What are these things and how do you lubricate them?

Hi all,

I can't find any info in the Haynes manual concerning maintenance of these items, which I'll have to describe: there is one each side of the front axle, just inboard from the brake discs. They resemble giant ball joints, each being a hemisphere about the size of a melon. What are they called and how do you lube 'em up?

ta,
LL.

go search for swivel

trax said:

go search for swivel

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I have. Haynes manual's got nuthin' in the index under 'swivel' - even when preceded by 'steering' and 'suspension'

Landlover99 said:

I have. Haynes manual's got nuthin' in the index under 'swivel' - even when preceded by 'steering' and 'suspension'

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trax meant search this site. It's a swivel ball. It's lubed by adding EPO90 oil or one shot grease. You should down load RAVE, a much preferable tech manual.

Landlover99 said:

I have. Haynes manual's got nuthin' in the index under 'swivel' - even when preceded by 'steering' and 'suspension'

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I meant on here

couple of types. old ones had a filler and a drain and used to be filled with ep90

newer ones just a filler, and i *think* they come with one-shot grease from the factory.

one-shot grease is thixotropic (iirc like ep00) so it goes into a liquid state when agitated and thicker when not. This means it is less likely to leak out of the swivel seals.

swivel seals can get damaged by pitted balls and can be a lil bit of a pita to replace properly, so some people stick one shot in older swivels too instead of replacing the seals.

however, the one shot doesn't splash as much.. so one of the older style pins mightn't get lubed as well as it should.

have a look for a square fill/level hole on the front and for a drain on the bottom. if no drain you prolly have one shot and as long as it's not leaking, jobs done.

Oh. Right. Well, I do have the RAVE CD somewhere around.... I'll check it out, thanks.

Thanks for that clarification, Trax. I'll take a butcher's.

if you ever run into things you don't understand, search/ask on here, google, rave and even youtube suprisingly has a load of stuff!

Thanks for posting that video. This series is very informative, isn't it? Certainly helped me out with the tx box and diff oil changes.
Anyway, looks very much like I have the one with the grease, as there's just one square indented plug hole at the top from what I can see. I was going to post photos but you've saved me the bother. Mine's 2003 so I guess they must have changed to one-shot grease either in that year or the preceding ones. The joints look a bit oily, though, so maybe the seals have gone as he mentioned in the video. Oh well.

Landlover99 said:

I have. Haynes manual's got nuthin' in the index under 'swivel' - even when preceded by 'steering' and 'suspension'

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I think you will find that the Haynes manual covers them very well indeed (unless they have deleted that chapter since I bought my copies).

That's interesting. So the legendary Buster is replacing his one-shot grease even though LR claim it's not necessary and the factory dose should last for the lifetime of the vehicle (whatever that may be!) Probably best to follow Buster's example, being sceptical, and replace the grease every once in a while, I'd guess.

Litch said:

I think you will find that the Haynes manual covers them very well indeed (unless they have deleted that chapter since I bought my copies).

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Maybe. The modified model has been around now for 13 odd years, so maybe the section's been dropped from more recent re-prints...

Landlover99 said:

That's interesting. So the legendary Buster is replacing his one-shot grease even though LR claim it's not necessary and the factory dose should last for the lifetime of the vehicle (whatever that may be!) Probably best to follow Buster's example, being sceptical, and replace the grease every once in a while, I'd guess.

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it does leak out into axle case over time so emptying and refilling isnt a bad idea

For what it costs for a couple of doses of One Shot, don't see why you wouldn't change it during a service.

Roaming Wombat said:

For what it costs for a couple of doses of One Shot, don't see why you wouldn't change it during a service.

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older ep90 casings only have the drain, so you can't do it easily with newer casings with a single fill