Home > My Land Rover Blog > Replacing Defender swivel balls - Land Rover Blog
Leaking swivel balls/housings! Everyone's favourite topic.
There's always a lot of chat about chrome vs Teflon, but in reality the black swivel balls are NOT Teflon, but have a surface process applied called Nitrotec. This gives it the black appearance. It is not a coating of Teflon but a treatment that changes the underlying metal. The chrome swivel balls stopped being fitted to Defenders part way through 1997 from chassis number VA105502, as the new Nitrotec process is supposed to have better wear characteristics. The technical bulletin (54/02/97/EN) in April 1996 stated:
...the [new] swivel bearing housings will have a ‘Nitrotec’ black finish. The new treatment provides durability benefits which will prevent pitting and flaking of the surface finish which under normal circumstances would result in corrosion. The new component can be retrospectively-fitted to all Discovery, Defender and Range Rover Classic vehicles. It is also acceptable to fit the new part with black finish to a vehicle that only requires the replacement of one swivel bearing housing.
Join me in dispelling the myth about "Teflon" swivel balls!
My swivel balls were incredibly rusty and had been for a number of years. I had lived with them as they weren't leaking much. One maintenance day I topped up the left swivel as it seemed low on grease - what followed over next few months was a massive leak all down the steering arm that would drip onto the tyre.
The job is quite involved, as I was going to replace every seal/bearing I came across as well as the stub axles and CV joints. As my Defender was a 300Tdi without ABS and the 606666 taper roller bearings top and bottom, I fitted FRC7065 made by EAC. I did both sides over two days.
The Land Rover brake pipe bracket is held down by the two top swivel pin bolts and has two problems:
The aftermarket brake pipe brackets are a better design, as they are single flat piece of metal that is folded. This gives you the full, square height of the bolt head to connect with the socket.
Additionally, I put a cut into the top of the bracket to make the hole that the brake pipe union passes through into a "U" section. This means I can undo the two clamping nuts and lift the solid brake pipe assembly away from the brake disc with the calipers still connected. This means if I access the hub/wheel bearings I won't have to bleed the brake system.
As an extra precaution if these clamping nuts were to come undone, I loctited them when fitting.
After 4.5 years, the surface of the swivel balls were starting to corrode. It won't be long I suspect before they start to wear on the seal and leakage occurs. This is a bit disappointing, as you wouldn't expect this to happen to a 4 year old Defender. The seal has worn the surface away and has left the two parallel tell-tale lines. This is with only 25,000 miles of use (40,000km). Maybe the genuine Land Rover items would last longer, but who knows. There will probably be a difference in the quality/length of the surface treatment that dictates how long they will last.
