John H
Established member
I did the outer boot the other day - took some pics, but I'm out of (free) hosting space, so here's one.
A few comments for Enzo:
The large hub nut was removed before the wheel was lifted - it's very tight, and hammered over too.
( As an aside regarding your gearbox removal... If you have enough helping hands you might get away with just removing this nut off the engine side, as the shaft will pull out of the hub when the gearbox is pulled away from the engine.
I don't know if there is enough gearbox movement, and space for the driveshaft for this to work, but it would stop a lot of messing about on the one side - provided you can get it all lined up while the gearbox is being relocated: I think you'd need about three people! )
I didn't bother trying to separate the bottom suspension joint, as I have had difficulty before: I think the tool I use is a bit small, but it is good on track-rod ends..
Instead I undid the bottom suspension arm where it bolts to the body, and the two bolts which fasten the hub to the strut, the track-rod end... then pull gently.
Those bolts are a bit difficult to line up when putting it back together again.. so if you have a good joint splitter it is probably the way to do it.
It took a while to locate the circlip which retains the joint on the end of the driveshaft, as it was hiding in all that disgusting molybdenum disulphide grease - then it took a few goes to keep the clip expanded while trying to knock the joint up the splines.
The only other bit of fun I had was cleaning up the inside of the joint:
I had 6 little trays in a circle so each ball went back in the same position in the cages, and marked all the cage bits I could too.
But it took me a while to work out how to get it all back together again
The Panda is all back together again now - I tried accelerating on full lock in both directions to see if I'd messed up the joint, and it seems quiet.
I think the circlip must have located in the groove, as the driveshaft hasn't popped out either [)] and the brakes are starting to bed in again on the side which was disturbed: but, on first real stop afterwards the front wheel I hadn't been working on locked up.
So far so good.. a bit like falling off a cliff, really [8D]
Regards
John H
A few comments for Enzo:
The large hub nut was removed before the wheel was lifted - it's very tight, and hammered over too.
( As an aside regarding your gearbox removal... If you have enough helping hands you might get away with just removing this nut off the engine side, as the shaft will pull out of the hub when the gearbox is pulled away from the engine.
I don't know if there is enough gearbox movement, and space for the driveshaft for this to work, but it would stop a lot of messing about on the one side - provided you can get it all lined up while the gearbox is being relocated: I think you'd need about three people! )
I didn't bother trying to separate the bottom suspension joint, as I have had difficulty before: I think the tool I use is a bit small, but it is good on track-rod ends..
Instead I undid the bottom suspension arm where it bolts to the body, and the two bolts which fasten the hub to the strut, the track-rod end... then pull gently.
Those bolts are a bit difficult to line up when putting it back together again.. so if you have a good joint splitter it is probably the way to do it.
It took a while to locate the circlip which retains the joint on the end of the driveshaft, as it was hiding in all that disgusting molybdenum disulphide grease - then it took a few goes to keep the clip expanded while trying to knock the joint up the splines.
The only other bit of fun I had was cleaning up the inside of the joint:
I had 6 little trays in a circle so each ball went back in the same position in the cages, and marked all the cage bits I could too.
But it took me a while to work out how to get it all back together again
The Panda is all back together again now - I tried accelerating on full lock in both directions to see if I'd messed up the joint, and it seems quiet.
I think the circlip must have located in the groove, as the driveshaft hasn't popped out either [
)] and the brakes are starting to bed in again on the side which was disturbed: but, on first real stop afterwards the front wheel I hadn't been working on locked up.So far so good.. a bit like falling off a cliff, really [8D]
Regards
John H
