De Dion boot replacement and MOT

Just got my de-dion tube off the car. Jacking it up on the drivers side only is a great tip!. Another great tip is to make sure you remove all the flange bolts before spending an hour with a big screwdriver trying to prize the tube off the elbow... :shock: :oops: Still no harm done apart from a few pounds sweated off. :LOL:

Just gotta wire brush and paint the outside now, and reassemble it with new parts. I'm liking the grease idea. I was wondering about maybe welding a grease nipple into the filler bung, although I'm guessing its not going to need topping up for a few years, hopefully.. :?:
 
The repro gaiters are quite thin rubber,and dont last very long,2-3 yrs if your lucky!
Thick originals are best if you can find them,I fitted a thin repro one 11 yrs ago,and then after 2 yrs fitted a new proper one that lasted 9yrs,then last year fitted another!
And I use my car everyday!
The tube gets very little twist and slide,so its not really an item that wears out,unless its an oil one run totally dry for decades!
You can pull back the gaiter annually and bung a bit of grease on the tube,or give it a fresh grease up when you have to replace it again!
 
V8P6B said:
I'm liking the grease idea. I was wondering about maybe welding a grease nipple into the filler bung, although I'm guessing its not going to need topping up for a few years, hopefully.. :?:

Only problem with doing that is that the filler hole is in the middle of the tube which is fine for oil as it's much more viscous than grease and will flow to the areas that need it. Filling up with grease in the middle would take quite a while and the grease might not get onto the areas that need it ie the end quarters of the tube.

Dave
 
That makes sense Dave, cheers. I am liking the grease idea though. My idea was to pack the internal tube with grease on assembly, ensuring the parts that needed it were well treated. I was thinking the filler bung would then be used primarily to top it up. I think my theory was that this way, the grease could be given a very slight positive pressure which would force the existing grease further into the places it was needed. The only thing I was wondering was; are there any differences on the tube internals between oil & grease filled tubes which could cause problems in the future? I was thinking particularly with regards to the metal against metal parts of the tube, ie the ends. My outer tube seems to have machined brass inserts at either end, not like the ones in This picture on Richarduk's blog :?:
 
The grease type de dion tubes are not filled with grease, rather there is just a smear on the surface of the inner sleeve which then fits inside the outer sleeve. The thin fim of grease then allows the two tubes to move without metal to metal contact.

The only point I will make with regards to filling an oil type de dion tube with grease is that it was designed to accept oil only. If it worked equally well with grease, would not Rover have just filled them with grease instead? Why would they design a different tube for just grease?

Ron.
 
SydneyRoverP6B said:
The grease type de dion tubes are not filled with grease, rather there is just a smear on the surface of the inner sleeve which then fits inside the outer sleeve. The thin fim of grease then allows the two tubes to move without metal to metal contact.

The only point I will make with regards to filling an oil type de dion tube with grease is that it was designed to accept oil only. If it worked equally well with grease, would not Rover have just filled them with grease instead? Why would they design a different tube for just grease?

Ron.

Its basically because oil was the 1st type of de-dion designed and used,and then they improved it when they realised grease would work better! :wink:
 
Brown Rover has a leaking LHS de Dion seal, and while it is up on the hoist having its ZF mounts fabricated I was thinking of replacing the seal, which I have in my drawer of spare parts. Having looked in the workshop manual, then searched the forum and discovered this thread, I have a few questions (I apologise in advance for ignorance or anything I've missed reading the thread):

- This talk of jacking up the driver's side only: can somebody elaborate a bit? Does this allow the tube to be separated without all the palaver in the manual about removing hubs etc?
- If so, does this allow me to remove and replace the LHS seal (not just the gaitor)?
- Is the RHS the same part number as the LHS?
- Are there two paper gaskets, one each side?
- I assume that replacing the oil with grease is a no-brainer?

Thanks in advance, guys.
 
If I wanted to remove a De Dion tube I wouldn't remove anything other than the ring of bolts at each end that secure it to the elbows. I'd jack the rear of the car up and support it with axle stands under the pinion crossmember.
 
Thanks Harvey! That's nowhere near as onerous as the method in the workshop manual, which has put me crook on a couple of occasions. Since the car is on a hoist at present I'll get in there and do the seal and replace the oil with grease.
 
I was just about to do mine ,is there any reason why you couldn't just unbolt the offside end of the tube ,and then just pull out the inner tube to replace the gaitor ? or would this put too much stress on the nearside elbow ? my tube is grese filled ,so I have no worries about oil pouring out !
 
The oil has leaked past the gator on my early series 2 V8 after being on stands for quite a while......I will definitely go for the 'grease' method when I repair.

Mark.
 
adamjack said:
I was just about to do mine ,is there any reason why you couldn't just unbolt the offside end of the tube ,and then just pull out the inner tube to replace the gaitor ? or would this put too much stress on the nearside elbow ? my tube is grese filled ,so I have no worries about oil pouring out !


Don't pull the inner tube out of the outer. Undo the ring of bolts holding the inner tube to the elbow (having marked both flanges), then once those are split, cut off the old boot, and stretch the new one over the end flange on the tube. Fit the spring clip to hold the new boot to the sliding part of the de dion, but fit the other clip with the car on the ground after a quick drive round the block.
 
About to do this job, useful data here. Looking at the parts book, there are only 2 parts listed as different between the oiled and greased types - both do with seals and their retainer - not the actual tubes. Obviously there is a change, when the greased types no longer have the oil filler boss and nut, but no functional difference.

Will this work - I have a set of Quickjacks that can lift the car with the wheels clear of the ground. Once lifted, the dedion should be fully collapsed - correct? If I then raise the off side wheel some, I should be able to see the tube start to extend. Once it has some extension, I should be able to undo the bolts, separate the off side end, and replace the boot as Harvey has indicated above.
See any problems with this logic please?
thanks
 
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Once lifted, the dedion should be fully collapsed - correct? If I then raise the off side wheel some, I should be able to see the tube start to extend.

I think you'll find that it doesn't fully close up, so you will have enough further movement to get the tube assy out or replace the boot with the wheels hanging.
 
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