:

Always hard to say from pics, but that ball doesnt look in the first flush of youth. Seal looks a bit tired too. As I say, very hard to say without seeing it in the flesh though.
Myself, if I was going to take apart and do the swivels, I would always replace seals, and balls if in any doubt. Get the whole job dome while it is apart.

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them balls look like the be used a few times......

New balls please....

My pax side one leaks, the other side is bone dry....

Needs a coat of looking at....

Yeah looks like mine.

Will get 'em both changed, but not just yet. No money.
The 110 has only 70,000 miles but the last owner towed a RIB with it and the Defender also had a "Watling" front towball fitted when l got it.
So the front of the Landy may have been in the sea during RIB launches.

Had my front axle fully rebuilt about a year ago,by local lndy all bearings swivels and seals, looked brand new when I wen to pick it up. Next day thay were leaking like yours, took it back and turns out they had put the wrong size seals in, the last ones that go around the ball. Evidently there is 2 sizes with only a few mil difference, they pulled the whole unit out like Turboman said and changed seals to right size, been ok up to now no more leaks.

I also had my front Axle rebuilt last year ( before It leaked like a sieve) by my local Indy landy people, not a drop of oil / grease has escaped since.

lightning said:

Yeah looks like mine.

Will get 'em both changed, but not just yet. No money.
The 110 has only 70,000 miles but the last owner towed a RIB with it and the Defender also had a "Watling" front towball fitted when l got it.
So the front of the Landy may have been in the sea during RIB launches.

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My main issue is the grease has contaminated the disc and pads giving a brake imbalance....only noticable under heavy braking, but it is there.

Will be pulling mine apart too....similarly, I have limited funds at the moment too.....Crimbo and 4 birthdays in Jan hit the pocket hard!

Saint.V8 said:

My main issue is the grease has contaminated the disc and pads giving a brake imbalance....only noticable under heavy braking, but it is there.

Will be pulling mine apart too....similarly, I have limited funds at the moment too.....Crimbo and 4 birthdays in Jan hit the pocket hard!

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wipe off excess, brake cleaner it all and get the seals/balls fixed

trax said:

wipe off excess, brake cleaner it all and get the seals/balls fixed

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+1

lightning said:

....swivel balls

. Local lndy fitted new swivel bearings, told them about my problem and they said "yes they all do that".

Click to expand...

lightning said:

Possibly.
But the Indy l use are pretty good

Click to expand...

Your local ''indie'' are muppets and I wouldn't let them anywhere near my vehicle. Where they hoping you were going to turn up next month needing a CV joint?

With regards to the leak, make sure your axle breather isn't blocked, take it out of the axle to check properly.

I don't want to seem to be criticising your garage, but those swivels don't look like they've been apart anytime recently. That mixture of oil and road dirt didn't build up overnight - it's thick and has a rich patina to it. If they've just been done, you'd surely see some sign of bolt heads having been disturbed. OK, usually you can get them off without undoing the bottom pin, but at the very least you'd have to take the seal retaining ring off. But everything looks like it's been undisturbed for a while.

Hmmmm......l did think that. It's supposed to have had new "swivel pins and bearings" and the work was done on 20th Jan.

I can't believe they wouldn't have done it. I have a good relationship with them, and they've been Land Rover Specialists since the 1950's.