Building and Fitting the axle

In between the small amount of time I have hand off work over the last few weeks I have cracked on with a few jobs.

First up the newly painted hub had the treads cleaned out, and the over spray cleaned off area where paint isn't needed.

Then I installed the bearing races and removed a 2nd wheel stud, as I found another which was damaged.

Then fitted the a new wheel stud.

After this I installed grease, bearings, more grease, seals and yet more grease. Once complete on went the new discs.

The hubs and disc went on to the axle, then the washers and first axle nut.

At this point it was time to measure the free-play with a DTI, as seen below.

Once the free-play was correctly set, the half-shafts were installed and bolted up.

Then I quickly stuck on the wheels and dropped the axle off the bench.

I then jacked up the rear of the Defender, off the chassis so the wheels were off the floor.

The prop shaft and brake line was then disconnected.

I then removed the radius arms and shock, which allowed the axle to drop on to a axle stand.

The same was repeated on the other side, springs removed, and the axle was dragged out.

One old axle, looking for a new home.....

At this point I decided to dummy fit some of the nice D44 kit I had brought, here it is.

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Plodding on.

Over the last few weeks I have been continuing with the refurb of the axle, self-levelling unit, and a few smaller jobs along the way.

First up I finished off painting the self-levelling unit which I had previously removed.

The next job was to wire brush the rear axle ready for paint.

After degreasing, the axle received a spray of undercoat.

During paint coats I set about repairing a spot of rust in the outrigger, first I wire brushed the wax off.

Then cut back the rust ready to weld up.

All welded up.

Then added a layer of wax to protect it from the elements.

Another job I had to do was to paint the return fuel filter cover as every time I unscrewed it petrol would flow over it, taking off the wax. So it needed to be painted. First up I removed the sleeve from its postion.

Then cleaned it up and gave it and its bolt a few coats of chassis paint.

I had quite a few items to spray….

 Here is the axle with its final coat.

I also fitted and X-Eng plug, which plugs the oil drain and also has a magnet to capture any loose metal inside the diff, which I thought was a good idea.

Another job I took care of in between painting (lots of waiting around) was to strip back my newly acquired steel wheels.

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