I had purchased brand new back plates, cylinders and adjusters along with fitting kits for the rear and front wheels so I decided to get them assembled. Then I had to re assemble them the correct way around !
With the rear axle all cleaned, primed and given a good coating of chassis black, it was time to remove the half shafts. This is a notoriously problematic job on a Reliant, or.... it can go as smooth as anything. In y case I had to deal with 30 odd years of grot and inaction so had to get a little inventive with the resources to hand. Trying to get a solid purchase with hub pullers was very difficult. Getting a solid hub puller adjusted to fit the wheel studs was not an option so with the hub under tension by the big pronged puller, a tap on the back helped break the seal and get the half shaft inching out.
Once the half shafts were moving the oil seal and cover were exposed. This area was of particular interest as my Fathers service notes stated a persistent oil leak from one hub & that an oil seal was missing as there was no room for it !
And the bearing break cover as well. These are all going to be replaced.
And the half shaft is withdrawn with the bearing friction fitted against a collar.
One oil seal... and one missing ! That identifies the source of the persistent leak.
Splitting the differential involved an engineering shop. All the parts are ready for inspection. New pinion bearings and oil seal have been purchased as has a new set of diff bearings.
When the new bearings are in place, the plate is tightened up and the screws centre punched to prevent their undoing.
The pinion oil seal was of a leather type and it had largely decomposed. A careful note was made of the spacers. A new bearing was pressed onto the pinion & a new rubber type seal found.
New bearing and seal fitted to the half shafts. Here the bearing is not quite pushed home. This may have given the illusion of there not being room for the seal.
Which is shown fitted.
And with the Diff back together, the half shafts can be inserted and the bearings pushed home along with nice new seals. The back plates went on and then the hub is fitted and bolted down. I decided to treat the set to some new hub nuts as well.
The front hub attaches to the swinging arm A frame by means of a king pin. This was all gummed up & removing this can once again be problematic. Re assembling the king pin also requires care. The front hub can be partially stripped before this happens.
Removing the front and rear bearings from the hub was not too difficult. A groove is available in the collar they sit against to help knock out the ball race.
Removing the king pin was a real pain. Having drilled out the key no amount of heat and hammering was going to shift it. A local garage with a press had great difficulty shifting it and didn't want me to bring any more ! Amongst the parts stash was an additional A frame. It turns out this was bent, but I noticed the hub was different. The 3/25 had a smaller hub and back plate assembly. As a result it also had smaller brake shoes. Later Regals had a more robust assembly. Since the parts and brake shoes are more readily available, I elected to update these items. They are a like for like replacement so no alterations were required.
New bearings fitted and the back plate on.
21/08/2015 - The front hub assembly mounted to the swing arm. James at CHG Classics kindly fitted the king pin whilst I visited on a parts run.