The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

Some of the knobs on here look like they've seen a lot of action.   The one on my HDi (with pull up reverse collar) was loose when I bought the van in 2007. I lived with it like that for years, the hole in it gradually getting bigger as the metal shaft wore the plastic away inside the hole. Occasionally it would fall off when driving along leaving me to shift with the bare shaft. Eventually I filled the hole with Araldite, drilled out the glue when set with a bit same diameter as the metal shaft, then Araldited it on. And there it's stayed for about 4 years.

Things progressing with couple of hitches, so far. The tie rod BJ is really in there. Tried tapping on the threaded part with the nut near end of thread to protect the it. Then tried banging the side of the casting where the BJ sits in to shock it out, but no joy, don't want to use more farce otherwise I'll be shopping for a new track rod end. Off to Machine Mart tomorrow to get a decent BJ seperator.

The lower BJ nut on it's pinch bolt was slightly chewed, so the 16mm socket wouldn't bite. Managed to get a 5/8 socket to grip it and undo - it was tight. Poss been wanged up with air wrenches before, doing the nut's flats no good. The Fiat nut seems unobtainium, so will put it back on for now and source a proper high tensile nut and bolt to replace.

My discoveries -

Scudo driveshafts obviously have no clips or means of retention in the diff, as they slide out really easily. Typical - something you don't want to come out comes out when you don't want it to. Made the mistake of leaving the hub nut loose and on the end of it's thread when I popped the lower BJ out. This tugged on the driveshaft slightly and resulted in a bit of an oily mess on the floor. :oops: That's another trip to get some gearbox oil. Unfortunately no level hole on these, so will have to drain and refill because what came out wasn't measured.

A lower BJ can be in too far. I just assumed when you pop the BJ back in the pinch hole in bottom of hub it would go in far enough and stop. Then wondered why the pinch bolt wouldn't go in. Finally realised I needed to lever wishbone down a few mms and the bolt slipped in nicely.

Thanks for the info, AlvyLad, really useful.

I'm not quite sure what's going on with this. Got someone to lever upwards under the tyre with both wheels off the ground. Couldn't see, feel or hear anything. But this is usually the case with either the problem wheel or both wheels off the ground - the problem disappears.

With both wheels on the ground I got him to hold the tyre at 12 o'clock and rock it inwards and outwards. The movement and knocking is obvious, but not low down where the bottom ball joint is. And it's not the AR bar link either. Feels like it's coming somewhere from the hub area but I can't pinpoint. Checked the two bolts holding bottom of strut to hub are tight - and they were.

I can get the same movement/rattle if grab the lowest coils of the spring above wheel and move it in towards engine then outwards. Can feel the knocking near the bottom of strut near hub rather than top of it.

If not the lower ball joint, what else could it be? Wheel bearing? My experience of these is the whine or rumble. Can bad bearing clunk when driving along and cause rattling/movement when moving wheel in and out at top by wheel?

What other things are possible? CV joint?

Thanks for the info. I looked at Autodoc (anyone know if they're any good/reliable?), and Monroe, Meyle wishbomes are about £70 and Lemforder are around £98.

Thanks John. That was what I was leaning towards. The two small bushes at the bottom of the anti-roll bar links are a bit perished, but not too bad - so thinking they're not the problem.

Presumably it's a new wishbone as the ball joints arent replaceable? Also, the bottom of the hub assembly spins on the bottom ball joint, but don't think there is a top ball joint. What does the upper part of the hub spin on - is there anything in there that wears and needs to be replaced?

Appreciate your advice, as you've helped me in the past and your videos have been really useful too.

My 2004 SX/Dynamic Scudo comes with everything on your wish list plus aircon. Only thing not included is the cruise control.

Can't help thinking you would have saved yourself a lot of grief, aggro and work looking out for a good SX. But where's the challenge in that?   

You may well be right. Left it with the gearbox specialist. They confirmed leaking from inside bell housing and some wear/play in change/selector mechanism on top of box. They're going to remove box - which unfortunately also entails removal of subframe. Said they will do a full inspection of box and likely a box re-seal - whatever that is. I did ask about bent input shaft, but they said impossible on these because of the way the bolts are the weight of box can't be hung on shaft.

When they were removing the suspension, subframe, etc - they said a broken coil spring flew out. Said it was rusty on the break so boken some time. Sounds about right. The one on the other side broke over night a few years ago, slid down the strut and locked up the tyre/steering. More money!

Made it home without any disasters or ominous noises from the gearbox. I added small amounts of oil every couple of hundred miles, may well have overfilled a bit but better that way than too low and damaging box. Just hope any excess oil hasn't caused problems with other seals.

Booked in with garage for 10th Jan, not realy using it much until then so no problem just to do a few local journeys. Apart from leak, van did really well for a 17 year old doing 2500 mile round trip. Was clean when I went away start of Nov, but now covered in really bad layer of road grime that you get from driving thousands of miles on motorways, autobahns, etc, etc in all weathers. Worst is all the lorries thowing up dirty spray, and boy were there some lorries on the continent! If we're short of drivers they must all be over there. Never seen so many lorries on motorways and big lorry parks by side of motorways full up at night. Anyway, quick visit to the local jet wash will get it shining again.

Well, I bought a bottle of leak stopper in CZ and added the correct amount. Now driven 800 miles on it to France, and it's leaking just as bad. I think these magic potions are supposed to be preventative rather than to repair a failed seal. I think I must be losing a fair bit at the mileages I've been doing. Looks like it's coming out of the o/s driveshaft seal from diff. Wiped the oil off lowest part of bell housing with a rag, drove at 60 MPH for half an hour, then wiped it again and in that time the area was wet again.

I'm going to nurse it home to Calais, then over Channel to Dover > Bristol. I've been topping up with approx 200ml of oil every 200 miles. Seems to be successful so will do another top up after crossing Channel. Should get me home. Could be doing more harm than good, not knowing how much oil is in the box. If I'm overfilling it, the increased internal pressure will be pushing more oil past the faulty seal. Just have to make sure I keep enough oil in there to protect it. New seal(s) for Xmas.

Thanks again for all your help. To answer Casper's point, it's definitely gearbox oil. The engine oil is almost due a change so is a bit dark. The stuff on the bell housing is clean and smells of gearbox oil. Also, the engine never loses any oil, I never need to add any between changes. The crankshaft seal was replaced as a precaution when clutch done at beginning of year.

I always thought there wasn't a level plug, but maybe because it sounds difficult to get to some have never found it. Will have a look. In the end it may come down to guesstimating how much is coming out and topping up on the long journey home. Anyway, a recon box can't be that much!   

Not returning for at least a couple of weeks. Going to have a look in the local motor factors for a leak stop additive. That will test my very basic Czech language skills.

Apologies for all for late/sporadic replies. Relying on pubs and cafes for internet connection for my laptop. Thanks for all help, really appreciated.

Thanks for your reply, Pathfinder. Not really too worried about gearchange, as long as I can get back without a dry and wrecked gearbox. I was thinking about next grade up from the spec'd 75W80. Think it might be 80W85 0r 85W90. Not looked into different grades.