Rear axle all back together :)

Typically I hurt my back on Saturday morning so couldn't do anything to the Landy over the weekend :(

Anyway, I got under it today and have rebuilt both rear brakes (and freed off the stuck adjusters, cylinders etc) and got the new outer bearing seal fitted (damaged the old one removing it to check bearing). Then I got both half shafts back in and rear hubs reassembled and fitted so all sorted now.

The only thing left to do is to get some replacement drive member bolts as 4 of the 5 sheared when removing them and my local Landy place didn't have any.

Diff back in, prop back on

I hadn't had chance to do any work on the Landy until today but had got the new prop bolts so at least got the diff back in and propshaft back on today. More work over the weekend and we should be back in business!

Diff removed and checked

Well I decided that I may as well completely strip the whole rear axle down so at least I know the state of everything...

I'd already removed the drivers side wheel, drum, hub assembly and half shaft without too much bother so thought I'd do the same with the passenger side. Unfortunately this didn't appear to have every been off before and 4 of the 5 drive member bolts sheared off as soon as I gave them any welly :( This then took 2 of us nearly 4 hours to remove :(((

Anyway, got that off and checked all that side. It seemed fairly ok but the brake cylinder did appear siezed on one side. The half shaft etc was then removed on this side too so we could take the diff out.

The diff was fairly easy to remove as it just needs the rear prop bolts to be undone and prop moved out of the way. The bolts were pretty knackered though so I'll have to get some new ones that aren't rounded! Then there are just a load of bolts around the diff housing which came off without any bother once cleaned up. After that then the diff just came straight out and we checked it on a bench and all was well with no real wear on it at all.

Now I'm completely confused as there doesn't appear to be any real reason for the lock up which is worrying! At least I now know how everything works on the rear axle and have cleaned, adjusted, and renewed bits where needed - just have to put it all back together when I get some new parts...

Rear diff oil

I've just drained the rear diff oil to check for bit of metal that may have broken off diff and it is fine. I only put new diff oil in a month ago, have only been in any water once since then and that was only half way up the wheels - I have axle breathers anyway which seem to work as the oil is just as good as it was when it went in. More importantly I've had a poke around inside and there aren't any bits of cogs/metal at all - everything seems fine... grrr....

Rear brakes/bearings check

Ok, taken it all to bits using the guide at Rear wheel bearings renewed to try find the problem...

It looks like the brakes are all fine, nothing loose, nothing jammed etc and even the shoes are ok... I then dismantled the hub and removed the bearings (what a pain that was!) and they are both fine too!

I thought I better get a second opinion as I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination so I chucked all the bits in a bag and have just been to see my local friendly Landy garage.

He says that the brakes are fine and the bearings are too. The only thing he can think of is the diff now even though he said he'd have expected both wheels to lock if that was the case.

Anyway, next job is to drain the rear diff oil and see if any bits of metal come out...

Scary moment!

I was just coming home and as I was approaching a roundabout at around 50mph I began to slow down and the rear drivers side wheel locked up completely!!!

I managed to keep it pretty straight considering and luckily there were no other cars nearby to worry about. Once I'd stopped I got out and had a look but couldn't see anything obviously wrong (wheel on it's side or anything) but just a mahoosive black tyre mark on the road about 100 yards long. I got back in and tried to move it forwards but could feel the wheel still locked. Thought I better move it to the very edge of the road so started dragging it and it freed off. As I was only a mile from home I limped back carefully at 25 mph (it drove fine) and it is now in my garage ready for inspection.

All I can think is that something has broken in the rear drum, jiggled its way about, and then jammed the drum and caused the lockup.