Front axle

The NS swivel on my Disco leaks like a sieve - chrome is pitted to buggery. It time for a new one. As the OS has started to go as well I was thinking: £250 is for a pair of new ones + fitting = big money or would it be simpler to look for a used front axle with good chrome bits. Having looked at the job for fitting new swivels it looks easier and quicker to replace the whole axle.
Am I being a cheapskate? or does it make sense.
And does anyone have a good front axle going cheap? (West Yorks area)

Axle change or swivel change.both **** jobs but 250 shpuld get you new swivel kits and all the bits needed. A 2nd hand acle would be bout 50 to 100 and could have knackered swivels again.

Have you filled with one shot grease as that isnt meant to leak out

Just did my near side swivel as it was leaking badly ,on inspection the top swivel bearing had fallen to peices as so much grease had leaked out and the bearing running dry and the swivel was pitted ,i couldnt justify £100 for a new swivel so i replaced the bearings and seal filled with grease and so far my pitted swivel isnt leaking

It may do in time but it only cost £35 for a bearmach kit (can get a cheapy one for £20) and you dont have to take the swivel off if you dont want to or if you cant get the bolts out !

Mine doesnt do many miles so cant see it being a problem

You could get a cheap axle but will it be any better than yours ?

Axle change took me 4 hours all in, without a lift all done with multiple trolley jacks and axle stands. I was fair knackered after though and it took a fair bit of Prep before hand.

I'm using one shot grease but even that leaks out!

I always thought that one shot was designed to not leak out.

Either your seal is completly shot or there is play in the swivel bearings ,as was the case with mine

Jack the car up and check for play ,my wheel had about an inch of play at the top yet the car was ok to drive

If there is play you can remove shims if there are any left but if alot of grease has leaked out the top bearing may be shot

haigy said:

I always thought that one shot was designed to not leak out.

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So did I :hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi

It's had shims and more shims. The ball has been shot for years so it's no surprise that the seal is fubared. I suspect the bearing has been running dry for ages - if there's no oil/grease in there is nothing to leak out.

haigy said:

I always thought that one shot was designed to not leak out.

Click to expand...

Ok, but one shot is a combination of oil and grease, that's why seals are still used to keep the stuff in along with the use of Teflon covered swivels as used on 1997MY D1s onwards

I got 2 complete swivels and fitting kits/grease etc from MM 4x4 for £179.90 inc delivery. They were the cheapest I could find. It's a Britpart kit and although some don't like BP I had no problem with the parts or quality. Mines a 95 300 tdi non ABS

Thats cheap when i looked everyonewas over £200 ,just looked on there site and they dont seem to list them anymore

I have done both the pig for me as the bolts the muti hexagonal heads had gone, so I had to batter on an old under sized socket to get them off, it was straight for ward after that
buy new bolts as well.