Hello all, happy new year. My winter project is to overhaul the front suspension assembly from the mk2 - I've got it almost entirely disassembled, and I just have a few questions about bits that I'm stuck on.

Hopefully you can help, so:

1) when dismantling hubs, manual says remove grease seal to extract inboard inner bearing race. Any ideas on how to get these seals off? I fear the parts on mine aren't original so I might be trying the impossible, but as the outboard roller bearing looks in good condition I don't want to damage the inboard one on removal. I'm hoping I can clean up the hubs and just replace the inner races - suggestions/pics appreciated.

2) the tie rod ball joints - manual says not serviceable but I assume this means you can remove them and replace the joint. I can't work out how to remove the ball joints from the tie rods (ball end) - I can't believe you have to replace the tie rods at the same time?! Any suggestions for removal method?

3) my steering box appears to be painted white (after a clean) - anyone know if this is original? If not can anyone tell me what colour it should be?


Many thanks in advance,

B

 

If your old seals are original, they will be leather. The steel they are made out of are very soft; you can get seal extractors, but I just use a big old flat blade screw driver.
The tricky bit is pressing the new seals in with out distorting them. You may want to leave this small job for a transmission or a machine shop _ it won't be expensive.
And one more thing, if the bearings are in good shape (no galling or wear _ should look nice and shiny) don't remove the inner race.
Also check the grease nipples and make sure they are not plugged.




The guy in the video chews the seal up a bit and tears it apart, but you don't really have to do that. You can use his vice-grip method, but it's not necessary to tear the old seal apart.


As for your tie rod ends, Jaguar has made them permanently attached to the tie rods _ you have to buy the whole tie rod with the tie rod ends.


I've never seen a steering box painted white, I've only seen black.

 

True, but only up to a point ! The originals were all of one piece, but when Jaguar introduced the Marles Varamatic steering box to the Mark 2, S-type and 420 saloons in the late 60s, this demanded precise centralisation of the steering box, (unlike the previous Burman box), so the track rods have separate, and adjustable, ball jointed ends. My Mark 2 had the "solid" non-adjustable rods, and I replaced like with like but that was in the 80s so I suspect the fixed type are no longer made.

Here is what SNG Barratt now sell, a totally adjustable track rod that is compatible with all the cars that have the fixed rod.

http://www.sngbarratt.com/ProductDet...def2236b5f&l=7

 

I have some spares that I bought for cheap right from my local Jag dealer, they were trying to get rid of them. They are of the solid one piece type. Those new ones would make it easier to adjust the toe in and toe out, that's for sure.

 

thanks for the quick replies - very useful. Having not removed one before I didn't realise that the grease seals were so deep - I'll order a couple of new ones as it looks like I'll damage them on the way out.

Jeff - when you say don't remove the inner race if they look good, do you mean the outer race (the bit that's pressed into the hub)? The inner race of the outboard taper bearing came out when I removed the hub from the axle, and I assumed the inboard rollers would do the same. I just want to get it to the point where I can clean the hub without damaging the rollers, so I was planning to leave the outer races in the hubs.

The steering box will get some black paint when it's cleaned up - it will match the idler then too.

re. tie rods - that's irritating, as I was hoping to keep as many original bits as I could. The adjustable ones do look like a good solution, as I presume otherwise the adjustment is via the track rod ends which would be painful. At the same time I have a small aversion to 'modernising'... annoying decision to make...

B

 

Tracking adjustment is carried out by turning the tracking rod that links the steering box and the idler. One first has to undo the securing clips, of course. With the later track rods, this rod is secured in place once on initial assembly and not used for adjustment.

 

You have your terminology reversed, the part of the bearing that is pressed into the hub is referred to as the inner race and if in good condition, should be left alone. Cleaning can be done with it in place.
The outer race is the ring that comes out when you take the castle nut off to remove the hub. The part in between the inner and outer race can be called the cone or the roller cag assembly, I've heard it been referred to a few times.


Something that I should mention too, don't be tempted to have the hubs sandblasted to prep them for painting. Even if the people at the sand blasting place mask of the inner hub to protect the inner race, one can never get rid of all the fine bits of sand. Any tiny amount on the bearing surface will destroy the bearing.

 

Fraser - good point! Not quite so painful then, but it sounds like original spec parts are hard to come by unless Jeff would like to part with his spares ;-)

Apologies for the confusion Jeff - I was going off fig. 3 here, but either way I think we're both talking about the same bit :-) Good point about blasting - luckily I think they just need a good degrease, but I'll make sure I keep those surfaces protected.

http://www.skf.com/group/products/bearings-units-housings/roller-bearings/principles/bearing-terminology/index.html


Assuming I cant find original spec parts, can anyone give any insight as to why these parts are almost half the price of SNG? I havent personally used David Manners but I understand theyre well known in the UK.

http://www.jagspares.co.uk/Manners/partdetail.asp?partno=C22678%2F1%2A

cheers, B

 

Different manufacturer, maybe ? There is huge variation in parts prices for long obsolete models. Why not ask SNG Barratt why their identical part costs nearly twice as much ! Pictures of the part on the two websites shows differences in the ball joint ends, so it's a matter of trusting the lower priced item. As regarding price variations, if you look for shock absorbers, there are huge variations in price for these for modern cars.