Chassis Stripped Bare, Rear Axle Dismantled, Bulkhead Continues...

Last few days have been spent on a mixture of things. Firstly I removed the rear axle, Leaving the chassis bare. I was able to get 5 of the 6 shackle pins out, with the angle grinder being needed to get the last.

Both axles removed from chassis

Once that was out of the way I went back to do some work on the bulkhead. I wanted to get this done so I could throw out the rusty bulkhead and get some space back in the garage. I drilled out all the spot welds holding the centre panel and sides of footwells. This way I was able to cleanly remove it all as one piece.

Stiffener plate removed

Centre panel removed

It fits perfectly into the 'new' bulkhead, I've left it sitting there loose as I need to wire brush and prime the surfaces that will be overlapped. I hope to get it welded in next week, I will take it to work so I can use the MIG welder. 

Next job was to remove the spring bushes from the chassis, which isn't as straight forward as you'd expect it to be. They rust/seize into the bore, meaning you can't drift or press them out (though I did try) I ended up first removing the inner tube and rubber; some I was able to smash out, the others were set on fire, to burn the rubber. I then used a hacksaw to split the outer tube of the bush, releasing their grip. Then used a BFH to drift them out. I didn't taken any photos of this process, slack. 

I then took the chassis outside and gave it a good water blast/degrease. I want to get it as clean as possible before it is sent off for sand blasting. I rigged up a sack barrow with a ratchet strap to move the chassis, allowing me to lift one end of the chassis and walk it like a giant wheelbarrow. Once outside I hit it with the water blaster, doing both sides. It has come up pretty good, it's amazing how much of the original paint was still intact under the layers of dirt/grease.

With the chassis clean and back in the shed I started to strip the rear axle. When I bought the Land Rover I was told the rear diff was seized (half shafts & drive flanges had been removed to allow it to roll) so I was interested to get in and have a look at the diff. Everything was coated in oil so it all came apart easily. I was expecting to find the axle casing full of metal particles or bits of gear teeth (hence the seized diff) but it all seemed very clean. With the diff on the bench it seems OK visually, all teeth are OK, no major wear to the teeth. There is slight play in the ring gear so I assume that isn't seized, the spider gears spin freely but the pinion shaft is locked solid. I will strip the diff down this week and find out what is going on with it, hopefully it's a straight forward fix.