Hi All.
This past weekend my wife and I added a 94 XJ6 to our.... grouping. It has several problems which I have no fear of tackling one at a time. First thing I'm going after is bad bearings in the outer end of the right rear wishbone. I have a good used hub which i intend to swap in. What I've come up against is that I need to remove the wheel speed sensor from both hubs, as the donor parts' sensor wire was cut off and the sensor in the car seems good. I have removed the 8mm bolt from the sensor and tried pulling gently, pulling gently with pliers, prying Very gently with a Very Small pry bar, and applying a penetrating product called P-Blaster to try to break it loose while twisting a Little and Gently with pliers. I am letting the penetrant soak overnight. Is there a retainer clip? --- or do i just need to man up and get a hammer? Maybe a drill....Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

I wouldnt get a hammer or drill. My experience is on the front ones only the other day and didnt even know they were the wheel speed sensors to be frank. The little bolt holding it on, some spay oil over night as you have done and give it a bit of a wiggle and apply some pressure, hand only, no hammer NO drill. Hope this helps.

 

Hi Jerry,

Congratulations on your '94 XJ6. We've owned a similar '93 for 16 or 17 years and it's been a great car (196,000 miles so far).

As mickvic has already warned, you need to be gentle with the wheel speed sensor or you'll wind up needing a new one. The sensor is only secured by the 8mm screw, but they tend to corrode in place in the hub bore. See the 6th photo in the album at the link below:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Regarding swapping in a used hub, wouldn't it be better to just replace the worn bearings in your existing hub, or put new bearings in the salvaged hub before you install it? Otherwise, there's no guarantee that the bearings in the salvaged hub will last (or be good at all). New bearings aren't expensive, and the job is not difficult. When you get the old hub off you'll be most of the way there. Below are links to photos showing the entire job:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Also, take very seriously Jaguar's warning that the rear axle/hub nut must not be reused. The nut has a deforming thread insert and the very high torque specification (220-231 ft. lbs.) means the thread insert will only work once. The nuts aren't cheap, but I know of at least two accounts of owners who reused the nuts and had them come loose while driving down the road....!

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks guys. Unfortunately I was unable to remove the sensor. I could not get it to budge despite copious amounts of penetrant. I tried prying form the inside and that seemed to work, but alas, the cover crushed and it wont go past the wrinkle. My Bad. At least the sensors are available.
As far as the bearings, they're so rusty (How rusty are they?).... theyre so rusty that the outer edge of the cages rusted off. I decided that with the presence of the free (already paid for) good part and the unwillingness of the old bearings to come out, I didn't care to fight it.
Tonight I did have some success, got the "better" hub onto the car and the cable reconnected. I really am not sure why those bearings were so bad. The rest of the car doesnt seem to be nearly that rusty- quite solid really. Especially considering its here in the rust belt.
Anyway, Thanks for the heads up on the axle nut. I didnt think about that, although I was wishing it took a cotter key.. Sometimes the brain just cant follow through a logical progression.
Ive got a few pics posted in my album. Hopefully more to come once I get some repairs done and get it buffed up.

 

Hi all. Time to update, as I've had to "step away for amoment." Sadly this car has been neglected to the point where each thing I aim to do has some other problem associated with it. Its "a bit frustrating." I did manage to get the aft suspension reassembled to My satisfaction- new shocks and springs, & the hub. My used hub seems to have done the trick and while I was under there I found that the Cat Con heat shield was loose and floppy so I corrected that too. I got most of the "noise" in the car taken care of in those 2 things, but the car is still nearly uncontrollable. I plan to gather the supplies to make a copy of Don B's spring compressor today and go at the front from there (yes, Ive already been fighting with the front end for a solid week.). Don B will not be held responsible for any ensuing havoc.

 

After you get the front done check the front end alignment. Im half way through the front just working out how to get the engine mounts undone, so I can lower the subframe. Check those subframe bushes if they are ok then leave them i reckon. My car is high mileage so I think better get them done (as in 340k).

Don B's description of the spring compressor is good make sure the t piece at the top is hardened steel dowel, and the threaded shaft as well is high tensile rod.

For the "driver" at the bottom I just used a 1.25kg hand weightlifting weight which I had lying round, its 8cm diameter nice and thick and loose enough on the rod so it can compress the spring at an angle.

Sounds like rust has affected a few bolts/nuts always makes it a problem, but I usually find this on older cars than the xj40 here in australia.

 

Hi all.
Brief update.I got the left front shock, bushings, brakes redone and reinstalled to my satisfaction, and during the course of the week began disassembling the right side (using my homemade spring compressor- YESSSSSSSS!). Tonight I got down to removing the lower A arm and could not help but notice that, where the left side fulcrum shaft had a definite bend of about 15 degrees at the rear edge of the K member, this sides' shaft is straight. I think the words I said were "Well I'll be. Look at that." So it appears that I need a lower A arm shaft and the lower A arm itself for logics sake. I knew the car had been repaired- it has a rebuild title- but the seller was not quite honest enough to say the damage was not entirely corrected. He only said it was hit in the rear. On the plus side, I was beginning to get worried because although I am digging fairly deep into this and replacing parts, I have not been finding any reason for the cars yearning to meet the ditch. At least now I have it. And the $64,000 question: will these parts from a 96 xj6 work/ fit on my 94? theres one at my local yard and i could get it quick cheap and easy.

 

Hi Jerry,

A great place to research a question like yours is at jaguarclassicparts.com, the parts service of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

The part numbers for front lower wishbone components on the late XJ40s and the early 1995 X300s are the same, but the X300 part number changes at VIN 722477, early in the 1995 model year:

Wishbone-Upper and Lower - Parts For XJ6 & XJ12 from (V)667829 to (V)708757 | Jaguar Heritage Parts UK

Wishbone-Upper and Lower - Parts For XJ Series from (V)720125 to (V)812255 (X300) | Jaguar Heritage Parts UK

It is quite possible that the '96 wishbones would work on your '94, but I don't know what the revisions were. It might be worth taking your wishbones to the salvage yard and carefully comparing them to the ones on the '96.

You can check model years by VIN here:

Jaguar VIN code information - Motorcars Ltd.


Cheers,

Don

 

great. That is an excellent site. Its so useful that it makes me wonder why its there. I spent the better part of the evening looking over it. Im seeing alot of other discussion of front end work and was thinking someone would say "I just did that......." But i guess it will be me. I also had to steal Grahams pic of his front suspension on the ground in his driveway to show the guy at the yard-"I want That." Thanks again.
More Later.

 

It's there to sell parts for classic Jaguars on behalf of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Foundation. Their service manual and supplementary information DVDs are "must haves" for XJ40 owners, and even with the cost of overseas shipping, they're a great source for parts that are not available anywhere else.


Here are some additional front end photos in case they are helpful:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Cheers,

Don

 

Hi all,
Its finally update time. I did get the Entire front suspension/ brakes set up including the rack off of the 96 from the local yard. Good news is that it was indeed the same, Bad news is that I still ended up getting a new "fulcrum shaft" (from Barratts- courteous and prompt!) because the ones in it were rusted to the bushings. Had to take the chunk to a shop and have the shafts removed forcibly with the blue wrench so I could at least use the A arm. Ugh. Indiana. Road salt. saynomore nudge nudge. It wasn't money wasted though as I still used the control arm, the springs, and the spring seats. I finally got it all put back together and (drumroll....) Yes! It worked! It goes straight now! Yay! there are a few rattles to be ironed out, but all in all Success. Now if it would warm up some I would scrub it off and buff some.... But we wait...

 

Congratulations Jerry!

Looking forward to hearing details of the remaining rattles as you track them down.

I was just up in central Indiana last weekend and it was beautiful, but as soon as we left, the weather turned nasty again. Hang in there, spring is on the way!

Cheers,

Don

 

I had One hour(!) yesterday to poke around. Jounced, jacked it up, took wheels off, pried, poked, Twisted harder on some. I conclude that its the top shock mounts. Life is relatively good.

 

Hi Jerry,

Do you mean the front top shock bushings? If so, failed bushings are a common source of rattling or knocking sounds from the front end, especially when going over bumps. I personally recommend the OE style yellow foam bushes. They only last a few years but they perform far better and more comfortably than the hard black rubber versions.

I have a photo album on replacing those bushings a the link in my signature.

Cheers,

Don

 

Yes, It was the top front shock mounts. It was my bad again. I got in a hurry and stuck a washer in where it shouldn't be. All Better! Took it out for a ride with the only issue being a rear door didn't want to latch. Next up, alignment and brake bleeding.

 

Got the car reassembled and scrubbed off. Took it for a drying drive and took some pics. The third is the problem shaft to which the left lower control arm was trying to conform. the car is still far from perfect but is at least its safe and presentable. There are more pics in my garage. Thanks for all your input on this project.