Swivel hub maintenance

[George Mercieca]

Hi there
I just have a question in regards to greasing the swivel hubs as my look dry
So am I able to put grease in by taking the square nut off and pumping grease in?
Also what type of grease and how much?
Any info will be great
Thanks

 

[Chris]

Personally, I'd say you'd be better looking inside the hub itself to see if the CV and housing need repacking. Just dropping grease in through the top bolt, in my view, does very little. The grease is quite immobile and all it will do is sit in the bottom where it lands. It's unlikely to migrate to where it's needed unless you could pack so much in that you actually packed the hub full. It won't hurt of course, but neither do I feel that this method actually works.

 

[Towpack]

If you turn the wheel to point outwards on full lock you can get in more grease than with the wheels straight ahead. I think this is because with the wheel on full lock the grease stands more chance of getting to the CV rather than just filling the space between the inner swivel housing and the outer casing. Get both front wheels of the floor and spin each one as you fill it. Can't argue with the fact that a strip and rebuild/repack is better but the fill plug is there for a reason.
If you go for a strip and rebuild use only genuine seals including wiper seals. I used all genuine except the wipers and I get a small amount of grease migrating past them. JMO

 

[George Mercieca]

Hi there
Thanks for the reply

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Although I've said this before and isn't universally agreed with, when I bought a 2 year old 80 series in 97 I drilled and tapped the square headed plug and put a grease nipple in. I did a full service every 4.5K and every time I greased the front prop I gave the swivel greasing plug 3-4 pumps.
I kept the truck for 16 years and did 100K in it. During that time the front hubs were never apart, I only repacked the wheel bearings once due to needing a tweek of adjustment. The swivel bearings were never removed, I never replaced the oil seal as it never leaked. There was never any play in the swivel bearings but out of curiosity I split the track rod end off and felt the condition of the aforesaid bearings, they were perfect, no notches at all and no play, smooth as you like.
during my ownership I changed the diff oil twice ( 60 and 120K) and it was perfect both times.

Now whether this all was due to the fact that these service items were carried out or it was just pure chance the swivel assenbleys remained in perfect condition is for others to speculate but from my experience there is no harm done from introducing grease to somewhere Toyota says its supposed to go.

 

[Towpack]

The nipple idea is a good one and makes grease fill less messy. I use one of these which works a treat but does mean greasy hands....http://www.wilko.com/cake-decorating/wilko-icing-syringe-set/invt/0140132

 

[ByronJ]

Hi there
I just have a question in regards to greasing the swivel hubs as my look dry
So am I able to put grease in by taking the square nut off and pumping grease in?
Also what type of grease and how much?
Any info will be great
Thanks

Hi George

If you have not already done so I would definitely strip down the hub and take a look inside it to check and repack the CV joint with grease. As @Chris has pointed out dropping grease through the inspection hole is unlikely to reach the CV.

However once you know the CV is well packed I would do as @AndycruiserguyLomas suggests and regularly top up the outer hub through the top inspection hole. Personally I 'dip' the grease every time I change the engine oil (with a wooden coffee stirrer) and check it shows no sign of contamination. I then poke the grease gun nozzle through the inspection hole and give the hub around half a dozen pumps.

This is because grease is constantly lost from the outer hub via the wiper seals as the wheels are turned to and fro. It has to be as that is how wiper seals work - replenishing any grease lost off the hub as the seal moves across. Grease is lost at a slow rate but, depending on usage, eventually the grease level will fall to a point where the felt wiper seals dry out and then water can pass the seals and enter the hub. You really don't want that to happen.

I use a lithium Moly grease and fill the outer hub to around 75%.

 

[Chris]

I think that's the trick right there Byron. If you blob a bit in following a proper rebuild then in my mind, that's a very different picture to starting that procedure after 160k miles and hoping it's going to miraculously help. This is what in effect Andy did by doing at after only 2 years of life in his 80. I'd still like drilled CVs so I could push new grease through the stub into the Birfield.

 

[Towpack]

How about fitting a grease nipple on the actual inner swivel housing, either top or bottom close to where the housing joins the axle tube where there are sections the wiper seals don't reach? The metal looks quite thick there so I don't think it would compromise the strength. This would inject grease straight onto the CV.
These boots look like a good idea http://gearingdynamics.com.au/Split-CV-Boots-For-Toyota-LandCruiser-78/-79/-70/-80-Series

....or greasable CV's...http://gearingdynamics.com.au/Greaseable-CV-Joint-for-Toyota-Landcruiser

 

[Chris]

There's the jackpot right there. No idea how good the CVs are in the first place, but I think that's a much better idea for running CVs longer term especially if you off road and get water in the housings. Just pump new grease in and let any excess just get forced out of the seals due to steering action and whatnot.

Can't we just order a container full? The only ones I have seen before were home made

 

[JOHN OF LONDON]

There's the jackpot right there. No idea how good the CVs are in the first place, but I think that's a much better idea for running CVs longer term especially if you off road and get water in the housings. Just pump new grease in and let any excess just get forced out of the seals due to steering action and whatnot.

Can't we just order a container full? The only ones I have seen before were home made

I am toying with the idea of using Land Rover one shot swivel housing lubricant. Has anybody tried this?
Back when I was an unreconstructed land rover owner a few people took out the inner seals on their swivel housings and shared the CV lubrication with the diff. Any thoughts on this plan?

 

[Towpack]

I guess this could work with the right lubricant. General consensus seems to be that contamination of standard hypoid diff oil with moly grease is bad for diff wear yet there are moly based additives available for adding to hypoid diff oil? I’m no chemist but I reckon it must come down to using products with a similar base oil that will mix without diluting the lube properties of either. The wiper seals and swivel housings would have to be in tip top condition to contain anything much more fluid than standard black moly grease. JMO

 

[JOHN OF LONDON]

I guess this could work with the right lubricant. General consensus seems to be that contamination of standard hypoid diff oil with moly grease is bad for diff wear yet there are moly based additives available for adding to hypoid diff oil? I’m no chemist but I reckon it must come down to using products with a similar base oil that will mix without diluting the lube properties of either. The wiper seals and swivel housings would have to be in tip top condition to contain anything much more fluid than standard black moly grease. JMO

 

[JOHN OF LONDON]

I think the consensus was that the CVs would be happy and live a long time in hypoid oil. Never tried it myself but used the one shot maintenance free thixotropic lube recommended by Land Rover

 

[JOHN OF LONDON]

IIRC the original, pre thixotropic, specified lubricant in the land rover swivel housing was hypoid oil, the same as the diff housing. The arguements in favour of removing the seals that separated them were that the oil splash lubricated the upper swivel bearing which was otherwise prone to seizure from no lubrication and condensation and it gave the swivel housing seals an easier life with no pressure differences to cope with as they shared the benefits of the axle breather. The same benefits would accrue in the LC axle I think.