Lil'Blue Front Drive Shaft Replacement

[TonyP]

Well I finally got some spare time to take a look at what broke on LB on the last outing at Lincomb farm. The good bit is that Ian's parts arrive as promised which meant that I could start on the replacement job.

So started off with taking off the ASFIR protection plate, and then the front wheel, brake calliper and then the whole front axel assembly. Had some issue with the split pin on the big ball joint at the bottom which meant I had to find another way of removing the assembly. Fortunately there were 4 bolts holding the lower ball joint assembly together which I was able to undo and remove the whole unit.

Once the front axel assembly was off and out of the way you could quite clearly see the problem:

And the other side

So to get this off was a bit more difficult. In the end it was easier to remove the complete sleeve that holds the drive shaft to the front diff:

4 bolts to the diff (one was a right nightmare.... sigh) and 2 larger ones on the other side.

Once the bolts were off, a small bit of tapping and the whole lot comes off including the drive shaft which is held in place with a snap ring:

You can also see the other end of the broken joint assembly. Unfortunately I did not order this part as I thought the issue was with the shaft itself..... oh well, just need to order that up.

Once thing I am not sure of is if I can get the rest of the snapped of bit's out of the drive shaft, I probably won't bother, and just use the new one that I got

More to follow when I get the other part....

 

[Chris]

Tony, outstanding. I bet Lil Blue's feeling better already. You've really gone in at the deep end there. I expect that Rob and LC Engineering Dept will have something to say about that failure. Looks like it's fnurked to me, but there will be some technical term like double hemorrhoid, spiral clusterfolpulos strain fatigue, failure.

Keep us informed on the recovery.
Looks like LB is in good hands. Maybe not careful ones, but good ones.
Chris

 

[TonyP]

Tony, outstanding. I bet Lil Blue's feeling better already. You've really gone in at the deep end there. I expect that Rob and LC Engineering Dept will have something to say about that failure. Looks like it's fnurked to me, but there will be some technical term like double hemorrhoid, spiral clusterfolpulos strain fatigue, failure.

Keep us informed on the recovery.
Looks like LB is in good hands. Maybe not careful ones, but good ones.
Chris

Thanks Chris, I'd say it's FUBARD

Just disappointed that I could not get the job completed today... ho hum

 

[Rob]

I expect that Rob and LC Engineering Dept will have something to say about that failure. Looks like it's fnurked to me, but there will be some technical term like double hemorrhoid, spiral clusterfolpulos strain fatigue, failure.

I'm a bit rusty on complicated shaft failures like this one, but seems shockingly similar to Ian's broken Milner CV I suspect that the drive shaft was not built to take that load as there is little evidence of yielding like Ian's broken longfield half shaft. Can you get uprated drive shafts for the 90? I would certainly look into this as the OEM drive shafts were not designed to have a front locker.

 

[SimonD]

I would certainly look into this as the OEM drive shafts were not designed to have a front locker.

Is that true or is that your opinion, Rob?

 

[Rob]

Whilst I don't know this for a fact, there is plenty of evidence here to suggest that they were not designed to take the extra load that the front locker puts onto it. Firstly this happened on Lil Blue's second off road outing with the front locker. Secondly there are no 90s with factory front lockers and finally that looks like a very brittle failure similar to Ian's 80 series Milner CV which are known to be weaker than OEM.

EDIT: Brittle failures are sudden and can only be avoided by putting less load on the component. Seeing as this was a OEM part Toyota would not design a component to fail in a brittle manner if used within spec therefore it is safe to assume its not up to the job. If the component yielded before it failed then it will fail over time and can be replaced before failure if checked on a regular basis. This gives you the possibility

 

[Chris]

If I may speak candidly, it was not the fault of the drive shaft, nor the locker. It was a loose nut behind the wheel. It was not only the second outing for the locker but it was Tony's first. That shaft isn't simply broken; it is destroyed. It's amazing that the CV didn't fail earlier.

Tony anytime you wanna jump in here and save the reputation of the 90 series, you go right ahead.

Chris

 

[Rob]

I was only looking at the evidence, was not around to witness the actual event

 

[TonyP]

So in theory my part has now arrived and is with my friendly neighbour

One question I have is that once it's all back together, how do I know when I have enough oil in my diff?

If I may speak candidly, it was not the fault of the drive shaft, nor the locker. It was a loose nut behind the wheel. It was not only the second outing for the locker but it was Tony's first. That shaft isn't simply broken; it is destroyed. It's amazing that the CV didn't fail earlier.

Tony anytime you wanna jump in here and save the reputation of the 90 series, you go right ahead.

Chris

Oi, I just saw that comment Chris

but yes, entirely my fault I am sure

 

[Chris]

When it runs out of the 'ole, Tony. Fill it up, then put the plug in loosely then with the wheels off the ground (or you could spin round the block) turn the diff so that all the cavities fill with oil. You've an ARB carrier in there and it's bigger than standard in terms of the volume that it takes up. Air pockets then take oil when you drive and that lowers the level. Then pull the plug and top up. Use a decent oil, it deserves that.

Go to DIY shed and buy a £15 garden pressure sprayer. Take the handset off and fill the barrel with oil, pump it via the tube, into your diff. On a 90 it's the best, cleanest way.

Chris

 

[TonyP]

Thanks Chris. Out of interest how much oil would it take from dry?

 

[Chris]

Errm, oddly I don't have the handbook anymore Tony, but it's only about 2.6 litres from memory. Slightly less now I guess. I just fill the bottle up and do all the diffs til it runs out of the hole, so I never really measured each one. But about that. Have you got it fixed up then - or to the point where you know it's all ready to go back togther then?

Chris?

 

[TonyP]

yeah that's what plan on doing... fill it till it runs out, just wanted to be sure I had enough oil... nothing worse than running out of something half way

Oddly enough I have the manual and checking that the front diff takes 1.2L so after buying 3L I now have plenty.... Plan on doing the job on Saturday... if the kids give me half a chance

 

[TonyP]

Wooo hooooo LB is back on the road again. Spent the morning fixing!
:happy-wavemulticolor:

Parts arrived on Wednesday and I have been itching to fix LB. Fitted the replacement drive shaft piece (note the technical term ), replaced the inner drive shaft plus the bearing and the seal. All was quite straight forward apart from when the two shafts clip in together, needed a firm tap with a hammer

Pic of the replaced part:

I also took the oppertunity to remove the alternator to clean out the brushes as LB was not charging. After a clean and a rub down it's now ok, but one of the brushes is at the limit so I will need to replace that ASAP.

Took her out for a quick spin and all seems ok. Will need to check the diff oil level again, but appart from that LB can now go for the over due MOT, and I can then go and play again

 

[Tommo&Claire]

Good effort Tony,

See you at Slindon tomorrow then?

 

[TonyP]

Good effort Tony,

See you at Slindon tomorrow then?

Would love to come and play... but the mrs is away so it's just me and the kids... and as LB is only a 2 seater that's a non starter

 

[Chris]

Well done Tony. That's a great job. Glad to hear alternator is ok. Was there much muck in there? it's not an uncommon problem on the 90, off road dirt affecting the charge. Had it got under the brushes or something? I used to flush it out after wading. Sounds like a case of that old Lincomb mud. It has new bearings in there by the way so it should be good for a long time. New brushes isn't a big job.

Looking forward to some new pics soon.

Chris

 

[TonyP]

Thanks for you help and advice in sorting this out Chris.

To be honest there wasn't a hell of a lot of crud in there, I gave all the contacts a good clean including the shaft and when it went back in it all worked. With the top brush being very thin, I don't think it took too much mud to break the contact.

Also meant to say thanks to Ian for sorting the parts out so efficiently

Pics to follow as soon as I take LB out for another play!

 

[TonyP]

Well after another over eager attempt at off roading at Devils pit a few weeks ago I broke the front drive shaft again Anyway yesterday I took a look at it thinking I will need to order some parts, but it turned out that I had a spare drive shaft (ordered incorrectly last time).

So replaced the drive shaft and LB is all good again. Here are some pics of the broken bits:

wonder if this part is covered under warrantee

I did however discover another issue.... On the lower ball joint assembly I had lost one of the bolts and sheared off another So clearly I had hit something very hard....

 

[silvercruiser]

Just a thought Do you think Toyota tried a front locker when first designing this and the 100 series but had issues the same as you tony and maybe that's why it has an open diff on the front.

Joe

p.s well done on the quick change of shaft at least i know who to come to if i ever shear one