Haha this is true. I knew nothing of Jaguars. But fell in love with the style right away.

 

I took the day off as my back was bothering me a bit. so i found a Canadian supplier of parts. Spent a couple of hrs doing an excel spread sheet with costs comparisons with different items etc. conclusion. Even though the shipping in Canada is cheap, the markup price didn't make up the difference in shipping saves buy approx 10%. So I'll keep ordering from RockAuto and other non Canadian based suppliers.

gonna jump back in tomorrow. remove the half axles next which is apparently harder when the cage is off if i didn't loosen the bolts while still in the car lol.

 

What's the best way to check the bearings? Since I've never driven this vehicle technically. How can I truly tell if they are still good? If they move freely in my hand and I dont see any grooves or were damage would that indicate they are ok?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

When you remove the bearings, wipe them on a dark cloth and look closely. Any tiny metallic particles? If so, the bearing is condemned instantly. But lack of metallic particles doesn't prove that a bearing is good, mind you.

Much comes of experience. How smoothly and quietly a hub spins can tell you a lot about the bearings..... but is hard to describe. It should be very smooth and virtually silent....but even that requires some frame of reference. For the moment I'll say this: new bearings, properly greased, installed, and adjusted will demonstrate how things should feel and sound. Going forward from that it'll be easier to recognize how worn bearings feel and sound.

Cheers
DD

 

thanks. When I replaced the front rotors and brakes I looked at the bearings and they seemed newer and no noise once I reassembled and everything did turn smoothly.

Guess I'll just look at the rear ones the same way and go from there. If I suspect one is bad I'll post pics to get 2and opinions.

 

These bolts were tough. Worst I've encountered so far. And I ultimately sacrificed one to the mechanic gods.

and check out the grease. In the hub.

And my breaker bar lol

 

Done for the day. Got the rest of the brakes off. Man that bottom caliper bolt is hard to get a wrench on little movements. A stubby or ratcheting wrenching your friend here. 5/8 if anyone cares lol.

I have to say the calipers look not too bad. I'll take a better look tomorrow. Fingers cross I can rebuild them.

My scrap metal bin is getting full.

And man is there grease everywhere.

How it sits now.



how I am keeping organized

 

Cool project, lots to learn here. I really enjoy rebuild thing like this.. looks a bit scary but the hardest part is usually starting.
Keep the updates coming!

Are you planning on keeping the plastic universal covers?
I have 1 or 2 left, some say they take them off and throw them in the bin.

Going to be fun getting that stud out, have you got a stud remover or going the vice grip road?

 

Ya those plastic covers are brittle and garbage imo. I'll give em a cleaning first but I can see why people discard them. They actually collect dirt and besides universals on drive shafts are always exposed.

As for that bolt, once I take the half shaft apart I should come right out. You cant remove it because the bolt head is almost against the plate behind it. U can see the bolt here.





If u go to do this make sure u those half shaft bolts before you remove the brake stuff. The brakes help hold shaft still. It's best to brake them free while still in the car so u can use the handbrake to hold the shafts from spinning. I used a combo of 17mm and 11/16th depending on the rust buildup.

 

While the rear end is out, when I get to the waiting for parts phase, anything else I should look at in the back underneath. I'm gonna give it a clean and sand any rust away and cover it up with rust reformer then paint but anything else? The fuel tank doesnt leak but there is a fuel odor in the trunk. It might be from sitting for years and I havent really aired it out. I did empty it out including spare tire. I know the fuel filter will need changing.

Just brain storming. I dont want to miss something and realised I have to drop the rear end again to get at it lol.

also i am debating between paint the rear end black or like an grayish color (to see potential leaks in the future) and maybe the trial arms and brake calipers red. Been searching for xjs pics and have only found a few with colored options.

Anyways i havent done anything today. Had to do some errands. After lunch the tear down will continue. So much grease lol.

 

I'm trying to remove the hubs next.but it's very badly rusted. The split pin is completely rusted on both sides. What are my options for getting it out? Drill it out? What size drill bit?

I would say this is the most rust on the whole rear end. I remember I had a hell of a time getting the wheels off the back as they were stuck on do to rust.

 

After reading a bunch of posts about the rear hub etc and the possibility of never being able to get the hub off due to jaguar using loctite...I think I'm just gonna leave the hubs on.

I'll change the inner universal now and later on I'll do the hub etc. at a later date.

For the universal on the inside of hub I'll clean it all up and grease it. Once I get it on the road I'll know soon enough if they are bad or are fine.

For future ref what's the size of the axle nut? I think.i read 32mm but not sure. I know its bigger than 27mm as that's as big as I have for sockets lol.

 

The socket size is 1 and 1/8th A/F. It is not the loctite that is the problem, the driveshaft splines just rust into the hub splines. It took 40 tonnes of hydraulic press knocking on the shafts to eventually get mine out!
I think you have made a very sensible decision Rescue. The only reason I touched mine was the mystery vibration I was trying to chase. The hub bearings were perfect, in fact. My UJs were not, but in the absence of any nasty symptoms I would not touch EITHER UJ on the driveshaft. In my case the removal process knackered the bearings. This is not a needed precautionary maintenance job at all. You will have to remove the hub as a unit the change the inner ones, and it will be extremely cumbersome to do the job with the hub on the end of the driveshaft, believe me. Also you will have to VERY carefully insert and fix a dummy shaft into the hub lower fulcrum, as with all the movement and shock it will be subject to, you will be bound to displace the shims inside; these are crucial in setting the bearing preload in the hub lower fulcrum bearings, and a TOTAL pain to redo if they come displaced.
So in your place I would change the diff oil, new discs and calipers etc etc, and bung it back in the car!
But if you have a broken stud, then you have no option but to find a heavy machinery shop with one of these 40 tonne presses - which is what it took to get mine out. Or, and why not, buy a second hand already separated driveshaft and hub, and then you can rebuild the lot, bearings UJ and all. (see next post for photos, which for some unknown reason decided to insert themselves there!)

 

 

OMG that looks scary...head back in to sand LOL

 

Out of curiosity, Greg. Does a press like that vibrate, or have some kind of alternating impact? Or is it just slow steady and increasing pressure?

I hear talk of tons being used to press things out, 10, 20, 30 or 40 tons and the thought of anything taking that much force blows me away.

Do you thinking an impacting/vibrating or oscillating type of pressure combination would have a better effect?

 

JJJ
This particular press is in the local heavy machinery repair place. It thumps the item in question, pulsing against it about 3 times a second I would estimate. Steady pressure, as in a home-type hydraulic press you can buy, would not have done it, I reckon. It only started to shift, and that very slowly, a few mm at a time, once the pressure got up to 38 tonnes on the dial! The large castellated nut was on the threads to protect them, and even so the top few threads were mushroomed out and the nut completely ruined.

 

Thanks Greg. I'm gonna start cleaning what I can today. So much grease caked on.

All the wheel studs are fine it's the broke bolt that's holds the drive shaft to the diff. But it's a bolt not a stud so I just need to loosen the other part.

For the 10 minutes I drove the car and anytime I've rotated the rear wheels etc I've heard no grinding binding or anything. And with all the grease I think it was well maintained up until it was parked 4 years ago. Eventually I'll get it on the hwy And find out for sure. Maybe by summers end.

Cheers.

 

Should I replace the diff cover gasket? Or can I do that in car? Once I clean everything then I'll drain the diff.fluid and see what it's like.

 

Replace the gasket now the axle is out! Not doable in-car.