One of those days....

[ekjdm14]

Have you ever had one of those days where barely a thing goes right & the car fights you every step of the way? lol well we've had one today, spent 3.5hrs just replacing the nearside lower swivel on the ZX (mainly due to the rivets being more solid than a solid thing & refusing to budge), as a result of this I've accidentally pulled too hard on the driveshaft & now I'm only 90% sure that the oil seal isn't damaged (time will tell if it was just residual oil dripping, keeping an eye on it). Then the swivel didn't come with a new pinch bolt, and having already lost the nut from the old one down a crack in the driveway I had to sabotage the trolley jack's castors which conveniently have the same thread... Then one of the nuts for the triangular part of the joint stripped, so I've had to butcher the other castor on the jack for that one!...

All seemed to go well after that though & we've been for a nice quiet drive with no knocking & banging finally (could have been so easily prevented, the gaiter had split and the grease inside had turned to grinding paste so no wonder it wore out so quickly, it was fine only 2500 miles ago when we got the car!). Then as we returned home I heard a hissing sound and guess what, nice fat nail in one of the front tyres... only saving grace to that part of the day's saga is that I wasn't 100% happy with the tyre anyway, it's a Michelin with loads of tread but the sidewall isn't the nicest so I'm not too broken hearted. Even less so because somebody dumped a rusty 14" wheel in my garden the other day, with a brand new, inflated conti contact tyre on it that must have all of 2 miles of use on it... All in all, a bitter sweet day... Also just had the news that the kids are going to their nana & granddad's tonight so we'll have a bit of peace later.

Suppose I can swallow the ballache the swivel gave me, just as long as the rear brake pipes release cleanly from the wheel cylinders on the morrow & don't try to turn with the flare nuts... They've had a good clean up & a few days being regularly doused in penetrating fluid so I've got as much chance of saving the pipes as possible Time will tell. [/vent]

[RichardW]

I have one of those days most times I go near the car!!

Sadly chances are the drive shaft seal is toast - they don't like being 're-used'...

Is it drum braked on the back? When I had trouble with the rear drum brakes on our first one, it turned into 'one of those weekends' - with new cylinders, pipes, shoes, drums, bearings AND fitting kit required - and I only JUST recovered the thread on the stub axle. Hope yours goes better

[ekjdm14]

haha thanks, fills me with confidence! lol not looking like doing brakes today anyhow as it's raining & snowing at the same time here... Really REALLY hoping it doesn't go that badly, only got the shoe kit & cylinders and I don't have a flaring tool

On the plus side, after a brew the oil seemed *touch wood* to have stopped dripping, will have to check again see if we've got away with that one. How much of a job is it to change the seal if it is dead?

Also, the tyre has stayed up with the help of bodge spray so we've got a stay of execution on that front, soon as we have a chance though the conti is going on.

[RichardW]

Trouble with ours was that some herbert had been there before! They had managed to mash the thread on the stub axle, hence only just being able to get the nut back on. They had made a right arse of fitting the shoes though - meaning that one had canted over, and eventually allowed the cylinder to pop out. This had also worn the shoe all out of square, and it in turn had worn a big groove in the drum. Most of the important bits of the adjusting kit had been lost as well! New drums meant new bearings, as the old ones are pressed into the drums. And there was no way the pipes were coming out of the cylinders - although surprisingly they did come out of the other end at the flexi! Even if parts of the adjusters are missing you will be OK to put it back together and just adjust it up manually (as long as there isn't a huge lip on the edge of the drums) for now, then get the new adjusters and fit them later.

[citronut]

I had to sabotage the trolley jack's castors which conveniently have the same thread... Then one of the nuts for the triangular part of the joint stripped, so I've had to butcher the other castor on the jack for that one!...

All seemed to go well after that though & we've been for a nice quiet drive with no knocking & banging finally (could have been so easily prevented,

strange that how it drives nice and quiet driving along with it still on the axle stands ,

well you obviously could not get it back on its wheels as you dismantled the trolley jack

[citronut]

if they are Bendix rear brakes the tinny stainless steel pawl that locks the ratchet wheel from unwinding goes awol , the the only way to replace it is purchase the complete axle set of the adjusters, at a cost of around £60 ( dealer only ), although i found GSF sell rear brake kits ready to fit for a very good price, the kit contains shoes, cylinders and adjusters, the ready to fit set for my daughters Synergie cost around £70, the adjuster kit on its own from the dealer was going to be £120

[ekjdm14]

They're lucas, which is nice since it gives us consistency with the injection system as well as having less adjuster bits to go missing haha! And if you remove the 17mm nut from the castor of your trolley jack you'll likely find (as I did) that it's just a locknut for bearing adjustment, and the castor is also threaded into the "tab" on the jack body

That said, I have seen a good video of the situation you described. I'll try and find it, unsurprisingly it looked like it was filmed in india...

[ekjdm14]

Here we go


pmsl

[citronut]

well it certainly wernt a ZX in the vid clip