The most difficult tasks?

[Keith Webb]

Mark, I can relate to your story - just as well you managed to get the hub off far enough to get at the cylinder, or it might have been sledge hammer time for the drum! I also found one side was a lot easier than the other. The only other hazard was a very nasty black spider lurking in the recesses of the outer drum, but some fuel tempted it out so I could squash it. Their bite turns your skin necrotic. We have lots of those fun nasties here.

I made another interesting discovery as I was cleaning the short axle prior to refitting - it had a split for about 3/4 of it's length, right down the middle but was solid both ends... only a matter of time before it sheared into several messy pieces, but fortunately I had a spare. It was also bent. Makes you wonder what happened - was it just metal fatigue or rough handling... usually they tend to break just outboard of the spline necessitating removal of the diff centre.