Putting In Engine

Chassis finaly rolling again



The body is finally rolling. Front and rear axles fitte dwith 2inch lifted shackles. New 32inch mud tyres itted to ex-BJ73 chrome rims. Tough dog steering damper fitted to front.



Before

After

Front Axle is Completed

As you can see in my last post on the front axle it was in poor condition. Externaly the paint was flaking, it was heavily rusted and the seals had leaked mixing the knuckle grease, diff oil and mud/water etc into a horrid concoction - there was also 30 years of grease and leaked brake fluid all over the place too!

The above two pictures show the axle stripped with undercoat. Didnt need to strip the diff luckily. 

Knuckle housing installed with new bearings and the control arm.

Packed full of grease brake backing and spindle attached.

Axle painted, new rotors, hubs, wheel bearings installed.

The Dreaded Front Axle

Leaf Springs sanded ready for painting

Decided to not replace current springs - they were just a bit rusty but still holding up fine.

Thr front springs are shown here rusty, they are more heavily rusted than the rear ones were. The rear springs are shown stripped and prepared for painting. Saved $700 reconditioning th esprings versus new.

Rear Axle Overhaul

The rear diff was in pretty poor shape. There was alot of external surface rust and the diff and axle show some signs of some heavy off road activity.

After I started pulling down the axle I discovered that the springs had been replaced at some time in the past and that the hubs were from a 75 series. Gotta love landcruisers, you can mix and match parts fairly easily. The axle housing below has been stripped and ready for cleaning and rebuild. Pretty simple diff with fully floating axles.

Brake drums and brake backing plates ready for cleaning and repainting.

Brake backing plate before blasting and after!

 Brake baking plate after bead blasting and painting.

 Drums sprayed

The old diff out and will be replaced with a 75 series diff.

 Below is the new diff - pretty good value only $152 off ebay.......gotta love ebay!

 

 Packing new bearings with grease, always fun. The old bearings and races came out easy. Bearings and seals were around $60 per side.

 Axle housing sanded back to get rid of rust and old paint and Etch primer sprayed on.

Backing plates attached and hubs installed, diff will be next, then brake shoes, drums and wheels and then ready for painting.

Brakes installed

Drums installed 

Got 5 rims with caps from a BJ73 - great deal at $350 with tyres having between 60-70% tread.

 Diff ready for painting,

Rust Blast Applied

The top pic shows the chassis completely stripped and washed with AQUA CLEAN by KBS Coatings. It is a three part system. The second part of the system is washing down in a product called RUST BLAST, it is a self-etching primer that also neutralises the rust. The  white film you can see is the zinc cozting that is applied over the metal to protect it for upto 30 days prior to painting. The final coat will be RUST SEAL which bonds to teh steal and creates a incredibly hard surface, in gloss black.

So to apply the RUST SEAL It needs to be below 28 degrees and 60% humidity!!!! And that just aint happening here in Rainy QLD where it rains more than Melbourne!! Its either below 60% humidity and 30+ degrees or 25 degrees and 85% humidity! Cant win...only got max of 30 days before I'll have to recoat with RUST BLAST!