Front Diff Oil Leak

[marakasmalan]

Dankie vir die inligting Peter.

Jy klink na die tipe ou wat ek wil nooi vir 'n braai - een saterdag, ons sal so 07:00 begin en die braai behoort heeldag aan te hou, miskien tot in die aand selfs. ek sal als vir die braai kry, bring net jou overalls, en miskien 'n torque wrench...

Lekker dag!

[Peter Connan]

Marnus, die enigste probleem is dat ek nie eers weet waar kuilsrivier is nie, maar ek het 'n gevoel dis nogal ver van Kempton af

Maar as ek verkeerd is, is ek heeltemal bereid om te help, maar wees bewus, net help, nie die hele jop self doen nie.

[marakasmalan]

skies Peter,

Ek het in die Kaap gebly, dit was lekker. Ek het my Patrol altyd na JB's Auto gevat en hy het die ding reg gefix, billik gecharge. Om parte te verkry, probleme op te spoor, weet wat om aandag aan te gee en wat om te ignoreer - hy't alles gedoen en blêddie goed ook. Sy werkswinkel het altyd vol LC's gestaan, maar hy het geen onderskeid getref rakende die moeite en sorg wat hy aan sy kliënte gee nie.

Nou is ek ook in Sodom en Gamora, tot dusvêr weet ek net Nissan in Boksburg is useless :)

Sal bietjie my details update.

Lekker dag

[Peter Connan]

Sorry for the late reply guys. Also, I didn't take any photos, as my hands were constantly full of grease.

However, this guy did: http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/showthre ... t=cv+joint

FAexpl.JPG

There are three seals that will need to be replaced if you do this job and grease the wheelbearings, and none of the three seem to be available from the bearing specialists.
The inner oil seal (top row, second item in drawing) seems to be a specialist part which I have not managed to source elsewhere. It is 34 x 44 x 8mm and Nissan's part number is N405330J00.
The grease seal on the inside of the knuckle flange (top row item 6) and the grease seal on the inside of the wheel hub (second row second item) are also Nissan-only. The part numbers are N4023201J00 and N40227C8200 (not sure which is which)

Of the bearings in the assembly, only one is special. This is the inner or large wheel bearing (second row third and fourth items). It is a KOYO 33110JRYA2. This is a standard 33110JR taper roller bearing (85 x 50 x 26mm) but the inner corner which presses against the knuckle spindle has had the radius ground to 4.5mm. This can be sourced through Nissan (about R830.00), special import through Bearing International (R902.00) or you can buy a standard 35110JR (R280)and have the corner ground by an engineering shop (about R200-250?).

The outer wheel bearing (second row items 6 & 7) is a standard imperial-sized taper roller bearing, 41.275 x 73.431 x 23.012mm. Koyo part numbers are: Cone LM501349, Cup LM501311.

The needle roller bearing (first row, item 7) is a 42 x 35 x 16mm, KOYO part number BTM3516.

I did not remove the knuckle bearings.

There was one other problem though: There is a lock washer between the two wheel bearing nuts (second row, item10), which is bent to keep the two nuts from turning. This washer must be replaced because the tab which fits into the groove in the knuckle flange is damaged when you remove it. My local Nissan agents were entirely unsucsesful in identifying this part, and after three weeks of ordering one wrong part after another I finally made my own. I modified the design to have two much more substantial tabs bent into the slots, in the hope that in this way it will be re-usable although it would still be better to replace them. The drawing is available for anybody who wants it.

Please note that the abovementioned washer is only used in the manual locking hub assembly, the automatic hub appears to have a different system.

All the above part numbers are for the petrol-engined Y60 patrols, and I am not sure twhether the Y61's are the same. I do know that the Birfield joints are not the same in the Y60 as in the Y61, as the Y61's are larger diameter with flats to allow removal but the Y60's don't have these flats.

Guys, just an update that may come in handy and possibly save somebody some time and or money.

I am currently helping a friend refurbish the front axle on his 2001 4.5 GRX (Y61), and all the seals and bearings mentioned above are exactly the same as on my Y60.

However, Nissan do not sell the wheel bearings loose, they only sell them in a complete assembly with the stub axle. For about R6k!
So just ask for the bearings from a Y60. However, they currently do not have stock anywhere in SA of the inner wheelbearing anyway, and want "more than three weeks" to get them.

[Peter Connan]

Just to add to the above, while the bearings and seals of the Y60 and Y61 (at least the 4.5 Y61 and therefore probably also the 3l, I am not sure about the 4.8 though) are exactly the same, the axle is not the same. The stub shaft has some slight changes, not sure why, the hub carrier is different to make provision for the mounting of the ABS sensor and the hubs are also different for the same reason. The birfield joints are larger and stronger than those on the Y60.

I am not sure about th axle casings, but since I know that the panhard rods are not identical, I suspect that the axle casings are also different in detail.

However I have read elsewhere that the entire front axle of the Y61 can be fitted to the Y60, as long as the panhard rod and drag link from the Y61 are also used.

[ricster]

Hmmm...... very interesting reading. Thanks Peter.

I want to replace my wheel bearings starting with the fronts first in the near future. I wonder if the 4.2 diesel front axle is the same as the 4.5's. I'll have to do some research and planning if its going to be difficult to get certain bearings from Nissan.

And will wait for Peters designer bearing nut socket wrench too....

[Peter Connan]

Cedrick, I would be very surprised if there's any (meaningfull) difference.

I also would recommend buying only the seals from Nissan, and the bearings from a bearing specialist. The inner wheelbearing needs a slight mod, which anybody with a lathe and a diamond-tipped tool can do. Even a Tungsten tool should do the job.

My brother did the job on the bearing we are currently replacing, took him but a few minutes, I am sure he will be prepared to do it again, for a small fee of course.

[ricster]

Thanks Peter.... I'll definitely keep this in mind when its time to do the change

[Dolf]

Hi Guys,

I think that it might be good to share my “bit” of frustration with you people and will therefore add more detail to illustrate the frustration that I had over the past few weeks.

I also had an oil leak to the left CV joint (short shaft). I got all the seals and did the job. I could see that the side shaft oil seal was damaged but that was not that bad for the amount of oil spillage. Replaced both sides and at that time I saw that the knuckle flange grease seal on the other side was damaged. I did not have a set and decided to do it on another occasion as the West coast tour was on hand.

At one stage during our journey I looked under the car and what a disappointment it was when I saw that the right hand side is leaking now. I monitored it throughout the rest of the trip and in the mean time worried what I could have done wrong to damage that new seal. Due to the fact that the seal is only available at Nissan (and at a price) I did not immediately start doing something except for cleaning it and park the car in the garage.

In the mean time I ordered and received the knuckle flange grease seals and I have to get my mind set up to change them as well as looking for the reason for this new oil leak. Last week I took the car out of the garage to do some work inside the garage and again was hampered with the oil spillage on the floor, mind still buggered of what could be wrong. Once again I clean the knuckle with a cloth, have a look the next morning, not much oil visible. Coming back the afternoon from work and immediately saw oil spillage on the floor of about 75mm dia. Now it is getting serious, but I just clean up the mess. This was Friday and the decision has to be made to strip and inspect, but my mind is in 100 different modes as to what could be wrong.

And then that night, as I lay in bed with a Sudoku it came to mind that might it not be a blocked breather that could cause this to happen!!! Saturday morning once again no spillage. I continued with other stuff and at ±11:00 I looked again and there it was, oil spillage on the floor!!

I then crawl underneath and trace the breather pipe. Found the exit above the wheel arch and sucks, as free as can be, auch, not that then!! But then I see a T – joint near the chassis, one side going to the back of the car. Inspect and see that it going to the gearbox, much to my relieve as there is still a possibility. Beneath again and I pulled of the pipe directly from the diff. I heard the sound of air blowing from the pipe, suck the open end, no way that I could suck or blow any air through that pipe. I then found that the metal retainer that keeps the rubber pipe in position on the side shaft housing was hit from the top and it bend flat which allow no airflow at all.

I was relived but not too sure. I repaired the damage, clean the area, fill up the diff and leave the car. Inspected about every hour and till I left home this morning there was no sign of the oil leak. I think that I can now be sure that the blocked breather pipe was the origin of my problem and can now strip and replace the knuckle flange grease seals at last.

Regards.

[ricster]

... sometimes we forget about the simple solutions, or overlook the simplest of causes... Thanks for sharing that...... ( I thought by the way you started that post you were going to shhhhh.... someone out )