I am planning how to replace the half-shaft UJs with the minimum
amount of work. Since I rebuilt the IRS recently, I am hopeful that
the half shafts will separate from the hub carriers without the
need for the special hub puller, or a press (which I had to use
when I rebuilt them originally). I am therefore wondering if I can
avoid removing the hub carriers from the lower wishbones - i.e. not
remove the outer fulcrum shafts. The idea goes something like this:
Jack up the rear of the car under the tie plate of the IRS.
Support it here.
Remove the road wheels.
Loosen the nuts that secure the half-shafts to the hub carriers
Place a floor jack under the hub to support it
Remove the shaft that attaches the shock absorbers to the lower
wishbone.
Remove the bolt through the rear radius arm bushing that
attaches it to the lower wishbone.
The hub should then be resting on the floor jack and free to be
lowered.
Remove the 4 nuts securing the inner half-shaft yoke to the
diff/disk brake.
Slide the yoke off the 4 bolts and withdraw the half-shaft
outwards. As the shaft is withdrawn, the hub-carrier will pivot
about the outer fulcrum shaft, and provided there is enough
clearance, rotate through 180 degrees efectively turning the half-
shaft ‘‘inside out’’.
Slide the half-shaft out of the hub-carrier on the splines
(this is where we will see if the anti-seize worked…).
Has anyone tried this, or have a better suggestion? I’d like to try
to avoid removing the outer fulcrum shaft with all the attendant
fiddlyness of getting all the shims etc back in place on re-
assembly.
-David–
davidxk '56 XK-140 OTS, '69 XKE OTS , '98 XK8
Monterey CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from davidxk sent Fri 21 Oct 2011:
David,
No need to touch the radius arm bushings. After removing the
BFN from the outer end of the half-shaft, you can simply
rotate the hub carrier outward on the fulcrum shaft enough to
disconnect the half-shaft from the hub. Then disconnect the
lower end of one shock to give you enough room to get the
inner end out. You can have both half-shafts out in about 20
minutes.–
Ray Livingston - '64 OTS Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz, CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from davidxk sent Fri 21 Oct 2011:
David,
You should be able to rotate the hub downward and out of
the way - you might have to remove the grease nipple on the
fulcrum casing. If the anti-sieze didn’t work you can use a
standard three-jaw puller to push the shaft out if it’s not
too rusty; that’s how I did it.
Ken Edgar
'71 E-type FHC
'85 XJ6
'02 VDP–
The original message included these comments:
I am planning how to replace the half-shaft UJs with the minimum
amount of work. Since I rebuilt the IRS recently, I am hopeful that
the half shafts will separate from the hub carriers without the
need for the special hub puller, or a press (which I had to use
when I rebuilt them originally). I am therefore wondering if I can
avoid removing the hub carriers from the lower wishbones - i.e. not
remove the outer fulcrum shafts. The idea goes something like this:
No need to touch the radius arm bushings. After removing the
BFN from the outer end of the half-shaft, you can simply
rotate the hub carrier outward on the fulcrum shaft enough to
disconnect the half-shaft from the hub. Then disconnect the
lower end of one shock to give you enough room to get the
inner end out. You can have both half-shafts out in about 20
minutes.
David, this is exactly how I did it. But as I am an idiot, it took a tad longer.
–chuck goolsbee
65ots, 1E10715On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:38:51 -0700, Ray Livingston wrote:
In reply to a message from Ray Livingston sent Fri 21 Oct 2011:
Thanks everybody. It sounds like you can get enough movement to
release the half shaft from the hub carrier without dropping the
lower wishbone beyond the travel of the shock absorbers which is
great news. This saves me several steps. As a ‘‘Ray minute’’ is about
5 of mine, I’ll plan on taking a couple of hours to get the half
shafts out, but that sure beats dropping the IRS…
Thanks again,
-David–
davidxk '56 XK-140 OTS, '69 XKE OTS , '98 XK8
Monterey CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
Reviving an old thread which was consulted prior to today’s work session.
Half-shafts were removed from a Series 1 in situ by undoing the flange nuts then applying a puller to the hub carrier. First one was done with a home-made tool fashioned from an extra knock-off nut (hole in the center, steel plate and big nut welded inside) then a friend showed up with the Churchill tool which was used on the other side:
In each case a puller was required as considerable force had to be applied. The hubs had not been separated in a long time, if ever.
Once the half-shaft was loose the lower bolts on the rear shocks were undone to let the shock swing outward and create a gap to get the half-shaft through.
Exactly! That was 6 years ago, after I got back from the SOL. I had to replace the almost-new half-shaft UJs again - I think I got some butter-metal ones. I guess I got it right second time, as they’ve done 20K+ miles without issue since.
They both worked. We had a socket that fit the big screw in the home-made tool so we were able to use an electric impact wrench on it – but on the second one it was slow going and the electric impact wrench was getting really hot.
We did not have a big enough socket for the Churchill tool so it had to be worked by hand - so hard to compare the two.
With a good source of air pressure and big enough sockets the job would have been easier with either tool – but having them made it possible.
I will add, while no substitute for a good pneumatic impact wrench, this electric one from HF was impressive and tolerated a fair amount of abuse at our hands:
I’ve got modified knockoff’s I use with a large gear puller. Works sometimes. I always leave the nut on - backed off so that it’s level with the end of the threaded portion of the spline and use a socket over that when applying pressure. The first time I tried to get these apart (1976) I didn’t use the socket and compressed the end of the threaded portion of the spline enough to distort the threads. It didn’t work - had to go to the machine shop.
HF electric tools have always worked for me - never a complaint.
