Hello all,
This is my first post at Jg Lovers. I’m in the process of freshening up my SII SWB RHD XJ and I am on the cusp of disassembling the entire rear end. I donb’t think I want to tackle it so, while the car is up in the air, what should I look at replacing/cleaning/inspecting?
Welcome to the forum Ron.
First question is what is the reason you are on the cusp of disassembling the entire rear end ?
Second, how deep do you want to go…
Discs, brake pads and handbrake caliper service are first on the list.
Diff output seals and bearings once you are there
Check for play on the U-joints and wheel bearings.
If you want the full Monty, then change every bearing and seal there is and you will be good for the next thirty years.
Best,
Aristides
Thank you sir!
I have the engine out for new top hat sleeves and the front suspension out just to clean up and rebuild with new bushings all around. My initial intention was to rebuild the entire drive train front to back but I think I want my car back on the road sooner rather than later.
I figure over the next winter or two I can pull it out and do a complete rebuild but for now do what I should to keep everything sorted.
Thank you for the info, that makes life much easier.
First off wWelcome to JL. First off you’re number four or possibly one of the other two of the SWB Series II that I been able to track down. Here’s mine
I’m starting a Jaguar centric channel on youtube called Jag Mods
I’m currently going through the '73 IRS, for the first time. It’s been a learning experience to say the least. The only thing I can say is it’s layers of an onion. Peal back one layer only to discover another. I’ve got it pretty much completely disassembled down to the final drive, Unfortuantely I don’t have all of the videos posted yet. Editing the videos takes about 4 to 5 hours for a 15 minute posted video.
Things to check:
- Look for leaks around the final drive- typically over time the final drive unit seals leak around the input and output locations.
- condition of the brakes & brake lines
- make sure the e-brake is functioning correctly. More often than not the tensioner is activated every time the ebrake is used. it’s a spur gear & a spring tensioned leaver. Usually the spring gives up and the ebrake no longer works. This is my next video is assembling the ebrake.
- end-play on the wheel hubs and carrier ideally about .002-006 thou.
- Radius arm bushings and mounting points
- Rust… The cage (containing the IRS), the mounting points of the radius arms
Stuff to seriously consider replacing while it’s apart
- fulcrum arm bearings & seals inner and outer. More often than not these will require replacing no matter how well the IRS was maintained. It’s just a matter of time
- Final drive seals. (input yoke & output shafts) I haven’t gotten this far in my videos yet.
- rubber bits mounts and bushings.
Follow my thread Radius arms. which side is up - first time rebuild. and My new tips and tricks video this
The carrier and wheel hub are easily replaced while still in the car. the
1 Like
Hi Mark!
Thank you for the input. I will take care of all of that stuff while it’s on the body dolly. Rust is one thing I don’t need to worry about - the car spent it’s entire life in the Western Australia blast furnace desert where I acquired it as a daily driver while working there.
The greensand car is mine, the other car pictured was purchased for spares. This is back in 2006.
1 Like
By the way, your car is a beauty…
Wonderful car, wonderful color - what’s the interior? Moss green?
The diff and the entire rear suspension is very robust, so if the metal parts are rust free and the bushings don’t scream “change me”, I’d check all u-joints and bearings, grease up everything, change the diff oil maybe and call it a day.
Things may get different once you have serious work to do on the rear brakes - if so, it may indeed be easier to remove the IRS and once removed you might just as well … (you continue at discretion)
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 (UK spec)
1 Like
A nice car you have there Monsieur Napoleon !
I sure love the lines of the SWB SII, even tough I have a SIII…
Are you a Canadian living in Australia, or Australian living in Canada and a crazy person that takes his car to transcontinental voyages?..
I brought mine in France when I moved from Canada !
Best,
Aristides
I’m a Canadian who went to work in Australia back in my Mining engineering days. Spent a year (from ‘06 to ‘07) out on the left coast where I found that little gem you see there. I stuffed it in a seacan with the rest of our belongings when I came back home.
The interior is biscuit. This exact interior I pinched from that parts car which had been refurbished years before I bought it. The leather in my greensand car was like cardboard so I tossed it. Both were biscuit.
Funny, when customs opened the seacan and started doing their thing, the officer commented to my wife that ‘He must really like his car - nobody ships them like this…’
True on all counts.
1 Like
Magnificent - views like that make you think about getting a second car, just because looking at two feels twice as good as looking at one;-)
Were the Australian cars produced there at the time or did they come as knocked-down kits? In the second case your car might have travelled around the world without even starting its engine …
In the UK greensand came with biscuit, like in your car, olive or cinnamon leather.
My own car would fit nicely in between your twins - colorwise, that is. Apart from that I wouldn’t to drive on your yard with those bright, clean tiles and the current state of my car’s countenance, well, continence;-)
Keep us posted
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
This is my interior after my wife and I installed the new carpet kit and refurbished the leather. You can still see the driver’s door panel is not attached yet.
3 Likes
Very nice indeed! Did you refurbish the original leather from the other car or reupholster with new leather?
My car has very soft leather on the front seats, but I worked about two cups of grease into the upper part of the rear bench to get the leather pliable again - still I could continue …
You also replaced the door felt I suppose. Unfortunately, the original color felts are NLA:-(
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Hi Jochen,
We rejuvenated the leather from my 1976 ‘parts car’ the BRG car pictured. We used a combination of cleaners, dye, leather oil and elbow grease. We stripped the leather down to bare using steel wool and sand paper (yep…) then re-dyed everything followed by massaging the leather oil in. Quite the process but the results are worth it.
On a side note, according to my JHTC my car was built, then shipped to Australia 3 weeks later as a complete car. From what I was told by the service shops my car was one of only 2 greensand cars in Western Australia. I actually saw the other one from a distance as I was blasting along the Mitchel Freeway…
Never saw it again.
A lot of Jaguars got sold to rich mining dudes in WA.
Billionaire late Lang Hancock used Jaguars as the dirt road distances are so vast in WA
He and others noted nothing else was so nice on a rough dirt road than a Jaguar suspension
Funny you say that because It seemed as if my car had seen a lot of desert roads AND, you have me extra curious because the first owner was not named…I always suspected that perhaps my car was special ordered by someone who wanted to remain anonymous…
Maybe it was one of the mine tycoons. I contacted all of the shops that may have serviced the car but I could derive no history before 1992.
No Jochen, all three of mine were made in Coventry. That said there were some British cars and others assembled at the AMI plant: Triumphs, Vanguards etc.
Indeed, I seemed to remember that many British cars were produced down under and put Jaguar among them. Good to know better now!
Then again, this car only needs a trip back to Europe for a Grand Tour maybe, to finish its journey around the world …
Enjoy the week end
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
My '74 Daimler Vanden Plas Double Six is like that
It was a private import, and has no Australian Compliance plate
The situation was a lot of tax could be saved under some situations
(maybe like yours…someone from overseas brings a vehicle with them)
In WA, as you would know, there is vast wealth concentrated in mining and agriculture, and these areas are thousands of kilometres from the Perth.
Its highly likely your vehicle was owned by a mining executive or director
bearing in mind, at that time, there was only 3 cars to really be considered by a top exec
Rolls, Mercedes and Jaguar, and if you are on bad roads, Jaguar is a clear choice
definition of mining company directors…a bunch of thieves standing around a hole in the ground
WOW! what a beauty! Lucky you - no rust. That is death around here. The standing joke for people who live in Western Washington USA, is We don’t tan we rust. I fight mildew every winter in my Jags. Absolutely beautiful!