Where's my 4WD?!?

The chrome on the big bally thing between the wheel and the axle.
The swivel drain is on the bottom of the swivel, tucked up near the brake back plate. It's quite hard to see.
The filler is on the rear of the swivel casing about half way up.
Have got a manual? If not its worth getting a parts book and tech manual.

as you can see i've got my front axle seperated and supported on 4 axle stands, the two outer axle stands are supporting the hubs/swivels and chromes



the chrome sections are inside the swivels and can easily be seen from under the front bumper when it's sat on the floor (unless they're covered by gaiters) this makes them pretty easy to inspect for rust and bad pitting

the outer housings (swivel) hold a large seal which wipes over the chrome when you turn your steering and keeps the oil inside and the dirt outside, once the chrome has rusted/pitted it will cut the seal to ribbons and allow the oil to escape

once the oil is escaping too fast to be economic/sensible to replace many folks replace the seals (depending on condition of chrome)

others fill with "one shot grease" (a bodge to me) and the real bodgers fill with ordinary "LM Grease"

from what little i've experienced i'll guess you need swivel seals replacing at the minimum along with the diff filling with EP90 and the swivels refilling but first we need good photos of the swivels to advise further

sorry if that all sounds a bit doom and gloom but it may help in the long term

OK, another very frustrating night.
I got new FWH. 24 spline.
Turns out there must be at least 2 sizes of splines because the FWH are about 1/2" too small in diameter.
The splines on mine, shown in the picture a few posts ago, are about 2" diameter, roughly. The new AVM FWH are roughly 1.5" diameter. Bugger!

So I set about trying to sort out the old FWH. Turns out one freed up fine after having had a couple of days for the WD40 to soak in. Great!
Unfotunately the other wasn't working because the spline ring in the FWH has basically exploded. It's now in various bits and the casing guide rail type things are really worn. No hope of salvaging that one.

So, I decide I've had more than enough of FWH and I'll convert to normal hubs. I dig out the parts list someone kindly linked way back in this thread and start trying to figure out which bits I need.
I have no idea!!!
It's an 88" 1984 and so I'm checking the right area (part 4, page 40). All the websites I find for parts (Famous Four, John Craddock, Rimmer Bros, Paddock Spare) say that the one part I use as a starting point, FRC3991 (the hub end cap) is no longer available.
Added to which, I have no idea where abouts in that diagram to start looking for parts. Also I have no confidence that those parts will fit these seemingly abnormally large splies.

I am utterly and completely lost

Am I fundamentally missing something?
Do I have different half shafts/splines on here than on most/any other series 3?
Can someone tell me what parts I need, based on the previous pictures and sizes in this post, in order to put normal hubs back on there?
Any advice or suggestions on where to go from here would be VERY welcome and everyone has been fantastically helpful so far, for which I can only thank you all.

Am now going to go and drink beer, bathe in swarfega and avoid admitting to my other half that I ordered the wrong things until I'm in a less snarly mood :S

Oh and thanks Nitemare, the picture is very helpful. Makes much more sense now and I will have a look at the chromes and swivels once I've managed to resolve my hub dilema.

One question about your picture Nitemare, why have you got 4 axle stands under there?
Surely one under each of the leaf springs, the inner pair in your picture, would suffice?

mrwoppit said:

One question about your picture Nitemare, why have you got 4 axle stands under there?
Surely one under each of the leaf springs, the inner pair in your picture, would suffice?

Click to expand...

the reason for 4 axle stands was...

i was replacing the front diff and i wanted to do it without stripping the font axle down, the swivels/chromes are bolted to the axle by 6 nuts and bolts each, i undid those and carefully pulled them away from the main axle tube complete and with all the steering, brakes and hoses still connected

the drums, hubs etc' are damned heavy and i didn't want anything damaging itself with the weight hanging on the halfshaft so i used the extra axle stands to support them

once both sets of 6 nuts and bolts were undone and i'd pulled everything out 3-4" and balanced them on the stands, all i had to do then was undo the front prop and the ring of nuts holding the diff in

out with the old diff, clean up, new gasket, fit new diff, bolt it up and attach the prop

next job was to clean up the old paper gasket area on the swivels/end of axle, a thin smear of silicone and then slide the swivel back home and bolt it all back on

rinse and repeat at the other end of the axle

refill axle with EP90 and check swivels

turns a whole day of dismantling/reassembly into a couple of hours work

oh and there IS two different sizes of splines, one size has 24 splines, the other has 10 splines

now if you have been supplied with a 24 spline set to fit 24 spline halfshafts and you've removed the little intermediate spline gear under the castellated nut and the new one is completely the wrong size

i'm going to guess they've sent you one for a completely different make of vehicle unless your shafts are 10 spline and i've made a big boo boo advising you to order a 24 spline kit (sorry if i have)

in post number 31 (post number is up on the right hand side) you have attached three pictures, the third one shows the end of the halfshaft complete with the castellated nut and intermediate gear/splines still on it

you have removed those ??

if not you need to

then clean and compare the intermediate splines with the new one that will have come with your new kit, lay the new one on your old one and look through the centre bore/splines and check they match

Ah, that explains it, thanks Nitemare will bear that in mind for the future.

Any ideas about my hub issues? Parts required? Potential solutions? etc?

One thought did occur, which is likely stupid but I've had beer and haven't proved overly bright up to this point...
Is it possible that the larger diameter splines on mine are an additional ring fitted over the original ones?
I can't believe they are as I simply don't see there being any benefit to that arrangement.

see my last post lol

yes there is an additional ring fitted over the halfshaft, this appears to be where your frustration has emerged

i'd have to have a look at an axle to work it out and find an answer

but i can't be bothered to strip one right now

have you removed the split pin, nut and centre of your old free wheeling hub from the end of your halfshaft?

Nope you were right, they are definitely 24 spline and the new FWH are definitely for a series 3. That's why the confusion!

Oh, intermediate splines....
So there are splines over the normal splines?
I've stripped nothing at all off the shafts. DOH!

I have no idea how to undo the round castellated nut, so I didn't get that far. Can't fit a socket or spanner on it. I assume there are tools to do the job, but I don't have one. Something I can remedy tomorrow (assuming my local motor factor has something) if I really do need to strip everything off those shafts to get at the "real" splines.

ok all you "should" need to do is pull the split pin out and with luck the castellated nut will undo with just finger power, if not a pair of pipe grips "should" do

if that doesn't do it i'd grab an old flat blade screwdriver and file a V into the end of the blade to allow it to hook into one of the castellations, point it in the direction you want to undo the nut (anticlockwise) and give the screwdiver a sharp tap with a hammer

this should shock the nut into undoing

if needs be put the gearbox into 4x4 to lock the prop and get someone to hold the splines on the other halfshaft with the pipewrench whilst you tap the screwdriver again

oh and i doubt you'll be able to buy a special spanner for that round nut very easily

i would possibly make my own out of a piece of steel pipe by cutting the end of the pipe back so it had two pegs sticking out to fit into the castellations and then drilling a hole through it so i could stick a bar through as a lever

but i doubt i'd go that far unless i really had to for that job

i did make my own for the big one in the back of the gearbox though but that's another subject for another day

Once you have removed the split pin, the castellated nut should simply spin off. If it doesn't use a pair of pipe grips.

Yes, the proper splines are hidden away underneath it!

Don't hold the splined other end ... ever! if you have to grip the shaft with a pair of Stilsons, do it halfway along, and wrap some emery cloth round it first!!

straighten legs on split pin (1) and pull out with pliers, mole grips or similar
using a drift or punch or 6 inch nail with pointy bit cut off, place on castlations (2) in direction of arrows and tap with a hammer. (may be finger tight as already mentioned)
part 3 is the innards of the fwh and should slide off in direction of arrow.

See, I knew I must be being stupid somewhere along the line!
Thanks all, very much appreciated.
I am very tempted to go out there now and try this, but I think that's too much beer and too little sleep talking so I'll wait until the morning.
I will get better at this, promise!

mrwoppit said:

See, I knew I must be being stupid somewhere along the line!
Thanks all, very much appreciated.
I am very tempted to go out there now and try this, but I think that's too much beer and too little sleep talking so I'll wait until the morning.
I will get better at this, promise!

Click to expand...

We all learnt somewhere....a fair few of us here!

WOOHOO!!!

All done. New FWH installed successfully and I've been out to test the 4WD. Works as expected, awesome!

Thanks to Nitemare and everyone else on here who've been so patient and helpful. Very very much appreciated.

Now, on to fixing the thermostat, the temperature sender, the lock on the rear door, checking oil levels in the diffs, gearbox, etc....
So much more fun to come

They all said that it wasn't as hard a job as you thought it would be!!

Glad you've got that bit sorted!

you're welcome, i think we've all enjoyed helping you where we can

i personally have, partly due to the sensible way you've asked your questions with supplying as much information and photos as you have to help your self

it's been a pleasure :5bcheers2: