TheHaflinger.com

It was November last year that I first posted about replacing the gaiters. I bought 4 new gaiter kits. I have recently begun to have a go at fitting them. Not doing to well at present, so maybe someone has some tips. At first I tried silicone mastic on all joint surfaces. I also used slightly longer bolts because I found it difficult to engage the nuts whilst forcing the clip ends together.
A long morning at that resulted in the inner clip slipping off the diff casing flange every time the clip got tight. I cleaned and removed all traces of silicone and tried several times again. No joy, same thing happened. First photo shows the clip on the nut side slid off the flange. The top part of the clip is neatly snug on the rubber over the groove as it should be. If you do not tighten fully , then the clip ends do not meet the rubber joint flange and you can just push the gaiter off the diff side.
Today I spent most of the day trying again with the joint up, down ,sideways. Tried on front, rear, left and right axles. Every time you get to a point where the clip is tight, it slips off the rubber and over the edge of the groove/flange the rubber should sit in. I got out the old gaiters, they are softer, thinner rubber. Please see photos and any suggestions welcome. Jeff.

According to the diagram in the parts book, the joint of the split gaiters should be underneath the axle pointing towards the direction of travel. So you would have to redo your gaiters in the pictures to get the joint below the axle to start with.
Next thing I did was to put a thin smear of sealant round on either grove and some on the split joint. If you have the split pointing straight down you can get to both sides unite easily. Now put a bolt though the middle’ish hole just to put the split together. Then lots of fiddling to get the two bolts on the end to go through their holes. Like you I used a longer bolt to start with, but once I had the two sides close enough together, I put the original bolts in. Then I just did them all up as evenly a little bit at a time until the jont closed. Now move the split from being vertically downward to as close the flange of the axle as I could. I put the bolt through so it would be near the axle and the nut would be nearest the ground.

I think if you try doing one end up completely before the rest it will always try to slip off the flange.

John

You need to use small washers on the joining nuts and bolts to stop them pulling through the rubber - not over tighten - let the sealer to the sealing.

Thanks John and Garry,
I did have success this morning and got one done. As John suggested, I did not tighten up until all bolts were in place. As well as putting washers on with the nuts and not over tightening.
I am hoping this will work for the other 3 yet to do. Then it will be putting the oil in and fingers crossed. Next the brakes to be put back together with new cylinders, adjusters, brake pipes etc. The clutch cable and diff lock rods are also ready to go back on. I have the springs and new shockers in place. Refurbished wheels with new original pattern tyres are ready to fit. Plenty to do on the deck/body work over the coming winter.
Cheers for now.
Jeff