Swivel gaiter kits; rubber or leather?

[2286]

I wonder... Given that CV joint gaiters being split would be an MOT failure on a vehicle, if you were to present a vehicle with a swivel gaiter split like that for an MOT, would that be an issue?

Britpart should have a record of having sold that to their retailer. If its like the Allmakes system, it automatically tracks the part number and you can usually do a simple warranty return. It is unrealistic to expect a customer to retain packaging for a fitted part. I think somebody is being fobbed off...

My vote goes to leather, I have ex mod version.

Re split rubber boot, it goes on to say prevent ingress, so swivel seals and housing would need to be in pretty poor shape to let grit and nasties in.  The amount of fluid escaping or dropping out on to the road is another matter entirely.

Axles wtihout swivel ball cv boot is on its own and would fail.

[Craig T]

My father fitted the leather ones to our series III a very long time ago. Not to protect the swivel balls but rather to cover them up. They were pitted and quite rusty so he fitted new seals, kept EP90 in the housing but then covered the ball in really thick grease and fitted the gaiters over the top.

They lasted very well, probably 20 odd years before they needed any attention again and it stopped the MOT advisory on pitted swivel housings.

Craig.

[Bloke]

How difficult are the leather ones to fit? It's not a remove-the-swivel jobby is it?

Tom

[autorover1]

Fiddley but not swivel off job.

[diffwhine]

Fiddly because having lubricated the leather with vast amounts of Vaseline, handling it is like trying to hold an eel.

Am I on the right forum? Sounds very suspect.

[Wittsend]

That's why I suggest you treat the leather well before fitting - like a month/2 weeks before. Store in a plastic bag. This allows the leather treatment to "soak" in and the gaiter is not so sticky.

When fitting to the swivel all the surrounds need to be clean and free of dirts/grit - especially the ground. Wear rubber gloves whilst manoeuvring the gaiter into position.
You fit to the swivel housing first and jiggle the gaiter over onto the axle. Here, I've found fixing with a large cable tie better than the giant Jubilee clip. Only when you have the gaiter in place and stitched up can you finally tighten the cable clip and cut the tab off.



 

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

Before reading your words - thank you - I'd starting feeding own-label petroleum jelly into Britpart branded blue 'leather'. In a poly-bag I've been kneading the bundle.

I was going to have a bash at it tomorrow, it's slighty less 'eel' already.

With your words in mind I'll let it wait a while.

[Craig T]

Wonder if you could fit them dry then spray a few times with that lanolin stuff that seems popular at the minute, Lanoguard?

Craig.

[diffwhine]

Got to confess to hating doing swivel gaiters. We did an analysis of their effectiveness as part of various MOD programmes and found that the upgrade to the black Teflon coated swivel ball was a far better coating and made the gaiters unnecessary. I can't quite work out why this is not offered on Series swivel balls. They can also be counterproductive in abrasive environments (especially muddy abrasive environments), where debris can get drawn in with water and gets trapped behind the gaiter causing more issues than without. Originally the gaiters were offered as a solution to both military and fleet users in extreme harsh environments. Those same environments require enhanced service intervention and so the gaiters in fleet conditions are serviced and cleaned regularly - hence why on ex MOD vehicles, they should look good. What they are not supposed to be are fit for life and ignore components. If that is done and the vehicle is used in muddy green lane type environments, then there will be problems.

I've just had a look back over some of my fleet records from Botswana and Zimbabwe some years ago. Both environments can be brutally harsh on the drivetrain. Because of sand ingress, we usually stopped using them or insisted that they were removed, cleaned and refitted annually.

I find that if you do have to fit them, then vaseline does do the job, but as others have said, it needs to be able to soak well in. Personally I lay the leather out on a bench, coat it with vaseline and then leave a UV lamp on over them to give a nice even heat. The grease is then able to soak right in. Do this a couple of times and then fit and it seems to work quite well. A carefully applied hot air gun will be just as effective. I'm sure lanoline would work as would any leather treatment, but petroleum jelly has always been the convention.

[autorover1]

I have found them very effective for general road dirt and have had them on my S1 LR for 33 years without any subsequent attention . It does some off road work but by no means extensive. It has just developed a very small oil seepage past the main seal on one side which will need attention when/if it gets worse . I was advised by LR Driving experience that if doing a lot of wading  in mud /sand etc they can make things worse rather than better.  I did find out when I queried it with LR Customer Service back in 1970 that the holes are placed to fit  the gaiter with the lacing at the bottom. Initial experience found that then catches on shrubs etc when off road and the placement changed to the top, just to the rear  10 o'clock & 2 o,clock. , but the hole spacing didnt change so you have manipulate the leather to line up, very easy when it is impregnated with petroleum jelly. 

[Theshed]

Has anyone tried the kits from Britpart or LRSupermarket. Are they actually leather ?
If I use Wittsends template and make up my own do I need to replace the metal rings or can I reuse?

[Wittsend]

If I use Wittsend's template and make up my own do I need to replace the metal rings or can I reuse?

If you remove the retaining rings carefully you should be able to reuse them.

Or fit a 2nd oil seal retaining ring over the gaiter. The ones in the kit are just a flimsy bit of alloy.
Because of the extra thickness you may want to use slightly longer oil seal retaining screws.
I actually drill/tap out the threads to take 1/4" UNF screw.

Only a real rivet count could tell - and there aren't many of them left.

[Betsy1969]

Regarding the quality of rubber these days I wonder if Emberton Imperial make/ have considered making a gaiter set ?
Their products seem to be very well regarded

Andy

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

Only a real rivet count could tell - and there aren't many of them left.

That's a wonderful thing to say, these people need our support. We care.

Here's how I see it. It's a good life, rivet-counting - living the dream. But you have to commit to it.
There's more to being incredibly tedious than just counting the rivets, you know.
There's always something that needs hours of pointless research; there's getting the DVLA to pretend to be *rsed and there's always someone who needs correcting on the intricacies of the Mk5 over the Mk3. That part number's never going to cross-check itself.

[Wittsend]

You've missed my point 
My comment was made entirely tongue-in-cheek. Don't over think it.

Regarding the suggestion of (re)manufacturing a "better" rubber gaiter then the 1st port of call should surely be Charlesworth Mouldings
Who are members of our club.

Then the question comes down to "what demand is there for such a product". How many would they sell vs the setup costs

As opposed to the tried and tested solution of leather gaiters.