Swivel Seals: Stock or Trail Gear

Scimike Thanks for the update. Impressive.
I'll let some one else comment on how they'd like to get their old balls shiny and new like years ago.

I've just Googled the part number above - 45120-81A04 and it's just a rubber seal like the original, so I cannot see it is revised.

The SJ had a felt part to it too. That's what we need someone to manufacture.

Kirkynut

I've never cleaned the swivel or replaced the dust seal. I get between 20-30,000 miles to a set of kingpins bearings/driveshaft seals. That's with daily farm and forestry use, so lots of chugging about in mud. Without better a complete re-design or a way to completely seal the bottom kingpin bearing, I can't see how any amount of tinkering with the present setup will improve anything.

People talk of leaks. Unless your driveshaft seal has gone due to worn kingpins, there shouldn't be anything in the swivel to leak out.
Water in the bottom bearing is what does the damage, accelerating bearing wear, leading to movement in the assembly which causes the steering wobble. This movement causes the driveshaft to wear its seal and allows diff oil to leak into the swivel and past the dust seal, hence the leaky swivels. It only takes a teaspoon's worth of water to start the process, and even the shiniest swivel and newest seal won't be water tight. In my opinion there is no way to stop this with the standard dust seal arrangement. So I just replace the kingpin bearings and driveshaft seal for less than £20/side and it's good for another coupe of years.

Quite agree. Without going to something like a Dana style with an exposed uj instead of a ball and chalice style there is no immediate way to moisture out of the kingpin. All solid axle steering systems have some kind of flaw and at least with the Jimny it's only an hour a side to rectify.

On the SJ's they have this felt seal instead of the rubber one and it keeps the water out much better. I never had to change the kingpin bearings on my old SJ.

Kirkynut

Totally agree with the failure mode, but keeping the seal and surface in good condition can only improve things. The current seal works pretty much like a windscreen wiper blade, wiping any moisture and dirt to one side as it moves. Like a wiper blade, if the surfaces are rough it will fail to wipe the moisture and dirt away, which at this point is inside the swivel, so it will fill up with (more) dirty water a lot quicker.
My original bearings and seals lasted 10 years, so I am hoping with refurbished swivels I can get close to this again. Only time will tell, but so far its all still perfect at 15000 miles.
But as an aside I hate visible rust, its just something for the MOT person to pick on, so Ill keep painting them even if it turns out to be futile :laugh: :laugh: