Bordfunker

Colin, yes it is, I said it was didn’t I! Found on a local disused railway when I was about 13 and I’ve been threatening to fix it up for the last 35 years! I’m well pleased with how they have come up, just need to improve my welding now! Karl

Despite the record temperatures, or maybe because of them, as Mrs B, being of Celtic descent, it not overly fond of extreme temperatures, and by that I mean anything over 15 degrees C, I have manged to actually complete everything that I planned to do this long weekend. Yesterday was spent rubbing down the components due for paint, and applying another coat of primer where required, so nothing particularly worthy of pictures. I did however finish off reassembling the driver's side hub and shaft by fitting the brake shoe adjuster, having finally found the two securing nuts for the back, and a pack of zip ties required to hold the adjusters in without the brake shoes. It needs a few touch ups here and there, but I'll do that once I've finished assembling all of the drive line components. I also spent an hour or so tidying up the garage and hoovering it ahead of applying paint today. First thing this morning, well not first thing, as I had to mow the lawn first, I set about setting up for painting, arranging the various conponents to be painted, to ensure that I had proper access, and wouldn't be catching the items with the airline as I moved around. And yes that is a railway lamp on the shelf, don't ask. My makeshift support for the propshaft, which allowed me 360 degree access for painting. As per usual you end up spending way more time setting up for painting than you ever do actually painting, but finally everything was prepped, paint mixed, guns checked, and no more excuses not to start painting, which resulted in this little lot. Particularly pleased with the shine on those flanges, along with the driveshaft. I suppose I didn't really need to repaint the oil drain, or bearing retainer, but they were there, so why not. The propshaft came out quite nicely as well, certainly an improvement on how it looked last week, and just needs a couple of touch ups where I didn't quite get the gun to it around the UJ knuckles. And finally the heater box components got another coat of paint as I wasn't happy with the finish I achieved last time, but this time I think they may just do. Before I can reassemble the hubs I need to order bearings and seals, which I will get from the club, along with new UJs for the propshaft and driveshaft, so the next few weeks will be spent assembling all of that and slowly rebuilding each assembly, including the heater. Karl

Pete, don’t worry all of the mating surfaces have been left free of paint, merely receiving a clean up and a coat of rust inhibitor. Tony, Mathew, it will get driven, and it certainly won’t be concourse, as I just want it clean and tidy as that will make reassembly a lot easier and more pleasurable, as well as making ongoing maintenance easier, both in terms of actually doing it, and the amount required. The Rustbuster’s epoxy mastic is great stuff, very tough, but also dead easy to apply, if a little messy on the operator! Karl

I’ve had good results with strip discs in a power drill to get the paint and the rust off the surface, followed by a coat of Rustbuster’s FE123 to neutralise any rust in the pores of the metal. I then apply either an etch primer, quickly followed by a coat of Rustbuster’s epoxy mastic, or just a coat of the latter. Karl

Tony that sounds like a pretty thorough grounding in vehicle maintenance! My replacement driveshaft turned up this week, courtesy of Mathew (big thanks!), which gave me this starting point. The UJ circlips had been previously doused with WD40, so 20 minutes work with circlip pliers and a small flatbladed screwdiver had them extracted, and the driveshaft in the vice having the UJ beaing cups bashed out, rapidly followed by the UJ spider itself, leaving me with this. It's amazing how easy it when you know how! Next stop was a bath in Gunk, followed by a thorough scrub with various wire brushes, before I hit driveshaft and flange with a variety of wire brushes in both the drill and angle grinder. The finished articles... Although I have already purchased a new drive flange to replace the one I cut up, I have decided to use the one that came with Mat's driveshaft, as they are a pair, and it looks more 'standard' than the repro part, forgive the pun. Everything then got a coat of rust stopper, which in this weather dried off very quickly. Which left me no excuse not to apply a coat of etch primer! Including the propshaft itself and the replacement inner seal carrier. I'll leave that lot to harden off overnight, before given it a gentle flatting back, followed by a further coat of primer, with the aim to get a couple of coats of gloss black on Monday. Karl

Tony, I didn’t go to the lengths of marking the orientation of each flange to the propshaft, just which end it came from. Given that this is a mass produced vehicle from the 60s it would be interesting to know if any balancing, other than the propshaft itself, was undertaken at the factory. The propshaft has small weights at either end, but the flanges look standard. As for the UJs, all the remaining grease is gritty when you run your nail over it, so not sure how long the needle rollers would have remain round! Karl

I am pleased to report that the method in the video worked perfectly on the remaining UJ on the propshaft. What's more, it is a deeply satisfying feeling to smack the UJ flange with a lump hammer and watch the offending bearing cap come flying out! And come out they needed to, just look at this fine example. Yes that is rust! Look at the spider. Remember this fella? I had to drift the remaining outer rim of the bearing cap out after extracting the spider. I have no idea why the cap appears to have lost it's upper surface, but given the state of it, it's probably not surprising. All of the old UJs were promptly binned, and I set to cleaning up the propshaft and associated flanges with a flap wheel in the power drill, closely followed by a big wire brush in the anglegrinder, leaving me with this. And yes I have taken a note of which flange goes at which end, and which end goes to the gearbox or diff. The flanges received similar treatement, followed by a coat of rust stopper. For the more observant amongst you, I know there are 3 flanges in the photo, 1 of those is the replacement for the passenger side driveshaft which I destroyed attempting to remove the UJ. Next stop a coat of primer, followed by gloss black epoxy mastic, hopefully next week. Karl

Now I have no problems with circlips, as I seem to have the knack of getting these out easily. Wish I’d seen that video before I started work on my driveshafts, as his technique looks much more effective than my approach. Will give that a try at the weekend. Thanks Karl

The aviation industry has been using glues instead of welding and rivets for over 40 years now, in order to not only save weight, but improve strength, so if it’s good enough for an Airbus, should be good enough for a Triumph. Lotus stopped welding the chassis for their cars a while ago, switching to bonded joints to reduce stress due to heating, so the industry has moved on on some levels, but not on others. Karl

The central gallery in each UJ was empty of grease with just stuff that looked like earwax in the bearing cups themselves, so I’m thinking that the prop shaft UJs had been spinning around with little to no lubrication for a while now, I will definitely being replacing both UJs. Tony I’ve got to drop number 2 son at uni up in Ormskirk next month, so if the remaining UJ isn’t out by then, I might take a detour off the M6 to come find you! Doug, the Mole grips were only £9 for all 3, may have to get some more, as they will come in handy when welding. Karl

Despite the lack of updates over the last few weeks I haven't been entirely idle, mostly, but not completely. Last week I did manage to get the driver's side driveshaft back together, including the UJ and flange to the diff, which took an absolute age as I kept dropping the UJ bearing cups, spilling the needle bearings all over the place, and having to firstly find them, then clean them, before reassembling in the bearing cup. I lost track of the times I did that before I discovered that rather than assembling the UJs with the driveshaft horizontal in the vice, mounting it upright made reassembly much easier, and stopped me dropping the bearings again. That was last week, this week, given the weather, I didn't fancy pushing the rear tub on it's dolly out into the drive, so decided to work on the propshaft. Yes I know, more bloody UJs! Some of my troubles with disassembling the UJs was down to the ancient pair of straight jawed Mole grips that I'd been using, which did a somewhat half arsed job of gripping the circular bearing cap, so I went and bought these from ScrewFix. Instantly improved grip, and the first bearing cap came out of the yoke nice and cleanly with the aid of the new Mole grips. However as you can see from the photo above, the condition inside the UJ bearing was actually quite poor, with very little grease, and what there was, was a dark brown colour, either due to age, rust, or both. At the base of each bearing cap was, what looked like the remains of a fibre washer, which disintegrated as I removed them, which would explain the rust. Given the state of the UJ, I am inclined to replace it as a matter of course as it doesn't look to have received any TLC for a long time. This did at leave me with one end of the propshaft ready for clean up next weekend. Turning my attention to the other end of the propshaft I discovered even worse, with the UJ at that end showing practically no signs of lubrication or maintenance. This was as I found it! God only knows how long it had been like this. When I tried to press the bearing cup and UJ, this happened on the other side!!! Which quickly turned into this. Again, another poorly lubricated and rusty UJ bearing, so I think this one will get replaced as well, just to be on the safe side. Not bothered by the state of the UJs, as they are cheap enough, and I'll add these to my order to the club for the bearings etc, but that is likely to be next month by the time I have cleaned everything up and re-painted, so no rush. Karl

Colin, that looks brilliant. Are you also going to replace all of the associated seals, well at least the ones that have failed? Karl

I’m glad I’m not the only one who wheels the car around like a wheelbarrow, having removed the the rear suspension! Looking forward to the next instalment. Karl

Decided that I’ll buy the replacement bearings from the club which include seals and hub nut, and which are bearings from decent manufacturers. When I rebuilt the driver’s side hub, the needle bearing didn’t have any lettering at all on it, so the WSM was no help at all! Karl

Colin, I must admit I did think that after I posted. Doesn’t seem worth not doing it. Karl

Pete, I'm not sure I'll be putting sufficient load on my studs to tax them any time soon, but maybe something to address before the wheels go back on. This afternoon was back to the grind, quite literally, attacking the remains of the hub on the passenger side driveshaft. The aim had been to remove the hub, leaving the driveshaft untouched, however that just didn't work out, and by the time the remains of the hub finally fell off the shaft, the shaft looked like this..... At this point I was feeling pretty foollish having trashed a potentially good driveshaft, however a closer inspection of the area where the needle bearing ran...... ....showed a pronounced lip, so even if the hub had come off the shaft itself would have been scrap anyway. Not feeling quite so guilty now. With that out of the way, I was able to strip the hub itself down and take a look at the two bearings. The needle bearing is good to go back in, but the larger roller bearing is toast as it makes a lovely grinding noise as it rotates, whether that is as a result of my efforts to remove the hub, or it was on the way out already, I don't know, but it's history now. The list of parts getting re-used keeps shrinking, but those that were left, got a session in the blast cabinet, leaving me with this lot. Which was rapidly followed by a coat of rust stopper. Note the new hub also getting in on the act. So overall, a somewhat destructive weekend, but it does now feel like progress after weeks of trying to get that bloody hub off. Mathew, if you are still looking to offload that driveshaft, I will gladly take it off your hands. PM me and let me know what you want for it. Karl

Pete, I'm not sure you are that far from the truth to be fair, as I have been cutting the hub away, a bit at a time and grinding it down, particularly around the keyway as I reasoned that was the weakest part of the hub. All of which has left me with this. You can see the keyway, and I was able to tap out the Woodruff key, but there is no discernible joint that I can currently see between the hub and the driveshaft. This is where I left it today, but hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow to try and get the remains of the hub off the driveshaft, though time will tell if the driveshaft itself remains salvageable. As you can see, I did manage to get the oil catcher and back plate off. Both in need of a thorough clean up and a coat of paint, but at least they are off. Before I started hacking at the hub I couldn't resist a couple of before and after shots, betwen the two driveshafts and hubs. Seeing how good the refurbished assembly looks, provides real encouragement to press on with passenger side ensemble from Hell. Karl

Colin, I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that before! Adrian, I think it’s time to get brutal now, and so I will be cutting, very carefully, the old hub off. Not ideal, but I have replacement hub ready to go, so the old one will be sacrificed on the alter of progress. Karl

Back from Cornwall after seeing eldest son graduate from university, and sitting in endless traffic on the M5, to find a freshly delivered cardboard box containing the replacement hub. Just need to remove the old one now. Karl

What have I started? (Walks away, head in hands) Karl

Colin, it’s brave man who admits his nuts are of unequal size on the worldwide web! Checked the rebuilt hub and the axle protrudes to just beyond level with the nyloc insert, so pretty comfortable that the nylon part is doing what it should be. Karl

While looking at the driver's side hub and driveshaft assembly, I had a bit of an epiphany, as I noticed that the end of the threaded portion of the driveshaft was level with the securing nut, which was different to what I had on the passenger side. So I then looked back through the photos that I had taken previously when rebuilding the rear brakes back in 2017, see the photos below. Driver's side. Note position of driveshaft end to nut. Passenger side. Driveshaft extends beyond the nut by over 5mm. So which one was correct? When I rebuilt the driver's side I torqued it up to the 110lbs/pf as stated in the WSM, which pulled the hub neatly up to the backplate. So next I measured the distance between the shoulder of the yoke and and the rear of the bearing housing, which gave me the 310mm that matches the measurement that Mathew got on his second driveshaft. Now to the passenger side, which measures out at 305mm, which appears to be due to the bearing housing and hub being pushed a further 5mm up the driveshaft, and consequently the taper, presumably due to an airwrench being used rather than a torque wrench. All of which rather explains why the hub will not budge, and which raises the question of where to go next. So here is the plan of action: Cut existing hub off of the driveshaft, by cutting the hub rather than the driveshaft. Remove the driveshaft. Inspect the driveshaft. If the driveshaft is fine, which I suspect it may not be, I'll strip the hub assembly down and rebuild. If the driveshaft is toast, then Mathew I will probably take you up on your offer. I have already ordered a second hand hub from fleabay to replace the one that I am about to destroy. It's a bit more drastic than I would have liked, but at least I now know why the bloody hub was so stubborn. However all of that will have to wait until I'm back from Cornwall, as off to see eldest son graduate from uni. Karl

I gave it a squirt of WD40 as a crude test, and that improved it considerably, so happy that it’s just the flinger. I also pumped the bearing housing full of fresh grease, once I had cleared the old congealed stuff out of my Wanner! Didn't get a chance to do anymore, as although I’m off this week, I had to finish some work off, which was supposed to have been done last week, but as ever it didn’t pan out as intended. Karl

Will definitely be double and triple checking the circlips, but first need to investigate a dragging on the rotation of the driveshaft in the hub. I don’t think it’s the bearings, but the oil flinger, where it is turning with the shaft, as it is now a snug fit, and dragging on the unlubricated outer section of the rear seal. Karl

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I did speak to the garage regarding the hub yesterday, and they have failed to shift it, but have suggested another garage who could help, so I'll be picking up the hub on Monday, and paying the other garage a visit. So with nothing to do on the passenger side hub, I thought I might as well start the reassembly of the driver's side, starting with this lot. First job was to clean out the threads on the various components with my trusty tap and die set, starting with the bearing housing. With that done it was time to drift in the rear seal, and yes I did check the manual and install it the correct way around. Which meant that the next step according to the WSM was installing the roller bearing, for which I set up a rig. Set up took way longer than the actual time it took to get the bearing seated, but it did go very smoothly, allowing me to introduce the driveshaft to the equation. Which then meant fitting the main bearing, which I had some concerns around, given the equimpment required to remove it, however I shouldn't have worried as it drifted cleanly back on. Next up was the front seal, and again I followed the WSM directions, so it should be the right way around. On with the paper gasket, after a goodly smear of grease..... .....and then it was on with the back plate, and associated components. Which left me to install the hub and to the driveshaft, and torque it up, using the set up on the bench that I had been using in trying to sort out the passenger side hub. As you can see I have also started installing the brake components, however a couple of items need further clean up before thay can go on, notably the brake adjuster as that was completed clarted up with muck, so is now soaking in Gunk. Here's the view of the rear of the back plate so far. You will have to excuse the soft focus on the last few pictures, as I managed to get grease on the lens of my camera phone! Tomorrow I should get to finish off the brake components, as well as fitting the UJ and drive flange, at which point the driver's side driveshaft and hub assembly are complete, and can be set aside to re-installation at some later, yet to determined, date. Karl