To Gaiter or not to Gaiter

[Mark Filtranti]

For the first time in my life I'm going to have a Series Rover with new swivel balls. I'm just wondering if putting gaiters on them will do more damage than good in New England. On one hand they will keep direct salt/crud off. On the other hand they may seal in salt/moisture and pit them faster. I always thought that they were designed to keep dirt of the swivels limiting scoring. Can anyone give me their experiences or suggestions?

[Richard]

I have no direct experience (my balls are rusty ) but Mercedes Jim had an interesting observation. The rust comes when rocks chip and pit the chrome. Leaky gators will aggravate the corrosion. His suggestion: use the leather gators as protection against rocks, but slit them wide open at the bottom to let them breath and dry out.

[TedW]

I put the Bailcast neoprene gaiters on my new swivel...

...balls after rebuilding my front end last year. I have a new set of the leather gaiters (happy to sell them!) but thought I'd try these instead. They completely seal the balls from the elements.
Richard's idea is probably a good one. Any water that gets in will settle at the bottom and needs a place from which to escape. I check mine from time to time and have found no evidence of water getting in.
The Bailcast gaiters are annoying to install but are probably easier to get on than the leather ones.
I'm down the road from you in Falmouth and would be happy to discuss this further off-line. In any case my $0.02 is that we need protection for our sb's up here in the salt belt!
Ted

[luckyjoe]

The leather ones should be positioned so tha the stiching (where you join them together) faces downward, allowing drainage.

My IIa exMoD 109 has it's original leather gaiters still in place since day one. I've only had to sew a hole in each one where they were pinched by the steering stop. A quick peek in side reveals basically new chrome swivels!

One of these days I'll need to get in the front axle for maintenance, and I'll make templates for cutting new gaiters...

Regards,

[LaneRover]

I have a 69 ex MOD 109 that has the old leather gaiters on. When refurbishing the truck in the late 90's I peaked under the gaiters and the swivels looked brand spankin' new. I think that although they may get soaked in water from time to time they also get coated in oil on the inside which helps protect the swivels, as well as limiting the rock chipping that was mentioned earlier.

LaneRover

[TedW]

The installation instructions with my leather gaiters..

..say to give them a rubdown with petroleum jelly before installation. I would probably opt for soaking them in 90w hypoy instead, but it's usually wise to follow instructions to the letter.