Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi guys,

I am in a spot of bother and was hoping one of you guys might have a solution for me...

I put the troll onto our pit for a bit of a chassis clean and to grease all the shafts etc only to find the oil/grease seal hanging out of the trunnion socket. That is a big enough issue all on its own but to make matters worse, there was no oil/grease leaking all over the inside of the wheel as there should have been.
So I strip the hubs off to get the seals out and find that the entire king pin assembly and drive shaft is DRY. There is only the slightest amount of grease to be found anywhere.(this car has a full service history from quite a reputable Nissan dealer here in Jozi)
So with it being dry and the seal basiclly being non existant, the trunnion socket has taken some serious strain and is not the normal glossy black finnish but more of a pitted semi rusted ball that will eat the new seal once I put it on there.

So my question is: How do I get the trunnion back to the glass smooth finnish that is needed for the seal to work properly?
Oh and any leads on a cheaper otion for the seal assembly? the stealers are asking R620 per seal assembly...
Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated!

Adrian that's a bugger.

However, that joint should not be chock full of grease. There should be some grease in there, sure enough, but not enough to run out when you open it. There certainly should not be any oil in there, that should be kept inside by the oil seal (placed there where the thin "neck"is between the ball and the axle tube.

The CV joint inside there should be pretty full of grease, and the taper roller bearings that hold it in place should be full of grease (a different type from what's in the CV off course), but the actual joint should just have a bit in.

With regard to restoring the slip surface, I don't know how bad the problem is. It might help if you can post some pics? Start by cleaning it all up with steel wool, and if the pitting is less than say 0.25mm deep, you should be able to just polish it clean using emery tape on a sanding block, without compromising the seal. However you need to be carefull to work evenly.

I do not think R620 is exhorbitant for those seal assemblies?

Despite the manual requiring these assemblies (both CV's and wheel bearings) to be serviced and re-greased every 100k km, the stealers are not doing this.

There is in my mind and thinking then ample evidence that the stealers did NOT carry out the service they med you pay for and thus you should hold them responsible for th edamege - they must replece that trunnion & seals at their cost.
[Consumer act and Common Law would support that ???]