Been Tinkering...

[Draigflag]

Hello people, Happy new year to you all!

Been tinkering today with the 126. For a non-mechanically minded person like myself, that consists of individually jacking up each corner of the car, removing the wheel and staring at what lies beneath! 

Anyway, I'm still shocked to see what good nick she's in, whoever owned this car before took really good care of her, even the wheel nuts had a tiny bit of grease on them so they don't corrode. A couple of things concern me however. Pic 1 below shows that the passenger side drive shaft gator is split and is leaking oil. How easy is this for a "newbie" like myself to change and at what cost? The other 2 things are quite minor really, one is the drivers side wheel has a tiny bit of play in it, probably half a MM of movement when you wobble it. Is this normal and/or an MOT failure? The last thing is the drivers side rear hub, it turns but half way through a full rotation ,if becomes stiff, then finally smooth again. I think it's just the brake as it "hisses" when turning.

Anyway, sorry about the essay, i value your vast knowledge, thanks in advance. Included a few pics, just for fun really!

Paul

[bis13]

the gaiter fix is easy enough but you need to remove the drive coupling on the wheel hub so while you are in there re grease and inspect the castings to see if they are worn , you simply remove the ring that holds the rubber and slide it off down the drive shaft. i cant remember if there is an oil seal behind the outer ring if there is replace it.

[Draigflag]

Thanks for that. Just need to find the top up bolt for the oil! Where's the Haynes BIS manual when you need one?

Do you know about the other little issues?

[Draigflag]

Anybody else got any help? 

Went to buy a new drive shaft boot yesterday but there are 2 different sizes, one slightly larger than the other (both for the 126 though) i assume the BIS requires the larger one having the bigger engine?

[ypsilon_lancar]

I did the CV Boots, was a fairly simple and very satisfying fix! I would advise on using a Haynes manual though! I changed the inner and outers at the same time, cheap to do both and less hassle that doing the other side at a later date!!

[bis13]

theres two types for the 500 and 126 the smaller are the 500 the wider 126.

[Draigflag]

Thanks chaps. Are the inner/outer boots the same? 

I think the suspension bushes would need doing too whilst i'm there, they look a little perished. It's a bit beyond me, and i if it can't be managed between me and my mate, i might just buy the parts and pay the mechanics when it comes to MOT time. Shouldn't be more than 2 hours labour, i hope! The wheel bearing passed with an advisory as it has play, it may pass again but i should really change this too. Shame as they are quite dear!

[GTMaster]

The outer small rubber boot is just a dust cover for the half axle coupling. Best to check the suspension bushes first as i changed one of the rear ones on mine which turned out to be good (just the outer rubber part of the bush was cracked but wasn't wobbly). It's a lot easier to change them using a hydraulic press.