New Axles

[mrmoose]

Some of you may know about my 66 Series IIA project. I'm looking to source some axles for it. My chrome swivel balls are pitted and oozing slightly and there is play in the camber direction so I figure instead of rebuilding with expensive british parts I might swap in some axles off of a different vehicle. I though this was just a simple bolt up and fit with leaf sprung vehicles but I can't come across anybody hardly that has done it. Which leads to my question, who has done it? and what axles did you use?
It won't be used for serious off roading or anything, I just need regular duty axles.

[lumpydog]

Moose - I'd recommend overhauling the swivel balls/housing. It's not a difficult job and you have the satisfaction of knowing it was done right vs inheriting someone else's unknown/potential problem.

Check out my post in this thread (http://forums.roversnorth.com/showthread.php?16564-Swivel-ball-rebuild&highlight=swivel+ball).

P.S. All the parts listed in the linked-to-post above are not necessary. Just get new seals/gaskets/fluids and replace the hardware parts you need to (like swivel balls, Railko bush's, pins, etc).

[lumpydog]

Moose - I just remembered you are looking to get her back to running as inexpensively as possible.

A super-saver approach here - if the balls are not too extensively pitted, you can drain them, remove the swivel seal retainer ring and cut out the existing swivel seal - leaving the swivel ball, housing, etc, in place. Then use JB weld to resurface the rusted areas of the swivel ball, let it dry/harden and wet sand those areas down until they are smooth/round. Buy a few replacement swivel seals and some one-shot swivel ball grease. Use Terraynn's method to get the new seals on (http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/LRhubseal.htm).

This as cheap/quick and dirty as it get. You still have the play in the camber direction though...

[mrmoose]

Thanks for the advice lumpy dog. It's still a ways out until I get to that part of it but it pays to plan ahead I suppose. That is the way I was originally leaning towards just figured if a set of the right kind of axles rolled in my way I might snatch them up, Could do with a little bit wider of a stance too.

[TeriAnn]

If you would like stronger axles or diffs I suggest contacting bill at GBR Utah
http://gbrutah.com

His series parts page is always under construction so it is a good idea to email him with our requests. Bill knows more about drive train parts than anyone else I know.