Swivel joint oil leak - picking garage to fix...

[Te_Bheag]

Hi fellow UK Patrol owners. My NSF swivel joint seals look like they need replacing, which is no great surprise after nearly 200k miles.

Is this a job which any old garage could/should do, or should I focus on 4x4 specialists or even seek out a Nissan Patrol specialist? Parts look to be available from Milners, or I could get a kit over from Australia.

Also, are there any other jobs worth having done "while you're down there"? Bearings?

Any recommendations? I'm West Midlands, but travel all over the country, but within about 100 miles best.

Hope you can help

 

[rustic]

Hi, if you do a search under "swivel hub" there are a few threads to read whilst you are waiting for a reply from someone who has changed one.

It looks like a DIY task, but if your balls are pitted or corroded , then you might not get too good a seal, although a member on this site once filled the pitting with some filler.
Not sure how effective it was though..:nenau

Rustic

 

[Barrbeast]

Most garages should be able to do it mate, although try to get the parts yourself first.

It's quite possible you've got a swivel or hub bearing gone which will have caused the seal to start leaking as it will be allowing movement (bottom swivel bearing is what had gone with me).

The easiest thing to do is to get a hub rebuild kit which will have all the seals/bearings etc for the swivel hub and get them to give the whole thing a refresh (they'll have to take it all apart anyway so they might as well replace all the wearing parts)

I would go for a kit from Aus as Milners don't supply the kits, just the separate parts and at least with a kit you've got everything. From my experience the kits available in the UK are a) more expensive than the Aus kits and b) only have the parts for one side compared with both sides in an Aus kit.

I do a lot of stuff on my Trol myself but when I had a leaky swivel I decided got mine done by my local garage as (from what I'd been told on the Aus Patrol Forums) it's a right pain to get the inner axle seal seated correctly (thats the seal that'll be leaking). I'm glad I did - they had to drain the axle and take the swivel apart THREE times to get the seal seated correctly :doh

 

[Grundyd]

The swivel ball has no oil in it the seal is just a wiper. I rebuilt one last month and doing the other this week. The oil will be coming from the diff through the drive shaft seal due to the play in the swivel bearings. It's not a bad job to do just the age old thing of rusted bolts lol.

 

[Te_Bheag]

Cheers lads, I think I'll source the kit from Aus and have my trusty garage do the job. As you say, it's worth getting the bearings done too. There is a little 'looseness' at the front end, so could be part of the issue. Might as well do both sides at once.

If anyone here has sourced from Australia, who did you buy from and were you happy with the quality and service?

 

[makeitfit]

I've had stuff from ebay Aus no probs , just expensive post and customs
Milner list all the parts separate but will collect all the bits into a kit for you. They also offer the option of OEM or better Jap quality bits.
Club discount too.
Filling the pits is OK and works but as said above the leak will be an axle half shaft seal .

 

[Barrbeast]

Milner list all the parts separate but will collect all the bits into a kit for you

Buggers never offered me that when I phoned up looking for parts when I got mine rebuilt! :hmh

I think it can depend with stuff from Aus as to whether it works out cheaper or not. When I got my solid flywheel and HD clutch it was around £300 cheaper (inc customs and delivery) to order it from Aus instead of a UK supplier :nenau

 

[makeitfit]

Buggers never offered me that when I phoned up looking for parts when I got mine rebuilt! :hmh

I think it can depend with stuff from Aus as to whether it works out cheaper or not. When I got my solid flywheel and HD clutch it was around £300 cheaper (inc customs and delivery) to order it from Aus instead of a UK supplier :nenau

I asked for a man that new what was what They also sent me the schematic of the hubs/axle so I could pick n choose if I wanted :thumbs
As you say it's always worth checking out the Aus prices :sly

 

[Grundyd]

Done my swivel bearings today took about 2.5 hours in total nice easy job! Didn't remove the abs sensor just put the hub on a box so not to pull the wiring.

 

[Te_Bheag]

Blimey Grundyd, I've absolutely no inclination to try it myself! Respect!!

I've ordered the bearing and seal kit from OnlineAutoParts in Aus, dispatched this morning via DHL apparently.

Thanks for the help chaps :thumbs

 

[Grundyd]

Blimey Grundyd, I've absolutely no inclination to try it myself! Respect!!

I've ordered the bearing and seal kit from OnlineAutoParts in Aus, dispatched this morning via DHL apparently.

Thanks for the help chaps :thumbs

It's only nuts and bolts take your time watch what you do and it's not a bad job just a bit of grease lol. First time it took me most of the day this time 2 hours max.