110 Salisbury rear Axle (Part 4)

The axle is now basically complete.  I still need to clean out the insides of the brake callipers and add new seals and pistons, having cleaned their exteriors of all the rust and grime and having found that the pistons were rusted beyond use.

The original Salisbury stub axles were refitted to the axle with new gaskets.  Two of the six original bolts were used at each end, but they were too short to be used on the holes with the brake calliper bracket.  It transpires that with the 4.5mm spacing between the inboard side of the mating flange and the bracket required for the bracket’s calliper lugs to clear the brake disc when fitted, Discovery 200Tdi drive flange bolts are the perfect length.  They share the same 10.9 high tensile specification as the original bolts and have a similar length of shoulder before the start of the threads, making them ideal for the job.  These had Locktite applied to their threads before being tightened into the calliper brackets with washers doing the spacing job.

The hubs’ bearings didn’t need replacement, but they were removed for thorough cleansing and inspection before packing with fresh LM grease.  New hub seals were fitted before the new Defender rear discs were fitted to the hubs.  The hubs were then fitted to the stub axles and the Discovery spacer washer fitted up against the outer wheel bearing before fitting the hub nuts and lock washer.

I found it impossible to get rid of all the play on the bearings, even when tightening the inner nut beyond what I would deem appropriate.  I soon found the problem to be the spacer washer just catching on the stub axle where it begins to thicken after the threads stop.  Both sides’ spacer washers had their inside edges bevelled with the Dremmel’s grinder, allowing them to fit tighter against the wheel bearings without catching on the stub axles’ steps.   This solved the problem immediately.

The inner nuts were tightened using (greasy) finger pressure only, not the box spanner, to make sure that they weren’t too tight.  The hubs were rotated and wobbled to seat the bearings and the tightening repeated until I was satisfied that the pre-load was correct.  The lock washer and outer nuts were then fitted and locked before fitting the half shafts and drive flanges, with new gaskets, to the hubs.  A spray of matt black Rustoleum completed the cosmetic detail, followed by fitting new hub cones with a bead of RTV silicon sealant.

All that remains to complete the axle is to fit the refurbished callipers and the copper-nickel brake lines once they’re done, and the brake mud shields once the axle is fitted to the vehicle (they’re too fragile to fit now).