22nd April 2011 - Ups and downs

The plan today was to remove the chassis suspension bushes, as these are all that's preventing me from cleaning/waxing/painting the chassis. After 3 very hot, sweaty, frustrating hours, I still hadn't got one out! I was thoroughly demoralised. I do have a new plan of action, but I'd really had enough by early afternoon, so decided to do something else... I started stripping down the rear axle.

Here it is, pretty much as it looked when it was removed from Pod.

First things first, degrease and wash!

Next remove the brakes and the half-shafts - all good so far!

Doh! It was all going so well - I was convinced I had a hub nut spanner but could I find it? Er... no. So the hubs will have to stay there until I get a new spanner. So the last job was to remove the differential.

The oil that was in there didn't look too bad, which bodes well. And if you ever wondered what a Land Rover rear diff looks like, here's one...

The manual pretty much says there are no user-serviceable parts in here, so I think it'll just be a case of cleaning the casing and painting it, then reinstalling it.

The only downer was finding yet more rot! This time in the strengthening gusset on the rear axle. Early Series 2's didn't have this, but it was added to provide more rigidity to the axle when off-roading. Unfortunately, like the chassis, it's a rust magnet - I'll need to cut out the rotten sections and weld new metal in. Glad I have a decent welding machine now!

As I said earlier, I've got a new plan for removal of the chassis bushes - a trip to Screwfix is in order first. I'll update on that next time!