Severe Vibration!

   I took Degsy out for a shake down down run before annual MOT. Shaking was what it did. As soon as I got aboove 20mph Degsy started shaking like mad. Enough to make it hard to hold the steering wheel and double vision inducing. Where had that fioble come from? As I slowed down the vibration reduced with speed. It was not a steering issue like unbalanced wheel. The vibration was definately emminating from the back of Degsy. I imediately thought the rear differential was giving up but it was not whining and the vibration built smoothly as I accerated. I wondered what it might be as I drove the short distance home. Time for a think.

   I mentioned the vibration to my neighbour who saw me looking at Degsy in a puzzled manner. "Universal Joint" said Roger. He told me how the check for play in the UJs (Univeral Joints). Sure enough play could be felt as I rolled the drive shaft backwards and forwards. It was not much but it was there.
 
   Right then, I quick look in the manual for an exploded view of the area in question, then on to Craddocks website for the items. It seemed simple enough, a UJ kit which came with circlips. Click HERE to see the items I also bought a set of replacement nuts and
bolts. £12 bought the lot.

   A few days later, whilst I waited for delivery I decided I would loosen the bolts to be ready for a quick install when the parts arrived. It was then I discovered one requires a special tool to get at the nuts. The forks of the UJ make it a tight fit for a standard socket so a slim version is required. Back to Craddocks, another purchase and another wait.
  

   A suitable Saturday rolled around and the weather was nice so I set about the job of replacing the rear UJ. Explanation of the replacement was pretty thin in the manual and on Youtube which, should have been a warning. Degsy has good ground clearance so having chocked the wheels as well as applying the handbrake and selecting first gear I was ready to get under Degsy. The slim 9/16 socket make good contact with nuts. The thought I having to extract a rounded nut in that position did not bare thinking about. As prescribed in the manual I undid the nuts securing the UJ at the forward end of the propshaft first. Getting at the rear UJ was a bit of a struggle so I jacked up degsy and removed the offside rear wheel. That made access much better. These nuts and bolts where harder to undo. Probably because of the resticted area to work in. However they came off without further ado. Once the propshaft was on the floor the fun and games really began.

  


   The manual says remove the circlips, one retaining each fork of the UJ. They were very grimey but they out fairly easily. Then use a drfit to press out each fork of the UJ. This is where things got tricky. Drift in the from and socket that fitted over the fork end ...check. Lump hammer...check. With a couple of preliminary taps I could see little movement. OK, usual procedure soak everything in 3 in 1 penetrating oil and have a brew. The next set of hammering made the UJ slide through the yoke. But now do you get the UJ out of the yoke. Its too big. More tea and more thnking. The manual was no help at all. Whilst fiddling with the new UJ I discovered the ends came off revealing a set of needle rollers bearings. The shaft within the bearing was shorter. AH HA! With some sublte hammering I pushed the bearing caps on each opposing end and the room was created for the cross piece to be removed. The caps with rollers were drifted out separately.

UJ Crosspiece with spigot parially in bearing cup.

  Now for the installation if the new UJ. I cleaned up the four bearing surfaces of the yoke and the circlip groove. I now knew the cross piece had to go in without the bearing caps. Luckily the needle rollers were held in place by thick grease. The first bearing cap slide in the yoke and managed get the spigot of the cross piece into the  bearing cap. The other end was not nearly so easy. The bearing cap would not go all the way in. I wrestled the cap back out to discover half the needle rollers had moved out of position and prevented the spigot seating. I lined the rollers up again offered the cap to the spigot, but the needle rollers moved again. Three more times I did this procedure until I was able to press the caps home without fouling the rollers. The second pair where just as bad but with newly learned dexterirty I only had to repeat the process twice. I tapped the caps so they appearred to be equi-destance from each set of circip grooves. The new circlip were set in place.The propshaft was ready to reinstalled

   Putting the propshaft back in place was a doddle. The UJ at the forward end fits onto studs protruding from the gearbox so is supported. The rear end of the propshaft slid into place against the input shaft for the diffential. Nuts and bolts secure the two together. Four nuts secure the forward end. That was the renewal complete.

   Whilst I had access to the differential a decided to check the oil level in the bevel box. After cleaning away 20 years of oil and dirt I was surprised at how easy the filler plug came out. I could see no oil. I put my finger in the hole.....nothing. I had 750ml of EP90 gear oil handy so I put as much as it would take...all of it in fact. I refitted the filler plug. It was no surprise to find the gears in the bevel box where quieter when I moved the wheel around. I refitted the road wheel with a generous smear of copper slip. The wheel nuts were very tough to get off. but went on much more easily. I dropped Degsy off the jack and prepared for a shake down drive around the block.

   I have to report it went very well. None of the violent vibration, the rear tramission was quiter. It is surprising what some oil will do. Next job is to get a grease gun and get some grease in to the greasing points. The lack of greasing was at partly the cause the the UJ failure. Having said that the UJs were new with the vehicle 30+ years ago. Time to book an MOT.

 


 













           

Back again!

   I have not posted for an age partly because Degsy has not needed anything but oil and water top ups but mainly because life has taken a dramatic change of direction and I lost the log in credentials for the blog....again. As you can see I have recovered that situation. I how earn my living keeping honeybees. You can find out about that by following the link to my website HERE. Never mind me...what of Degsy?

   Degsy has been reassigned duties. He is now my promotional vehicle. He makes guest appearances at the shows we attend throughout the year. I swear he gets more attention than my honey does. As for his health; well the last MOT was no trouble just a flaky earth to the rear nearside indicator. An easy fix. I replaced the rear leaf spring as the near side one was wearing out and causing Degsy to sag to one side in a most undignified way. Degsy got a wash too!

 Now I have got into my stride with the bee farming I hope to blog on a more regular basis.

Inner tube

I have had a slow puncture in the off side rear of my chunky tyres. This last week it has been going down within day or two when before it took ten days or more. I had an inner tube in my stores. Jacked Degsy up and put an axles stand under the rear off side axle. I took the wheel off and it together with the inner tube and took them up to the Landy garage. I left it with them and said I would back in a few days. I went back on the Thursday and the tyre was ready however the inner tube was on the top of the tyre. The chap said it was the wrong sort. He still only charged me a tenner and I got an inner tube as well.

Wheels, Paint & Lamp

I have had a problem with tyres for ages. Not so much tyres as wheels. Degsy came with set of "extra grip" tyres but they were very noisy. I managed to purchase a set of four road bias tyres but only on two of them came on wheels. I had two of the wheels of the extra grip tyres swapped onto the road tyres. The trouble is I have eight tyres, four extra grip and four road tyres, but only six wheels. I had a hunt round Ebay and the Internet but not come up with two steel Land Rover wheels. I had given up on finding the wheels. I was going past the garage that did the work on Degsy so I dropped in. I had the two wheel-less extra grip tyres in the back of Degsy. The garage man said a couple of steel wheels somewhere. I agreed to pick them up the following week i.e. today. I said the fit the tyres to the rims. The tyres need tubes too. I turned up at the appointed time and was parted from £20. A tenner each for a wheel and a tube and fitted too, brilliant.

When I got the wheels home I got the other wheels out of garage. I took the wire brush and sand paper to them and have them a scrub. Once scrubbed and brushed down I had a rummage in the garage for the tin of paint. The paint is named "Limestone". It is nice and thick. I painted each wheel in turn, inside and outside and set them aside to dry.

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry I got the high-lift jack out of Degsy. I got the socket and the long lever and went round each wheels and loosened each wheel nut. Some where really tight. I got the wheel chocks out of the garage and put them under the rear wheels. I went for lunch. The paint dried quickly. Once I figured how to use the jack I jacked the front of Degsy up. I took off one wheel at a time. Whilst the wheel off I scrubbed and brushed up the hub then painted it. The wheel was then put back on. I went round each wheel at a turn. When the wheel went back on I touched up the hubs. Degsy looks great. I just need to slacken and re-tightened up the wheel nuts and make sure the paint has not stuck the wheels nuts to the wheel.

Whilst I was at the Landy garage I was told the reversing light had to be working for the MOT. My reversing light was not working. When I took the lens off I found the internals were rusted solid. I checked the wiring and found that there was current once the headlights were on and the fog lamp switch is flipped. I happened to have a reversing light in my store cupboard. I had to use the angle grinder to get the bolts of the old reversing light off. I also had to remove the panel inside the tub that covers the wiring. There was a right jumble of wiring under the cover but there was plenty of wire for the live feed and negative return. The new lamp had a good length of bonded wires that made the unit waterproof. I taped the new unit wires to the existing wires and used the old wires to pull the new wires into the tub. It took a little bit of jiggling but it was easy. Once the wires were routed it was just a short job to bolt the fog light unit to the body. It took just a few minutes to trim the wires and fix female bullet connectors and join up the wires. Then the cover was replaced. Job done. One less thing to be concerned about.