1971 Series IIa 88" Overhaul

[Neil]

All looks utterly utter in its utterness! Wish I'd known about citric acid when I did the crusty bits of mine. I used Evaporust which is quite good but not as good citric acid and it takes several goes/longer.
As bad as that bearing looks it is still better than the bearings the p.o. Replaced (I replaced all the bearings) on mine. Silly me, I thought replaced meant you put new bearings in, not replaced the knackered bearings where you had taken them from.
Ah yes the series 1 107/109 a wonderfully home made looking vehicle, have a look at the 107 station wagon, looks like it was built using whatever was laid around the workshop.

https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/85fcbed5-871c-4bbb-a41f-a61a008cca79/8d84cccc-59f9-4e45-b100-b2d89fe89823/original.jpg

 

[SeriesG]

All looks utterly utter in its utterness! Wish I'd known about citric acid when I did the crusty bits of mine. I used Evaporust which is quite good but not as good citric acid and it takes several goes/longer.
As bad as that bearing looks it is still better than the bearings the p.o. Replaced (I replaced all the bearings) on mine. Silly me, I thought replaced meant you put new bearings in, not replaced the knackered bearings where you had taken them from.
Ah yes the series 1 107/109 a wonderfully home made looking vehicle, have a look at the 107 station wagon, looks like it was built using whatever was laid around the workshop.

Thanks for the positive comments Neil! The citric acid does do wonders. Thanks to @SWBFreeLoader for that one! It's still pretty chilly outside here and knowing that a warm solution works better I'd left the vat inside the heated garage and in the morning was greeted by a terrific stench! Not unbearable mind you but I'd try to do it outdoors if possible.

 

[Guitar Mick]

Wow, what a difference! and that citric acid certainly does the business

 

[SeriesG]

Wow, what a difference! and that citric acid certainly does the business

I does doesn't it. In my experience I've found pretty much all of the enviro-friendly alternatives to our tried-and-true harsh chemicals of the past to be almost completely ineffective but this one actually works. For that reason alone I'm sure the authorities will ban it soon enough...

 

[Cliff4WD]

Even better results if you use electrolysis.

 

[SeriesG]

Even better results if you use electrolysis.

I've read about electrolysis but haven't yet tried it. It does get rave reviews!

 

[SWBFreeLoader]

Electrolysis is generally better, but you need some equipment to do it rather than a bucket and it can suffer with 'line of sight' issues if you're not clever with where the sacrificial metals go on complex shapes.
Plus you're essentially mixing water and electricity. Not ideal if you aren't careful!
You can get nasty gasses being given off depending on the materials used.

I'm not slagging it off and I do use it myself also...but I just find it hard to beat the "bucket n' chuck it" approach with citric acid...almost no care needed!

The good thing is, if you get the stuff needed for electroylsis, it's almost no more effort to swap the metals and the sollution and you can then electro plate things.

 

[Guitar Mick]

I think @Cliff4WD did a thread on his experiments with home made electrolyses baths

 

[SeriesG]

I think @Cliff4WD did a thread on his experiments with home made electrolyses baths

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[Big Sandy]

I'm going to be the bad one here.....I think your rear springs look a bit tired. They are starting to spread.... But... They'll go for years yet!

Mine looked a bit worse, but never really thought much of it, until I came to pull them for bush replacement. Decided to clean them up . Top two leaves were both split at the bolt/pin hole. Right through, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't taken them off.

Looking much better, and the brakes look like they are set up right to me. Did you chamfer the leading edges?

 

[SeriesG]

I'm going to be the bad one here.....I think your rear springs look a bit tired. They are starting to spread.... But... They'll go for years yet!

Mine looked a bit worse, but never really thought much of it, until I came to pull them for bush replacement. Decided to clean them up . Top two leaves were both split at the bolt/pin hole. Right through, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't taken them off.

Looking much better, and the brakes look like they are set up right to me. Did you chamfer the leading edges?

Oh no, I welcome any criticism from you guys - thank you. It was very polite of you to say they look "a bit tired". Totally thrashed might have been more appropriately descriptive. The plan is to hopefully get them to last for this summer then replace them with parabolics over the following winter when I go through the axles. Then I'll do the bushings, shocks, front swivels, etc. All that may end up happening sooner than later though as several clips are broken and at least one leaf too. We shall see. The front springs are in quite a bit better condition than the rears.
Thanks for commenting on the brake setup. I wasn't too sure that I'd gotten the springs in the right places but I think it's good. It seems a bit odd that the trailing shoe is only held by the one small spring but apparently that's the design. The Mintex shoes were already chamfered so that was nice.

 

[madmechanic 954]

Oh no, I welcome any criticism from you guys - thank you. It was very polite of you to say they look "a bit tired". Totally thrashed might have been more appropriately descriptive. The plan is to hopefully get them to last for this summer then replace them with parabolics over the following winter when I go through the axles. Then I'll do the bushings, shocks, front swivels, etc. All that may end up happening sooner than later though as several clips are broken and at least one leaf too. We shall see. The front springs are in quite a bit better condition than the rears.
Thanks for commenting on the brake setup. I wasn't too sure that I'd gotten the springs in the right places but I think it's good. It seems a bit odd that the trailing shoe is only held by the one small spring but apparently that's the design. The Mintex shoes were already chamfered so that was nice.

Why on the picture of your diff .. am i not seeing the two bolts and the locating peg for bearing/crown wheel adjustment ring not wired together .. ?? or am i missing some modification they did on the later series 2a rover diff compared to the series 2 with that diff.. as for the flaring tool .. yes your machine will do a single flare and a double flare ... to do a double flare you have to do the single flare first .. but you are doing a great job .. but how do you get the time to watch films and rebuild things all at the same time .... and who says that only women can multi task .....

 

[SeriesG]

Why on the picture of your diff .. am i not seeing the two bolts and the locating peg for bearing/crown wheel adjustment ring not wired together .. ?? or am i missing some modification they did on the later series 2a rover diff compared to the series 2 with that diff.. as for the flaring tool .. yes your machine will do a single flare and a double flare ... to do a double flare you have to do the single flare first .. but you are doing a great job .. but how do you get the time to watch films and rebuild things all at the same time .... and who says that only women can multi task .....

Oh man... now you've got me second guessing myself. I don't know! I didn't notice anything untoward when I had the diff out but then I don't really know how it "should" look. Hmmm... I hope I don't have to pull it out again to fix it. I'm about to remove the front diff - we'll see what that looks like first.
The movies are generally only on to break up the silence of the garage. I don't tend to pay a whole lot of attention to them. In fact I usually choose b-movies so I don't end up enjoying them enough to stop working and watch. Haha! About one in four ends up being good enough to watch again another day and pick up more of the gist of it. I don't think women can multi-task either...

 

[SeriesG]

The series 3 workshop manual I found online shows no locking wire on the carrier cap screws and the keeper thingy appears to be held in place with a roll pin. I think this is a newer version diff carrier that the older series 2. Again, I'll check when I pull out the front one.

 

[Big Sandy]

For what it's worth, none of the bolts on my 2a diff were wired. Though the ones in the crown wheel did have tabs.

Even though they had tabs, it didn't stop one coming loose completely, and spitting the bolt straight out of the back of the diff pan like a bullet.

 

[SeriesG]

Tonight I finished up the left side rear hub and brakes complete with new left side brake line. I thought it went faster than the first side but it still took about six hours so I guess it didn't. Undoing tenacious fasteners and cleaning up parts takes time even when you're in a hurry. Anyway, the rear axle has been reasonably gone through and the vehicle is back on its feet.

I'm getting down to the short strokes on this thing. I figure a couple of weeks more and I should be test driving it. (read: 4-6 more weeks... ) The only big thing left is to give the front axle the same treatment as I gave the rear.

I received a few more parts to finish things up including a new brake master cylinder, a new booster unit, fuel pump, and a pair of Karsons swivel seals. Hopefully this mess of fine quality Chinese and Indian replacement parts will get me rolling. The fuel pump makes that "hoonka hoonka" noise when I pump the primer lever so it's got to be good right?

 

[madmechanic 954]

For what it's worth, none of the bolts on my 2a diff were wired. Though the ones in the crown wheel did have tabs.

Even though they had tabs, it didn't stop one coming loose completely, and spitting the bolt straight out of the back of the diff pan like a bullet.

So maybe they thought that there was no need on later years to wire the bolts .. even though it is of the same design.. well at least i now do not have to worry so much ..as to did i wire my diffs the right way on the bolts .... yey ... as for the bolt coming out like a speeding bullet ... well.. it is the fastest any thing has gone on your landy other than your money and hearing .. if you have a diesel...

 

[SWBFreeLoader]

"hoonka hoonka"

I need that on a Tshirt now.

 

[SeriesG]

I took it easy tonight. I got the front axle up on jack-stands and started pulling the right front hub and swivel apart. The pieces came off without too much fight and things look relatively good - nothing is broken or bodged, just rusty and seized.

I took a snapshot down the axle tube and it looks alright too. Good first impressions.

It was a long day at work and I was tired. I hadn't intended on going even this far... so of course I kept going and removed the swivel. The axle seems surprisingly good but for some surface rust.

I didn't look too closely but I think the swivel ball isn’t in very good condition. We'll see what it looks like once things are cleaned up more. I'll put in some cleaning time tomorrow. Time for bed!

 

[mikeau]

Land Rover World, where Rusty and Seized is considered a good outcome...

Doing some fine work there