Rear Diff pinion bearing replacement help

Hi guys, need some advice
1994 110 Defender 300tdi, I have some play in my input flange bearing (where the propshaft is bolted to the diff pinion), there is play in the flange, I presume it's the pinion bearings within the diff.

My Question is

My Defender has a Salisbury Axle with a Self Leveling Unit attached, how hard of a job is it to replace both the inner and outer bearings on the pinion shaft?

Bearing in mind I do not have a garage just a small shed and the work will be done in a small car park.

Thanks all

Carl

Do you mean side to side or up and down play or rotational slogger before drive take up.

Scooby22 said:

Do you mean side to side or up and down play or rotational slogger before drive take up.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scooby22
Up and Down play

There's a big nut holding the flange on, check it's not loose first.
A special spreader tool (expensive) is used to allow diff removal but I've read somewhere of someone doing it without?

Flossie thanks

The up and down play, is that a sign of a loose flange nut?, or 1 of many possibilities for the play felt at the input flange?.

This special spreader, can you elaborate what this tool is for?, what exactly does it spread?.

I'm not well versed on Landy mechanics and repairs the biggest job I've done to date is swivel Ball seals on both hubs.

The nut, as well as holding the flange on also pre loads a crushable spacer behind it. This is supposed to be critical, the pre load that is. I got a second hand Salisbury disc braked axle to replace my drum braked one and the flange was missing as well as the nut. I fitted a new nut and flange and just tightened the nut untill the play was minimal. 12 yrs later it's still good with no noise.
I've only seen pics of the spreader tool but it forces the casing apart and fits into the axle once the diff pan is removed. The diff needs this extra clearance to enable removal apparently.
James Martin who used to be on here was the go to guy for axle stuff but he's not been on for a good while.

If I'm reading this right, there is the possibility that either the nut is loose or the crush washer has disintegrated?.

There is no rumbling noise coming from the rear end which would be common (with my limited understanding of fault finding) with a bearing failure. There is a clunking noise, however, on taking up drive whist changing gear ( when clutch is released) and say going over potholes and traffic calming bumps, but definitely no rumbling whilst driving (what I can hear from the cabin anyway).

A frame ball joint causes them sort of knocks. If it's toast, buy the new joint complete with carrier. You can buy just the joint but they can be the very devil to separate from the carrier.

I had the A frame ball joint replaced just last week as I thought the noise was that, after changing, the noise isn't as bad as it was, the mechanic who changed it also noticed the banging was still there once the ball joint was fitted, he put the landy over a pit and showed me the play in the input shaft.

Over the last few months I've changed all the bushes on the rear end thinking that the noise was because of a Bush failure, bushes I've changed :- anti roll bar bushes and drop links, rear shocks bushes top and bottom, even the A frame fulcrum link bushes.

Once I sort this play out in the input shaft I'm hoping it solves the noise problem.

This is a video of removing the flange and seal, it does not show the bearing removal, before you undo the nut punch a mark on the nut and the end of the pinion, you can then tighten the nut back up to the same position.

Scooby22, is the crush spacer likely to be damaged under normal driving conditions?, in the past I've not taken the bolt off or attempted to tighten it, also am I correct in thinking that if the bearings were shot there would be an audible warning (rumbling) whilst the propshaft is spinning.

Carl

I have no experience with a Salisbury axle, my initial question was to find out what movement you had as if it were rotational slogger it would point to something other than bearings, halfshaft spline or diff wear etc.
There are other videos on youtube on building up Salisbury diff and others that may show the pinion bearing setup.

H8 everyone thanks for your help, I've had a chance to remove the propshaft, the pinion nut is still tight, the flange now free of the propshaft moves torwards the front of the vehicle about a mm or 2, moves up and down about the same.

Turning it theres 1.5 cm of movement followed by a small jolt.

I also checked both rear wheel flanges with no obvious movement in either.

Any help would be appreciated