Jaguar Repair: Jaguar XJ6 Series III rear wheel bearings, rear wheel bearings, cotter pin

Question
QUESTION: Howard,
I pressed my new bearings tonight and am quite pleased with how that went overall. I can say the inner seal is a pain to seat, and I have two bonehead moves to report, one I can deal with, the other I'm gonna ask for advice. The easy one is that after I had re-installed the driver side and decided to clean up for the night, I found its inner seal on the bench. Not happy there, but I can deal with that tomorrow night. The other one is pretty bad. When I was having SO much trouble removing the passenger side from the axle, I must have smacked the end of the axle with a hammer a couple of times and now the first thread or two are distorted and the nut will not go back on. I do not have a tap and die set, but not sure if that would help here, either. I may end up out of luck here, but since I have nothing to lose, I am cutting off the first two threads, and thinking maybe I can use a thinner outer washer to drive the castle nut down, then drill a new hole for a cotter pin. Of course, if this fails, I can get a salvage half shaft and just replace it at the outer joint. Any thoughts? Suggestion on a source for the half shaft or even outer joint if this fails?

Thanks,
Michael

ANSWER: Even pros have put something together and looked over and seen a part that needed to go on first.
You were suppose to just say "I left the seal out to get a correct inch pound pre-load setting".

Any one who has not done that has not done much work.

I would opt for a thread file from one of the tool trucks that visit most shops. Not too expensive and it may not be to easy to drill a new hole in that axle.

If the hole is closed up I would consider just cleaning up the threads and use a self locking nut. I think it is a US thread size so a bolt company should be able to get you a self locking nut. It torques to 100 to 120 ft lb and you can just check it every so often to confirm that a self locker will stay.

Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Howard,

So first, thanks for your input. I thought about this all day at work today and could not wait to find out if I would Triumph or fail. So, I finished cutting off the damaged first thread of the passenger side axle, which actually exposes the cross-drilled section for the cotter pin and you were right, no drill bit I had was any match for the axle so, with a slimmer outer washer, I was able to drive the castle nut flush with the end of the axle and torque to (my Haynes book specs) of 100 lbft. Do you recommend tighter? The driver side, I sheepishly removed and added that inner seal. With both all buttoned up, I was out for a test drive by 10 PM tonight and that went well. I will re-check the torque on the axle nut in the coming week, but I added a generous amount of threadlock (er, superglue) to that one that no longer takes a pin. There was still a bit of noise, which I have now diagnosed as radius arm bushings being worn. This car is getting newer and newer all the time. I'll do those next week.

Thanks again,
Michael

Answer
Adding the seal afterward is no problem as the shims determine the pre-load and I agree that the 100 Ft Lb torque is ok. With lock-tight you probably don't need to bother with the check of the torque as the Lock-tight will give you a false reading anyway.

Don't forget to add bearing grease in the large hole in the top and be sure the caps seal good as that area is always flooded with water in rain.

Yes bottom bearings on the long shaft at the bottom do ware out and can make some odd noises "Y" joints too.

Howard