Service on a Haflinger

[heinkeljb]

I had this weekend free and I have been putting a fair number of miles on Lurch. So I though I would do a service, you know, change all the various oils and grease the nipples as you do.
What a curfuffle! In order to do an oil change on the engine you have to drop the rear sump guard - you might as well take it right off to start with as it needs to come off to do the gearbox / diff drains. Then you need to take off tinware (the one along the back under the pulley wheel.

The reason? If you don't take the sump guard off, you can't take the tinware off and if you can't take the tinware off you don't see the drain plug for the oil filter! - Yes, you guessed! Only discovered that you can drain the oil out of the filter AFTER I had removed the oil filter and deluged oil all over the tinware. Luckily, I had prepared for this by putting a big catch tray under the engine.

So tell me, how are you supposed to prime the oil filter? Are you just supposed to put it on dry and hope the lack of oil in it does not do any damage until it fill up with oil when the engine is running? Another bit of design that could of been better!

Then you go on to the gearbox. On a LWB with heat exchangers, the access to the fill plug is abysmal. I ended up cutting a piece off the garden hose to make an extension to the filling pipe from the 1 litre gear oil containers I had.

When did they decide that the central tube no longer required a drain plug when you are supposed to put oil in it? The repair manual states "use the drain plug".... This vehicle was made long before it became common practice to use a pump to "suck" out oil. I am lucky, I happen to own a SMART car which has no drain plug on the sump so you have to "suck" the oil out and so I have a suitable pump.

Oh well, rant over... Tomorrow is another day and Lurch is ready for it!

John

[AustHaflinger]

Well I think someone needs a good hug

On my Haffie I can get to the sump plug OK likewise I did not drain the oil filter but placed a container strategically under the engine to catch the oil and later clean up with spray degreaser to remove excess oil on the metal work under the engine. So no tin work was removed.

The last time I did not fill the oil filter - too hard and when the engine started oil pressure came up straight away. The oil filters on my Rover V8 and RRS TDV6 also point up and neither have an issue priming up the oil filter.

I have raised the issue of a lack of a drain plug on the centre tube on here before. I know mine has, at a minimum, the correct amount of oil in there as I put it is in. However I have no idea how much was already in there or how clean or dirty it is. I am tempted to drill a hole in the tube at one of the ends and put in a drain plug. Also, given the size of the tube and the bearings it contains I am surprised it only contains 500ml of oil. When going up hill when the oil would run to the rear how does the front bearings get lubricated and vice versa. When on the flat 500ml of oil would barely cover the bottom of the tube over its full length.

Haflingers are certainly quirky and in many aspects more complex than they need to be.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

I agree you can get to the engine sump drain plug without taking the sump guard off. I did that to start with. Then when I came to do the gearbox, there are two drain plugs and neither are easy to get at with the sump guard in place. Whilst I was looking up how much gear oil I would need, I noticed the oil filter drain plug bit! - Next time!

I completely agree about the central tube - either it relies on splash feed or at least minimal amounts of oil once in a while when you go up and down hills, bumps etc as the 500mls can't possible go above the lips of the bearings - unless that is what it does, just put a mm or 2 just into the ball bearing race and rely on the bearing throwing oil everywhere!

I also have discovered that I have a split rear boot, so will need to change that as soon as I get a replacement. Also discovered my Governor did not like having the pulley wheel taken off, it's leaking so new seal there as well needed.

When I took the oil bath air filter off, the oil was very black and there was a layer of crud about 2mm thick stuck to the bottom of the container. Obviously, has not been cleaned in a while - and I am just as much at fault for not having looked at it earlier!

I think I have been spending money on Lurch every month since I bought him - will it ever get to the point where I can just drive with out spending money on anything else but petrol? Who knows?

John

[AustHaflinger]

I think I have been spending money on Lurch every month since I bought him - will it ever get to the point where I can just drive with out spending money on anything else but petrol? Who knows?

John

Yes I agree, that would be nice.

Oh - if you get the split boots make sure the clamps will pull them up tight - the last set I got would not and I had to modify the clamps by cutting them in half and removing a couple of mm and soldering them back together. Also use sealant on the inside of the boots when you clamp them up or they will leak.

Good luck with them.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

I am going to have to buy some stiff bristle brushes before I attempt fit the rear split rubber gaiters as they and the area around them are covered in crud.
I think it will be jack the front end up as high as I can, then crawl in underneath with a pressure spray full of de-greaser - an all-in-one throw away suit, hat, goggles, gloves or atleast elastic bands to close the sleeves and just squirt and brush everything! If it weren't for the thought that a steam cleaner would put water into places water should not go....
I shall most certainly be using some sealant as I don't want to be re-visiting them again any time soon.

John

[walderse]

John,
The orginal version of the rear skid plate assembly was a fairly narrow stamped corrugated plate with rolled edges and perforations for the various drain plugs. It was secured in place both fore and aft as the later tubular units are but it also had intermediate mounting brackets attached to the differential ide plates. I am not sure just when the earlier design was replaced by the more stout tubular one. Access is certainly improved with either type. Thakfully, thee are only four bolts involved in the process.

Regarding when you will not have to spend money but just enjoy the drive, we are all hopelessly attached to older vehicles (not just Haflingers) in need of regular upkeep.

Gary, regarding Haflinger complexity, have you every looked at the parts manual of a Pinzgauer? Easily double the size of that of the Haflinger.

Take care.
Jim Molloy
Waldersee Farm
http://www.northwestmogfest.com

[AustHaflinger]

Gary, regarding Haflinger complexity, have you every looked at the parts manual of a Pinzgauer? Easily double the size of that of the Haflinger.

Jim Molloy

I don't have a Pinz but have been on trips with them with my Landrover 101FC. The 101 is purely a military vehicle and never sold commercially and I would hate to have to work on it in the field with a bullet through the dash area - and it only has beam axles and leaf springs.

I would hate to have to work on a military Haffy or Pinz in the field with even basic battle damage, the resources required would be too great and the vehicle most likely dumped further draining overall resources. While the technology is astounding is it more complex than it needed to be for a small military vehicle - civilian vehicle is a different matter.

The British Army replaced the Landrover 101FC with newer Pinz and they some major maintenance issues with them in the field.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

i have started to clean the area around the rear near side gaiter in preparation for the new split gaiter I have coming. I have had to start by using a wooden scraper to get rid of the 3 ~ 4 mm thick caked on muck all round the swing arm, the differential side plate. There are also some gaiter protecting plates on the rear which provide protection for the rubber gaiters from underneath - not sure why there are't any on the front axles if they where an addition on later Hafi's!
They don't appear in the parts book I have. I will post some pictures when I have cleaned things up enough for them to show up properly in a photograph.
With the exhaust pipe system and heat exchangers on mine access is going to be a bit difficult to the top of the screws to hold them stationary whilst doing up the nuts on the bottom - still, I will have a go at putting the split gaiter on as show in the parts book, with the split horizontal and pointing to the front of the vehicle. The other one I did previously on the nearside front seems to be holding up Ok.

I have run Lurch up a pair of car ramps on the near side so that he is leaning over at about 30 degrees. I am hoping that by the time I get round to taking the old dead gaiter off, there won't be much oil to pour / dribble down my arm!

John

[AustHaflinger]

John - your protection plates on the rear is the same as my 73 haffie - none on the front. I asked myself the same question as to why the rear only and the answer I came up with was to act as a shield to protect the boots from the heat of the exhaust pipe.

Yes you do have to make sure the whole area is completely clean - I replaced all my boots earlier in the year with the split ones and they all leaked so I had to pull them off again and use sealant - when I took them off I found the center two bolts/nuts on the split boots had all pulled through. When putting then back I used small washers which solved this issue. As I mentioned before when you get you boots check that the clamps will actually clamp up on the boot. The first two I got were fine but the last two (same supplier different manufacturer) the clamps were too loose and I had to take a couple of mm out of each.

I am not sure why the boots are supposed to face forward but they definitely need to be horizontal - however the swing arms do not allow this exactly (there is not enough room) but close enough seems OK - I had mine up about 10 degrees from horizontal.

Good luck - not difficult to do - just fiddly and clean fingers are needed to manipulate the small nuts onto the bolts. On one I found holding the nut with long nose pliers worked best but a small socket will fit if there is space.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Hi Gary,

I have continued doing the first stage clean up around the swing arm area. The exhaust pipes on mine are to far away from the protection plates / brackets for them to be acting as heat shields for the rubber gaiters. So there must be another reason for them.

The reason as I see it for having the split on the gaiters facing towards the front of the vehicle is because if you had the split top or bottom. AS the axle flexes up or down it would alternately squeeze and stretch the seam - this would result in it opening up the split and either allowing oil out or bits in. Pointing towards the front must be to do with the direction of the oil being flung outwards by the drive shafts. If the seam is above the horizontal, then the oil being flung at it would tend to drip down into the rubber gaiter whereas if it was below the horizontal then it might collect on the irregular inner edge and over time seep through the joint. Well, it's a theory!

Did you take the rear spring out when you did yours? I think I shall have to take mine out as there is so much crud all around the gaiter and the access is so poor to the top of the swing arm, I can't really get in there to clean. I will also have to take the flexible air hose for the heating out as well as that is in direct line with where I want to get to.

I will post some pictures next time as I will try to remember to take some before I start cleaning / dismantling and get my hands so mucky, I don't want to touch the camera.

John

[AustHaflinger]

No springs out at the rear for me but I have the poverty pack Haffie so no heating and pto etc to get in the way.

As I said not difficult just fiddly.

Garry

[Julian B]

... I have the poverty pack Haffie

[heinkeljb]

Couple of photos showing poor access - obviously it improve a little bit when you take the wheel off. Wheel left on when i am not working on it for extra safety and so I don't lose anything!

rear drive shaft gaiter access1.jpg (107.95 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

rear drive shaft gaiter access2.jpg (113.63 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

John

[heinkeljb]

Finally finished....

Took the spring out, hot air heating flexible pipe and you have as much room as you are going to get unless you take the heat exchangers out as well! Seeing as they are connected to the exhaust system and like all exhaust systems, the nuts are all rusted and likely to shear if you disturb them - I didn't go that route!

So, I have a small steam cleaner I bought when i was doing the front hubs and it works well at degreasing if you shift the really thick stuff first. So a selection of scrapers, steam cleaning, degreaser and brush - long time later, clean enough to remove the old gaiter and put the new one it. Gary, I used sealant and then discovered that the bigger of the two metal straps when done up was still loose! Bummer! Take it off, then think of how to make it shorter. In the end I found a thickish piece of metal which had a slot in it, (I think it was an adjuster for a strap). Anyway, I used it to provide an anvil to allow me to put a "U" into the strap. Closed the "U" up in the vice - metal strap now 2~3mm shorter! Struggle to get it back in place on the swing arm and done up. It is difficult to reach round with a screw driver from underneath and a 1/4 drive socket from the top. I did try so them the other way, but I kept dropping the nut(s) on the floor when I shifted my attention to the other end.

That part is now all back together again, just waiting to see if it leaks. Whilst I had all the cleaning kit out, I thought I would tackle the governor and replace the oil seal behind the pulley which started leaking after I took it a part to change the dynastart belts the week before. Cleaned out a load of crud from below the crank pulley and all along that piece of tin ware. Whilst the governor was in pieces so I could do the oil seal, I wound the adjusters in half a turn each. According the book, that should allow Lurch to go a couple of miles and hour faster! We will see.
Pictures for those who want to see.

Spring out hot air hose out more room.jpg (102.04 KiB) Viewed 1712 times

Futher cleaning using steam cleaner.jpg (166.18 KiB) Viewed 1712 times

John

[AustHaflinger]

Gary, I used sealant and then discovered that the bigger of the two metal straps when done up was still loose! Bummer! Take it off, then think of how to make it shorter. In the end I found a thickish piece of metal which had a slot in it, (I think it was an adjuster for a strap). Anyway, I used it to provide an anvil to allow me to put a "U" into the strap. Closed the "U" up in the vice - metal strap now 2~3mm shorter! Struggle to get it back in place on the swing arm and done up. It is difficult to reach round with a screw driver from underneath and a 1/4 drive socket from the top. I did try so them the other way, but I kept dropping the nut(s) on the floor when I shifted my attention to the other end.

John

That was exactly the same issue I had - I cut mine and removed about 2mm and soldered mine back together with a strip of hobby brass strip as reinforcement. I assume you got yours from Haflinger Technik. The first set I got from them were fine but the second set which seemed to made by a different manufacturer had clamps that were too big. I mentioned it to John Hamiliton at Haflinger Technik but I guess he has not been able to source another supplier.

Garry