Nuts... or studs.. Oh Err Mrs...

[Adrian Southgate]

So I spent my sunny weekend doing odd jobs on the car, Decided it was time to fit the metric studs in the back axle.

I bought the studs before I bought the car, sat in a bag covered in oil in the garage for a while. Out comes the blowlamp, big 'ammer and other bits and bobs to get it sorted. Old ones were a nice tight fit but came out with just a few carefully placed whacks with a 2 1/2 lb'er. Got the new ones ground to the same length and fitted. Checked all the back brakes while the drums were off, all fine. Put the wheels back on yesterday and decided a test run was the order of the day. Sets off from home onto the A6. as soon as it hits 35 I have weird feelings coming back through the steering so pulled over and checked the wheel nuts, all tight. Set off again. Weird wobbly feel is still there, drove through it and it stabilised about 45 ish. Drove to work today with care but still it played up so tonight I decided to have the whole lot down again to find out why.

Put the car on axle stands and thought thats stable enough for a running test, so fired it up and gently eased the clutch up in second. Left hand rear wheel is now making a horrible noise, gets out to look and the wheel is wobbling by about 1/4 inch at the rim. Thats not right I thought, maybe the wheel has been buckled slightly by all the potholes. Took the wheel, spacer and drum off and tried again. Still making horrible noises and it looks as if the halfshaft is bent. I have tried different wheels, swapping drums, new clean spacers and it still wobbles. Lowest common denominator = halfshaft.

Now I had issues with the half shaft bearings in the old sierra and ended up changing the whole axle as the shafts would not budge. Its in the garage still with the half shafts stuck in the holes. I still have the bearings I bought to do the repair with too. Problem is I really don't want to strip the axle down two weeks before the lakes trip, or replace it for that matter. But its looking more than likely one of the two is going to have to be done and soon.

I love my Legerra!

[Adrian Southgate]

Cheers Dave
I may make a start wednesday evening, Better that than leave it until the weekend. I have a slide hammer, bearings, replacement diff if required and new bolts. What can possibly go wrong....
If your about tomorrow or wednesday I would appreciate a second opinion to be honest, I'm very puzzled by the whole thing. I didn't hit it THAT hard...

[Dave Taylor]

Oh Errr in deed! If you need a hand give me a call.