[xj40] XJ40 Output Shaft Repair and Warning!

Hi all
(long read!)
I thought I would post my experiences with repairing the output
differential shaft on my 1987 XJ40 and to warn people of the
potential disaster if these are left too long!

In my excitement to quickly seal the purchase deal (don�t do this!)
on my 40 (my F250, straight trade) I neglected to notice the right
rear wheel at a VERY noticeable tilt. (top in) The rear also made a
growling roar type noise as we drove it. When I jacked up the rear
of the car, the top of the rear wheel moved about �2 inches� in and
out! This needed to be fixed immediately!
Stopping at Jaguar I picked up a JLM615 bearing retainer collar as
this wasn�t available anywhere else, and one JLM621 O-ring for a
total of about $85.00 Canadian. The outer bearing JLM11527 crossed
to a SKF-6207-J for $18.00 at a local supplier instead of $68.00
for the Jaguar part, which I�ve been told may have actually been
the same SKF bearing anyway.

Repair:
In a level driveway, block both front wheels, park-brake on, raise
rear of car and place a quality heavy-duty jack stand on each side
of car and use the floorjack as a third safety under the
differential. Remove rear wheel.
Remove lower attachment for the level sensor, need one 10mm wrench
to hold one side and a 10mm socket for the locknut. Angle it out of
the way. You need this extra room for the half-shaft.

Take a 17mm socket and put a long extension on it and then run it
against a grinder lightly as you rotate it. You need to take a few
thousandths off the lower � inch and possibly the top � inch as
well. This socket is what you need to remove all 4 nuts and 5 bolts
and YES it needs to be a thin wall!
These bolts and nuts being original and nearly 20 years old are
TIGHT! And if you take too much off the socket it will crack it.

Starting with the output shaft nuts, I needed to position them
right at about 11:30 as you look over the hub, this puts the 17mm
and 2 foot long extension right against the exhaust pipe and I
tapped the extension with a hammer to be positive the socket was
fully seated. Did I mention they were tight??!! They would ‘‘CRACK’’
about 5 times each as they loosened that first turn.

When I removed all 4 nuts I placed the halfshaft down and supported
the hub so the ABS wires didn�t pull out. When you pull back the
halfshaft you will wonder how the heck are you going to remove the
5 bolts holding the flange or collar to the diff as there isn�t ANY
access holes in the output shaft stud end!!! I�m starting to panic
as I now have 5 monster tight bolts that are impossible to get a
socket on and a box end 17mm isn�t thin enough to go on either!

Continued next…–
–>Proud Owner of a 1987 XJ40 Sov.
Victoria BC, Canada
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

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In reply to a message from BCMedic sent Sun 24 Dec 2006:

Last one!

After a few minutes of staring at the output shaft studs I saw it�
over the studs sits a round � inch shim that I literally just
pulled off and there was indents to get to the 5 bolts with the
socket! That shim when gunked up with 20 years of crud looks like
it�s part of the output shaft and removing the 5 bolts with an open
end wrench would be impossible.

So after removing the bolts the output shaft comes out easily
except in my case when it came out so did a rain of ball bearings!
The outer bearing was gone, the outer race was loose inside, and I
only had 8 ball bearings and not 9 like there should be. I drained
the old black oil and eventually found 3 pieces of the missing ball
bearing, I actually found a piece of it inside the left oil hole
inside the differential, I hooked it out with a wire.

I debated and analyzed for hours on how to remove the rear cover to
search for the missing � of a ball bearing. As they are super hard,
one piece between the crown and pinion gear would destroy it I�m
sure. With the boot floor only a few inches from the rear of the
differential my only option seemed to be to remove the whole
flippin cage�ARGH!
Then I came up with option #2�I had a very small telescoping magnet
that I bent slightly and inserted in the fill hole and pulled out
maybe 30 or more times and each time had a ball of metal fuzz on
the end and enough little shreds to make up for the missing pieces�
I hope! We blasted a can of tool cleaner with a small hose all
inside and then flushed out with a litre of 30W and ran the magnet
all around the bottom till it was clean.

I then had a machine shop press off the old collar and what
remained of the old bearing and press on the new ones and found the
oil seal in perfect shape so I reused it. I pre-oiled the bearing,
seal and half shaft with synthetic 75/90W, installed the new o-ring
and reinstalled the half shaft. The differential took just over 2
L. of synthetic after making sure everything was tight, the drain
and fill plugs were installed with Teflon tape, the level sensor
was attached and then the wheel.

On lowering the car I immediately noticed the wheel was now
perfectly straight, it didn�t angle in 2 inches any more. Driving
the car I�m amazed how it now seems to sit up slightly now in the
rear and ALL the growling noise is gone! Success!!

PS
Due to the fact that the outer bearing was literally gone, the
wheel as I mentioned was tilted in at the top an inch or two…and
what was really happening was that the back of the 4 studs were
actually grinding against the heads of the 5 flange bolts!
All 9 had a few thousandth groove in them and also the inside of
the wheel was starting to rub on two bolts that hold a rubber
bumper inside the fender. An angel was with us as that tire could
of blown anytime!
Hope this helps someone.

Randy–
The original message included these comments:

Continued next…


–>Proud Owner of a 1987 XJ40 Sov.
Victoria BC, Canada
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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Visit the Jag Lovers homepage at http://www.jag-lovers.org for exciting services and resources including Photo Albums, Event Diary / Calendar, On Line Books and more !