Started to unpack the Troopie on Sunday, after a few months away, and also check out why the fuel gauge on the rear
tank was always showing empty despite it being filled up during the trip.
I had an idea what the problem might be and crawled under the back of the vehicle to check it out. To see the sender unit on the
tank I had to be in front of the rear diff and as I used the rear leaf springs to slide under the vehicle.
I noticed the spring leaf pack, at the fixed end, had moved up slightly, this is because the bushes had worn and now required replacing.
Not a problem, jack the back of the vehicle up, remove the
wheels, let
the springs hang but when it came to undo the "U" bolts that is when I found out that the thread on the bottom of the "U" bolts were damaged and that the bolts now had to be cut off.
I wanted to replace the "U" bolts anyhow and this time I will trim the "U" bolts off to the bottom of the nuts so that there is no thread hanging down to get peppered by rocks.
Replacing the bushes and "U" bolts went OK so decided to have a look at the sender unit again. This time I grabbed the tail shaft to drag myself under the vehicle a bit further and that is when I felt some movement.
A closer look and the uni joint needs replacing. The vehicle was already jacked up and the rear
wheels were off so it was not hard to get the tail shaft out and replace the uni joints. I wanted to grease the uni joints any how and it was easy to do it on the work bench than under the vehicle.
Getting back to the sender unit, the reason why I was under the vehicle in the first place, and a drop of oil had appeared over night, on the driveway, just under the rear brakes. Rear hub seals had gone.
It was a good thing that the vehicle was already jacked up and the
wheels were of the vehicle. I wanted to repack the bearings any how so this was the right time to replace the seals and adjust the bearings.
Today I will replace the axles, drain and replace the diff oil and try to pick up another sender unit for the
tank.
One thing after another.
Wayne