lubricants

May 31, 2014May 16, 2023

Slow Days of Summer (Post #497) 5/31/2014

Sorry for the post drought lately. I finally have a new job and haven’t had much time to do much of anything Land Rover. I ordered a CV joint and some other bits to sort out the axle problem that I referred to in Front Half Shaft Oil-Seal Failure. I thought they’d be in this weekend. Rovers North told me the CV joint was on a container ship last week. I thought for sure I’d have it by this week. By Saturday morning it had not arrived.

So Saturday I took the long drive up to Jones, Oklahoma to help the Evil German Dude. The sunroof was open and the windows down and I had a Mexi-Coke. Life is good. EGD has had some trouble with his swimming pool of late. The original liner failed after a few years and a new liner that was installed a couple of weeks ago required yet another new liner. Many hands make light work. Porsche Mike and his sweet wife Mel came out to help as well. Mel is keen to do some “off-roading” with us and very much enjoyed the comfort of the Big White Bus when trying out the seats. I hope to see more of Porsche Mike in the future…like maybe at a Garage Day, hint, hint.

We were thinking of Paparazzi Ford who was unable to attend due to the loss of his father this past week. My buddy Mr. Fisher lost his sister this weekend too. She succumbed to a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with both of their families in this difficult time.

We finished everything we could do and all that was left was to watch the water fill the pool at 6-8 gallons a minute. I drove home and stopped on the way home for some petrol and the BWB’s odometer was sitting on 209,000. The now twenty-one year old Range Rover has shown us some great miles. I managed to get 15 miles per gallon out of this last tank full. That really surprises me because my new commute has a lot more stop and go traffic due to the new hours I have at my new employment. I am stuck in “five o’clock traffic” on the way home and that is usually terrible for gas mileage ratings.

I guess I’ll schedule next Saturday for an axle tear down. I’m almost reluctant to swap the CV joint. The sound I’m hearing is not there very often. The noise could also be explained by the wrong fluid being in the reservoir. If I do swap it, the old CV would be an excellent shelf spare if it should ever be needed.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll be videoing the axle tear down and will post it all up when I have the time.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

May 1, 2014May 16, 2023

Front Half Shaft Oil-Seal Failure (Post #493) 5/1/2014

How many of you remember this commercial?

So the problem I’m having is exactly like that commercial, except that it’s not delicious, I haven’t bumped into a cute girl, and there’s no creepy old man helping solve the problem, there isn’t a happy ending, and it’s 2014 not 1982.

You got swivel housing grease in my differential oil!

No you got differential oil in my swivel housing grease!

Continue reading “Front Half Shaft Oil-Seal Failure (Post #493) 5/1/2014”

March 13, 2014May 16, 2023

Gearing Up for SCARR, Part Three, Maintenance (Post #463) 3/13/2014

A big part of not breaking down on the trail or on the highway for that matter is maintenance. Most Americans neglect maintenance. It’s easy to forget about maintenance. You go out to the driveway you jump in you turn the key and you drive. Our Land Rovers become “magic boxes that take us places”. If you don’t see a light blinking nothing is wrong, right?

Well partly, nothing is wrong most of the time, but that doesn’t mean something isn’t GOING WRONG. Let us take tonight’s maintenance. Grease zerks needing grease. If you let these go dry you lose your drive train. Universal joints can fail and then you have large heavy objects spinning very quickly. JagGuy lost his Range Rover Classic due to a failed u-joint. The drive shaft went through the side of the transmission. You don’t want that. Thankfully I have a ~~storm shelter~~ drive bay in my garage now and that should make greasing an easier task and it did.
There’s more after the jump…

March 11, 2014May 16, 2023

Land Rover at Lowe’s and a New Muffler (Post #461) 3/11/2014

Over the past weekend I stopped at Lowe’s to pick up paint for my Coleman Stove Project which was part of my gearing up for S.C.A.R.R. When I came out this Discovery was sitting next to me. With the parking lot nearly empty parking directly next to me meant this guy must be an enthusiast. So I scribbled a note inviting the driver to check out my blog and to keep in touch as we were forming a Land Rover Club, Red Dirt Rovers, and invited them to check out our Google Community.

Later that day I got an email from John Joyce the owner of the Discovery. He has reached out to me with a couple of emails and I look forward to meeting him at S.C.A.R.R.

His rig looks well used. Seeing this Discovery next to me in the lot has told me I’m pretty sure if I ever get another Land Rover it will be a Discovery I. So much awesome in such a little package. Like anyone I’d love to have a classic Series 2a but for a daily driver that is probably not a realistic nor practical option. There’s more after the jump…

April 15, 2013May 15, 2023

Fresh Gear Oil and CV One-Shot (Post #329) 4/15/2013

I mentioned a post or two ago that I thought I’d heard the tell-tale clicking of a CV joint when I made a turn out of the drive-way. I am pretty sure I don’t have a failing CV so it had to be time to add some more lubricant.

The CV is a funny item. It take tremendous pressure and transfers it to the hub which turns the tires. The fluid is kept in its place by a rubber pressure fitting seal there at the edge of the silver swivel ball. Slowly over time the grease slips past and needs replacement.

I first thought I’d check the state of the grease and decided to attempt to drain it. I first loosened the fill plug. It doesn’t help to drain it if you can’t refill it. Then I loosened drain plug. The drain plug is probably an 11mm plug. I don’t have an 11mm wrench so I carefully removed it with a 12mm.

The hole is really too close to the other parts in that area and will not drain in to the receptacle you place there. I started catching some of the fluid and it looked terrible. I guessing I have lost the axle seal and am getting contaminated fluid from the differential in the housing.

In any event, you can see that the fluid is quite terrible. I allow a bit to drain but as I was not sure how much was in there to start with I stopped draining and went to adding.

The parts suppliers have handy one-shot tubes of the grease ready to go. Just snip and add. I had sourced these at the same time as I did my springs and shocks.

The one trick I have found to putting this fluid in is to spin the wheels facing extreme outboard. So when you are filling the right side, spin the wheel to hard right. And reverse for the left. This opens up the innards and allows for the grease to easily slide into the hole.

Snip the end and roll from the far end to the open end as you hold the tube in place. Its a good idea to remove as much debris as you can from the opening area before loosing the fill plugs. It will minimize the dirt getting in while filling.

Do both sides and you have happy CV joints bathing in fresh grease.

I also thought I’d check the differentials while I was under there. So I drained them and filled them with fresh Castrol Hypoy C 85w140 gear oil. It takes two quarts to fill the differential. I had just enough to get one filled, but had to source more.

I ran down to O’reilly Auto Parts and got three more quarts. I always have this fluid on hand. You never know when you’ll need it.

The worst part of putting this fluid in the differentials is the odd angle and getting the fluid in the hole. I would recommend a pump as such. It is a terribly slow way to add fluid but it is virtually the only way not to make a giant mess of it.

That’s not my picture I borrowed it from the site. I got the gear oil added and took her out for a spin. You can really tell a difference. Well, I could anyway.

The condition of the differential oil confirmed my theory that I have at least one bad driveshaft seal on the front. The condition of the fluid coming out was terrible. This is a necessary maintenance item on any tick sheet.

Taking care of your drive shafts is synonymous with taking good care of your feet. If you can’t walk on your feet you can’t get anywhere. So take care of them and take care of your axle as well.

Transmission
I have been talking about the transmission needing a rebuild for quite some time. I think I will be getting that done in the next couple of weeks. I might be parting with the Honda Civic and the Range Rover will become my daily driver again. The current transmission has 196,000 miles on her and is need of some TLC.

She tends to slip when pulling loads and climbing hills after she is warmed up. I’m certain some of my gas mileage is being lost on this inefficiency and if I want to pull a small camper in the future it will need to be sorted out. I will look to upgrade the cooling of the fluid as well. The current system works fine but I think I’ll upgrade it when I get her worked on.

Air Conditioning
With summer fast approaching The AC will have to be sorted out. The compressor and pretty much everything else under there has to be replaced. I was able to grab an OEM compressor off the Range Rover in the breaker’s yard last year. I am hoping the garage I’m going to take her to will use that to put everything back together.

Not having AC is simply unacceptable in Oklahoma in the summer. With Mrs. OkieRover and I talking about the week we will attempt this task it is looking increasingly likely that it will be in the deep hot of summer. We don’t know any better I guess.

Well that’s about it for the weekend. If it were not for a unexpected trip to the grocery on Sunday I would have had a report on the NEW SHOCKS I would have installed. Instead I hooked up the broken fog lamp that I repaired.

As always, thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

November 12, 2008May 15, 2023

Swivel Housing Grease (Post #113) 11/12/2008

My daughter was reporting noises coming from the Range Rover Classic. Most of the noises are from the exhaust system including a new vibrating noise that I’m hoping is coming from the
ceramic parts inside the catalytic converters. I’m going to get some expert advice from JagGuy this weekend for diagnosis.

In any event I got some more lube into the swivel housings. If you’ve been reading you know the grease that came out of the front differential was very soupy indicating a mixing of the swivel housing grease with the 80w140 in the differential.

You can read about it in the Techtips on the OkieRover.com website.

I took a picture of the window regulator. Or more accurately what is left of the regulator. I’m going to measure the last remaining wheel and try to find a replacement on the web.

I also heard of a great way to preserve your rear lift gate. My buddy JagGuy employed a method they use to protect E type Jaguars and their unpainted parts from rusting. He said it worked great on his new upper lift gate on his 1991 Classic. More on that when I do mine.