WORKSHOP
The Axle-man Cometh… THE NISSAN PATROL was never an enormous seller in the UK. But off-road enthusiasts, and indeed anyone else who just appreciates a proper old truck when they see one, have always respected it for the honest way it used to about its job. It was one of the last big 4x4s to stick with beam axles front and rear, and its brute strength and robust engineering put it right up there with the Toyota Landcruiser for sheer indestructibility. These days, Patrols are a real rarity. Even before they went off sale in Britain (which, just in case you were needing something to help make you feel old, was now more than ten years ago), second-hand examples were being bought up and exported to Eastern Europe – where they’re much more part of the offroading mainstream. That of course means the number still in Britain has been constantly diminishing. Which has driven up prices – not necessarily of the vehicles themselves (though they do make strong money), but of their axles. That’s where the value is in what looks like an otherwise rough Patrol. They’re immensely strong – capable of taking the sort of shock loads you create when putting a V8 engine’s worth of power and torque through a superaggressive 40” tyre on savagely uneven ground – and famously willing to put up with abuse. But not even a Patrol axle is invulnerable. Bury it repeatedly in acidic, abrasive mud, dunk it relentlessly in freezing cold water and give it absolutely no maintenance at all, and guess what’s going to happen? The photos on these pages show the front axle from a 2004 model-year Y61 Patrol being dismantled for investigation work. You can see from the state of the chassis and suspension around it that the vehicle must have been taking a pasting off-road in the period leading up to this – and getting precious little in the way of cleaning in return. As you can possibly tell from the colour of
the mud, it’s not the kind you find in woodlands – it’s quarry mud, basically dried-on limestone sludge that’s abrasive as hell and sets like concrete. Lovely. The investigations began after the Patrol’s driver started hearing a clicking noise on full lock that strongly suggested a CV joint was not long for this world. As you’ll see from the state of what the guys
Here’s the offside stub axle, with the hub and wheel bearing removed. As you can see, there’s a certain amount of muck in there, mixed with oily, greasy seal debris. You can also see an element of surface corrosion starting on the stub
60 | JULY 2021
4pp Patrol Axles.indd 60
4x4 29/05/2021 16:10
