Tips for swivel hub maintenance.

[mudnut]

G'day, all. I am about to replace the D/S swivel hub seal kit and the scraper on the P/S, after water ingress. While I have the assembly apart, again, I will smooth the ball and finish it with fine wet'n'dry.
I have seen threads where other people have painted the assembly. How effective is it. Does the paint scrape off easily. In the past, I have sprayed the ball with Inox, occasionally. Is that the right thing to do, or am I creating a sticky surface that attracts dirt which shortens the life of the seal?

[NP99]

From memory Nissannewby used a clear coat on mine, I'll wait and see if he responds here.

[taslucas]

I think Pettit painted his. Have a search through his build thread, it may have some info on the type of paint.
The only downside I could think of with painting them is that it's fairly likely to get a lot of stone strikes and if the paints not up to it then it'll chip and may chew out the seal?

[mudnut]

Yeah, I saw his fantastic build, but I did wonder if the paint would chip. I wonder if anyone has made a protective rubber boot as the surface of the ball deteriorated rapidly this year.

[taslucas]

Do you reckon it's sand driving that is hard on it?
I see a lot of mud and gravel roads and it doesn't seem to affect it

[mudnut]

Just salt air and moisture in general. The boats leaving the ramp leave heaps of water on the road to the breakwater, where I fish. There is quit a few grooves and small pitted rust spots.

[mudnut]

After pulling the patrol apart to dry it out, I am surprised at where water got in. I have been thinking of drilling a hole through the centre of a top seal bolt on each side so I can pressurise the swivel hub at 1-2psi. Easy mod which can be taken out easily, if it proves useless.

[NP99]

After pulling the patrol apart to dry it out, I am surprised at where water got in. I have been thinking of drilling a hole through the centre of a top seal bolt on each side so I can pressurise the swivel hub at 1-2psi. Easy mod which can be taken out easily, if it proves useless.

Good idea, would the pressure hold though?

[P4trol]

I think he means by an air tank with some sort of regulator valve, topped up with a compressor.

Would great be blown out, or problems with pressurising the inner axle seals, or Diff? Air locker problems? Also, you would have to customise the airflow depending on how fast the air 'leaked' out. This could change every time any opening on the hub was made.

What if the wiper seal doesn't seal at some positions of the wheel?

[MudRunnerTD]

If all the seals are in good condition then the swivel hubs are water tight and No water should be able to enter the swivel hubs. Assuming your diff breathers are functioning then even "hot" hubs would not cause a vacuum that would allow water to enter.

I seal installed backwards or a worn seal is the only way water will enter your hubs. A blown inner axle seal will not let water in but will let diff oil our. the Scraper seal is designed to stop water entering but will let oil out (not oil should be there)..

I would not advise drilling out the top king pin bearing cap to pressurise the hub, i think that would be asking for trouble. especially when dealing with the back side of a Lip seal, the pressure would blow the lip seal outwards and open the lip seal up and allow water in i think.

[mudnut]

Sorry, I didn't explain it properly. I was thinking of making one of the small bolts that hold the seal on, hollow. There is no way I would tamper with the king pin. I still have to pull the timing belt cover off to check if muddy water has made it in. If it has, I was thinking of pressurising it, so would have a low pressure supply available anyway. But if you reckon a good seal should suffice, then I wont bother with the hub. I have extended all of the breathers to the top of the p/s firewall. I will replace the scrapers every couple of trips though. A cheap and easy insurance.

[Robo]

The old Mk had an grease nipple in hub beside top swivel bearing.
for reg maintance, the bottom one did not have one.
but the problem here is later models have a seal/disc that stops this idea from working.
you would have to remove disc for this to work.
but nissan decided to incorporate the disc in aid of keeping water out of hub is more important than top & bottom bearing.

The idea of painting ball sounds solid.
possibly try marine engine paint.
the type recommended used on leg of engine.
should be a high wear resistance paint.
Or what about epoxy paint ?

remember reading about automotive high strength/wear paint.
a forum member, spray painter has painted his ride with it.
think it was a blue gu

I tried painting the ball about a year 1 1/2 ago with caliper paint.
It lasted a yr and Mav basically only see tar rds so waste of time using the so called h/duty caliper paint.

thought.
paint ball and a new seal (looks great doesn't it), seal is stretched to painted size but then starts to wear also along with the painted area.
humm think a new seal could be worth a try without painting.
isn't' metal is harder than paint !.
sorry have to be blunt, your wasting your time trying to pressurise the hub, to many down sides to it
it's a sticky subject.

[mudnut]

How hard is it to knock the bottom king pin bearing outer race out. Will it shift using a brass drift? I have stuffed the plug. (expensive mistake), so I have to remove the race. And If I put a new bearing in, do I have to change the amount of shims. There is only one shim each for top and bottom.

[MudRunnerTD]

Don't worry about the plug mate. I don't have them in. Toyota run without the plugs (caps) from factory.

The race will knock out easy.

I have alway just reinstalled the shims however they came out.

[Winnie]

I never had the plugs in the old bus either. We'll I did, but did not replace them.

[mudnut]

Bugger, I just went and paid for one. Oh well, I'll fit it anyway, if the race comes out easily. It my save any bits of metal from interfering with the king pin bearing if I shatter a C/V.

[taslucas]

After about 5 minutes of fiddling around trying to get the plug back in, my brother just threw it down his driveway lol.

I would agree with mudrunner regarding pressurising the hub assembly. I don't think anything good would come of it. I reckon even at a low pressure, the air would find it's way into the diff then out the breather.
I've had mine under water a good few times and when we opened it up to fix the inner seal there was no water in there. Again as mudrunner said; I had diff oil leaking out past the wiper seal but no water got in.

[Winnie]

I've had mine under water a good few times and when we opened it up to fix the inner seal there was no water in there. Again as mudrunner said; I had diff oil leaking out past the wiper seal but no water got in.

Same here.

[NP99]

Don't worry about the plug mate. I don't have them in. Toyota run without the plugs (caps) from factory.

The race will knock out easy.

I have alway just reinstalled the shims however they came out.

No plugs in mine as well.

[ryandewar92]

I'm about to pull mine apart and paint it as well.36099
Is there any issue with keeping a light smear of grease on it? Will that attract dirt or destroy the seals at all?

[MudRunnerTD]

I'm about to pull mine apart and paint it as well.36099
Is there any issue with keeping a light smear of grease on it? Will that attract dirt or destroy the seals at all?

Keep it clean and dry and free from dirt and it will last a long time.