LJ70 Build Thread!

[Roger Fairclough]

What I do with my seals is to fill in the drain channel that is at the bottom of the seal. I use RTV sealant. I then fill the seal area with grease. Hopefully this gives a proper first line of defence against water penetration.

The slackness in the bearings didn't happen on the Peak district trip. It could have been building up for weeks. With the gradual increase in lateral movement, the outer seal would have been destroyed and water would have penetrated to the inside. Your off-side seal may have been treated to the same but to a lesser degree. The end result would still be the same.

Roger

 

[Ben]

thanks Roger, i didnt even realise theres a drain hole.

have you changed any rear 70 series wheel bearings?

looking at the toyota workshop manual it says i will need a puller to remove the old bearing.

the only one ive got is like the one on the link below. do you think this might do it?

thanks.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-56177- ... _895wt_932

 

[Rob]

If its like an 80 hub then you can use a BFH and a brass drift.

 

[Roger Fairclough]

As you have already removed the old bearings, you don't need a puller. If you look inside the hub you will notice a couple of grooves. These are to position a suitable drift---brass, copper, aluminium or even wrought iron---to push the old bearings out. To fit the new ones you can warm up the hub in boiling water. If you quickly dry it when you take it out of the water, any residual droplets will quickly evaporate off the metal.As taper roller bearings have an outer race devoid of bearings, clean off the grease, spray with WD40, place inside a sealable plastic bag and put into the freezer for 30 minutes. You can prepare the old outer racers by grinding off a few thou. and using them as guides to help push the new bearings in. Remember how that T/box bearing just dropped into place after the case was warmed under tap water and the bearing left out in the freezing air? With the hub heated place the cooled bearing into place and if it doesn't drop into place, put the ground down bearing on top and quickly tap around the edges, moving top/bottom/left/right as you go. You can use a steel hammer as you are hitting the old race.

Fit the new disc.

Fit the new outer races, place a well greased inner/inner bearing---the big one---into position, fit the new grease seal using the old seal---upside down---to tap it into position. Note the thickness of the seal and the depth of the recess it goes into and calculate how far the lip of the seal sticks out above the lip of the hub. That way you don't try and hammer the seal in to far.

Put 4 big spoonfuls LM grease into the hub. Place other well greased bearing into position in hub. Clean hub shaft, put w/proof grease into outer seal position but LM grease on hub shaft inner seal surface and slide hub into position on shaft. Distance piece and inner nut follow and then proceed as Toyota recommend for bearing clearance set-up.

Note: As you tighten outer nut, the torque loading will increase, so initial set with one nut should be to low figure. As you tighten outer nut you should get closer to true max. figure.

Roger

 

[Ben]

thanks Rob, Roger for your replies.

the front bearings are all out, its one of the rear bearings i also need to get out!

according to the toyota workshop manual, after removing the drum and pulling the halfshaft out, the bearing is left in the hub.

the manual then says you use a special tool, some sort of puller to pull the bearing out of the hub which is still fixed to the axle.

 

[Ben]

yesterday morning i got the other side of the bumper welded.

and got some more filler on the rear quarter.

i then came back at lunch time and sanded it down and put more filler on.
picked up a spring scale for the wheel bearings.

had more deliveries from milners. all the brakes this time and new front wheel studs.

comparing the new and old discs shows how worn the old ones are, i suspect they may be the originals, so 19 years old.

not clear in the pic but the new ones are a good 4mm thicker.

more filling, almost there now.

used a flap wheel disc in the 9" grinder to smooth all the edges down on the welds.

my new toyota workshop manual arrived today.

which means ive got 2 now, just 4 more to get and i will have the set.

 

[Roger Fairclough]

There are 3 types of back axle.

1) Single ball race.

2) Single roller race.

3) Twin taper race.

The unit on yours will be No.1.

The ball race is a tight fit on the half shaft, and is secured by a locking collar which should be replaced if ever it is removed. If you are going to fit discs on the back in the future, why are you looking to remove the bearing now?

Roger

 

[Ben]

There are 3 types of back axle.

1) Single ball race.

2) Single roller race.

3) Twin taper race.

The unit on yours will be No.1.

The ball race is a tight fit on the half shaft, and is secured by a locking collar which should be replaced if ever it is removed. If you are going to fit discs on the back in the future, why are you looking to remove the bearing now?

Roger

im looking at replacing it because the bearing has excessive movement in it, and ive got some big trips coming up in the next month, so really cant afford for it to let me down.

the rear disc conversion is not a top priority atm, ive got so many other mods and work to do before i get onto that.

also converting the rear to discs is dependent on if i can get the X-ENG brake working.

 

[Roger Fairclough]

OK no problem.

You don't need a puller to remove the half shaft bearing. If you have one then the job is easier and less messy, but the correct puller is costly and not cost effective unless you are doing a lot of similar work. Also, as you intend to replace the bearing, you don't need to be subtle in removing the old one.

Remove the shaft from the axle. To do this remove the drum, disconnect the h/brake cable and brake pipe and the 4 nuts that secure the back plate to the axle.Pull the shaft out. If the axle is angled upwards, there shouldn't be any major loss of axle oil.

Remove the snap ring that secures the locking ring. The bearing is a 2RS type---2 rubber seals. Rip off the inner seal. The bearings are kept in place by pressed brass or a nylon retainer. Rip it out. Don't mess with it, it's scrap. The bearings are now loose and will fall out. Remove them and the outer race. The back plate should now slide over the inner race and then the axle shaft. You should now have the shaft fitted with the inner race and locking ring. Use a grinder---angle or bench---to grind a flat on the bearing and the ring. Grind down to within a few thou of the shaft surface. The race and ring should snap open as the tension in them overcomes the strength of the race and ring. Remove both.

You will need a new bearing (make certain it has 2 rubber seals) a locking ring a snap ring an "O" ring and an inner and outer oil seal.

To refit this lot you will need a 1 metre length of clean scaffold tube.

Fit the inner and outer oil seals. Lube the lips on both. place halfshaft on block of wood on concrete floor, making certain wheel studs are protected.Place back plate into position. Warm bearing on radiator for 20 minutes. Don't use micro wave as you may damage the seals or weld the balls to the races. Place bearing onto shaft. Place locking ring over shaft. The ring should be heated in boiling water. Don't use oil for this as you will need to clean the oil from the inside as you need a metal to metal contact to ensure true locking. By the time you have cleaned it the temp. will have dropped to below that which you would have got with water!

Place the old locking ring over the new one. This acts as an absorber and prevents damage to the new ring. Place the scaffold pole over the shaft and ram downwards HARD. The harder you do it, the fewer blows you will need. About 6 should do it, give or take a few more. You will know when it's fully home, because the sound will change to a higher pitch.

Remove old ring, fit new snap ring. Place "O" ring into place plus a bead of RTV sealant and refit assembly.

Roger

 

[Ben]

thanks Roger. might tackle the rear bearing tomorrow.

 

[Ben]

so yesterday morning i applied a bit more filler to the damaged rear quarter.

and got the bumper corners painted in red oxide primer.

and the front recovery points.

then when i got home from work i decided to fit the new discs onto the hubs.

so the manual says to use a press to press the wheel studs through the holes in the disc and through the tight fitting holes in the hub.

i havnt yet got a press, so i decided they should go with a little persuasion from a hammer.

the studs wouldnt quite go all the way in, so i put the hubs in the oven for half an hour and put the studs in the freezer for half an hour.

tried again. the studs were almost there when i flipped the brand new disc over and realised id cracked it in 4 places!

so at that point i came in, washed my hands and reached for the beer! bscene-drinkingdrunk:

i want my truck back on the road this weekend, so a plan was quickly formed!

left my house at 6.30am today for an hour and a halfs drive to Milner, to collect another brake disc.

i then drove to Chris's, who had very kindly said he would use his 10ton press to press the studs into the discs for me.

we soon had the disc and hub setup on the press and began pressing the studs in.

its worth mentioning that the studs we were trying to fit were not the originals, but replacements from milners, so maybe this was the reason they were so bloody tight going into the hub.

it was taking 8-9ton of pressure to get the studs in all the way.

we used the lathe to check that the disc and hub were running true to each other.

we found there was one stud that needed to go into the hub a tiny fraction further, but wouldnt go, so we re-rigged the press so that it was pressing the hub down around the stud, as we felt that with the 9tonnes of pressure maybe the cast hub was distorting slightly and not allowing the stud to go in all the way.

this worked perfectly and the new studs were now all the way in through the new discs into the hubs.

huge thanks to Chris for helping me out, really appreciate it mate.

got back to mine and decided i needed to replace the kingpin bearings before fitting the hubs.

removed the dust cover, to give me access to the bottom bolts.

the top bearing looked in a state.

couldnt get it out, so decided to remove the CV and half shaft.

was quite a mess in there.

the top bearing had completely disintegrated.

at this point i decided i would have to remove everything, so i could fully clean all the old grease off and remove all the needle bearings that were stuck in the grease.

a bowl of petrol and plenty of rags worked well to clean everything of all the old grease.

new bearings.

followed the toyota workshop manual.

got the kingpin bearings in.

used lots of RTV sealant to hopefully prevent any future water ingress.

followed the workshop manual to the dot!

i found it interesting that the proper way of doing the wheel bearings is to torque it up 3 times to put pre-load on the bearings, then slacken it off to a very low torque setting. check the resistance with the spring scale, once within the tolerance, lock the lock nut against the other nut.

when id previously done the wheel bearings i thought the nuts had to be tight against the bearings, but this isnt the case.

so new wheel bearings.

filled the centre of the hub full of grease.

dropped the bearing in and fitted the seal.

i then followed the instructions in the manual.

54mm socket and torque wrench proved invaluable for this!

the spring scale was also very useful in checking the resistance.

one side done.

other side.

hub filled with grease, bearing dropped in and seal fitted.

second one done.

turned my attention to the free wheeling hubs next.

cleaned everything in petrol.

one of the hubs had got a crack in it, which could have been letting water in.

i got one off a hilux in a scrap yard a few months ago, but it was in a pretty poor state.

so i stripped it all down and cleaned it.

re-built it. all ready to go, next to the other good one. not an exact colour match, but i could always paint it.

next a little tip that Roger showed me when we rebuilt my transfer box.

the circlips on the end of toyota shafts are a bloody pain to get on and off, mainly because the bit that the circlip pliers grip are sloped.

but by putting them in a vice and spending 2 mins with a needle file, a small round/groove can be cut into them which then makes them a piece of cake to fit and remove!

last time i refitted the hubs i bought all new gaskets for them, but they still showed signs of water getting in, so i decided to just use RTV sealant this time.

free wheeling hub body on.

and circlip went straight on.

followed by the end cap.

onto the other side.

fitted all new free wheeling hub studs, as the other ones got bent when all the nuts came loose when the wheel bearings destroyed themselves and the hub got ridiculously hot.

thats it for today.

 

[Gav Peter]

thats it for today.

Slacker...

 

[ModelMakerMan]

I too had difficulty with the studs when I replaced my discs a couple of years ago, I had to press them out and in again and that was with the original Toyota studs. No amount of hammering or vice clamping or swearing would move them.

 

[Ben]

i dont update this thread for a couple of days, and now i find ive got over a 100 pics to sort through, re-size and upload!

i wonder how much quicker my truck would get done if i didnt take so many pics?

so Sunday morning after a few hours on skype i set about finishing the front brakes!

first job was to clean all the oil and grease off the new discs. so gave them a good wipe both sides with a clean cloth and thinners, as didnt have any proper brake cleaner.

removed the passenger side pads.

pretty worn compared to the new ones.

managed to push the pistons back far enough to get the new pads in, but they were a tight fit.

passenger side done i moved onto the drivers side.

old pads looked even worse on this side, the pads were cracked and had areas of friction material missing.

one of the pins was also knackered, as the end had snapped off right on the hole where the spring clip goes through.

so i needed another one of these:-

if id had a nice lathe in my workshop then id have knocked up a perfect calliper pin.

but as i dont yet have a lathe i had to improvise.

found an old bonnet stay that was the perfect diameter of bar.

cut the end off the stay to the correct length, put a blob of weld on one end, drilled a tiny hole on the other and i had a new pin.

so that was that side back together.

decided seen as everything was going so well, id change the rear wheel bearing and inspect the shoes in the rear drums.

so wheels off and axle stands under chassis.

jacked the side i wanted to remove the shaft from, to prevent me from loosing any oil.

drum off and shoes out.

half shaft out.

my first view of the bearing that needed replacing, another Koyo one.

so into the workshop and got it on the bench. removed one of the studs to make it a bit easier to get in with the angle grinder.

ready to begin grinding.

started by grinding a notch in the locking ring. was really really hard steel.

had to grind a notch both sides before it would come off.

next i had to dig out the bearing race, with a big screwdriver and hammer.

eventually i was able to get the balls out.

and shortly after the shaft was separated from the hub.

the bit in the hub was easy to knock out.

but the other bit, that was still on the shaft wasnt so easy.

more grinding.

and it became loose.

now id say that took probably 2 hours to get the old bearing off!

i love my truck, i really do, and i dream of driving it to really remote inhospitable places, but.......................

i dont like the fact i cant change the brake discs, or rear wheel bearings easily myself, with just a box of hand tools and a socket set!

so anyway back to the wheel bearing............................

the new bearing looked a bit differnet to the old one, as the new one had an extra bit on the side.

after doing some measuring, and thinking about it, i decided that milner have never sent the wrong parts before, and i want my truck back on the road. so lets knock the bearing on and see.

cue big mistake!

it went on, but not far enough. luckily i didnt also add the locking ring, as that would have made it even more difficult to remove.

so i then spent 2 hours removing it, with the angle grinder and big screwdriver.

more filling and sanding on the rear quarter.

got the rear bumper sanded down and painted.

havnt run with my other set of wheels and tyres for a long time, and as ive got a lot of road miles coming up, decided to stick them on.

sprayed the rear quarter red. this is so when i sand it down with wet and dry paper, the red paint will get sanded off, but it wont get sanded off where all the low spots are, and these are the bits that need more filler.

sanded it down this morning, and then put a load more filler on it this evening.

called milner this morning and they were very sorry theyd sent me the wrong bearing and promised a new one will be here tomorrow, free of charge of course.

decided to finally make a start on the steering guard MK2.

so new plate versus old guard.

love that!

cut a piece of 100mm x 6mm flat to length and marked where the holes needed to be.

got the end holes drilled with a hole saw.

and drilled the middle bigger 2 holes.

its amazing how quickly big holes can be put in thick metal, when using a decent drill on a slow speed, with decent hole saws and plenty of cutting fluid.

test fitted it.

put a piece of 50mm x 5mm flat in the vice.

and cut 2 110mm pieces, and welded them to the 4" flat.

ground the welds down on what will be the top side, as they would prevent it sitting tightly against the underside of the winch tray.

but left the welds on the other side.

tacked the big piece of plate to the 4" flat.

checked the angle was the same as the first guard.

cranked the amps up on the ARC welder and fused the 2 pieces of metal together with 4 rods!

cleaned the welds up with a flap wheel disc in the grinder, to make the edge nice and rounded.

couldnt resist bolting it in place.

would it be sad of me to fit a small light to the underside of the winch try, wired up to the side lights?

this is with a torch shining behind.

need to take it back off and cut and weld the 50mm box section to connect the bottom of the guard with the top pieces of 50mm x 6mm flat i welded on.

im very pleased with how the magazine subscription is working out. ive just finished reading all 300 pages of the first 4WD Action i received, and a new one arrived today!

 

[Sam]

i wonder how much quicker my truck would get done if i didnt take so many pics?

No doubt you would have replaced every bit 3 times over - the pics are the only thing keeping you in check

... and it's a great thread - so keep it up

 

[sae70]

What a PITA of a job that bearing is m8, I read with interest though as its a job that I suspect I'll have to do sooner rather than later. My passenger side rear wheel bearing has been leaking a small amount of grease/oil since I've owned her! Its always been difficult to identify if its bearing grease or axle oil to be fair (probably both) but either way its not great, but the beast seems to just keep going. Love the inspirational use of the old bonnet stay as well Keep it up m8 you may be finished one day Have you fixed those brake lights yet

 

[Ben]

thanks guys.

have you checked your manual for the rear axle Steven? you might be lucky and find toyota used a better/simpler design for the rear wheel bearings on 90's.

no brake lights not yet fixed.

i will try replacing the fuse again, as havnt done for a while.

the wipers kept blowing the fuse all the time for a while, then one day they stopped blowing the fuse and have been fine since, very strange.

i guess if the rake lights still keep blowing the fuse, i could just run a new wire in front to back.

 

[Chris]

Ben do you own a time machine, have a twin brother who takes over or a watch that has 36 hour per day on it?

I just don't know how you fit all of this in. I thought I worked hard on my truck but you make me look like a part timer.

Keep going, Mate. The end will be in sight one day.

That rear bearing idea is poor. The 90 is very similar. Steve, someone posted rear bearing replacement on here recently. They got a local shop to get the bearing off for them. It's pretty similar I think.

Chris

 

[Ben]

thanks Chris.

no im afraid i dont have any of those things, if i did im sure my truck would be finished by now.

i guess im just a workaholic, and my girlfriend is in OZ so theres nothing else to do in the evenings.

trying to get it all finished before i export it as i doubt i will have as good a workshop for a while to make stuff and work on her.

it might look like im making good progress with the hundreds of pics, but it some times feels slow going. doesnt help when im working 10 hour days at work. did 7.30am till 6pm today. but i cant complain as i know a lot of people in the construction industry are out of work.

new wheel bearing arrived today along with new rear wheel studs.

just realised that ive never explained why im changing all the wheel studs.

this is because when i fitted the wheel spacers in a hurry before the last Lincomb, they felt a bit tight going on, and in hindsight i shouldnt have carried on fitting them.
anyway they must have been off another jap 6 stud vehicle like a shogun/patrol/isuzu etc. and the threads and nuts must have been a slightly different thread, as theyve completely buggered all the threads up on all my wheel studs.

so i was a bit apprehensive about trying to fit the new studs after the nightmare with fitting the front ones.

but luckily the old studs easily knocked out with a hammer, and the new ones went straight in.

going to take the hub and new bearing to a local landrover garage tomorrow to see if they will press it on for me.

i dont doubt the scaffold tube method works, but after all the problems and bad luck ive had lately id rather take it some where and pay a £5 to have it pressed on.

unbolted the steering guard.

and measured up for the 50mm box section.

dragged a length of box section in out of the shed.

marked the length and angle i wanted it cut at.

cut another one the same.

welded them in place.

all ready for primer now.

wanted to paint it in primer tonight, but it was 8.30pm by this point and id had enough.

might get up early tomorrow and paint it before work.

 

[Ben]

so wednsday morning i was in the workshop at 6.45am painting the steering guard before work.

red oxide primer.

had to paint inside the laser cut logo with a small paint brush.

went to the landrover place at lunch time, to see if theyd press the bearing on for me.

they were very rude and said they couldnt do it for a few days.

remembered a garage around the corner that ive never used before. drove around and spoke to the guy, and he said sure no problem. he had a press similar to Chris's, except his was floor mounted and could except much longer items.

really nice guy, and only charged me a fiver!

going to go back and see him when i want the bushes pressing out of my front radius arms and castor correction bushes pressing in.

so old rubber O ring and oil seal in rear axle.

old O ring and seal on left, new ones ready to be fitted on right.

new O ring and seal fitted.

a small bead of RTV silicon.

shaft and hub re-fitted, followed by brake shoes.

followed by drum.

my mate then came around to help me bleed the brakes.

we soon discovered that one of my front brake lines had a small hole in it!

nipped to work and borrowed the brake pipe flaring kit, copper tube and fittings and 5mins later had a new brake pipe fitted.

took ages to get the brakes bled, as air and bits of crap kept getting pumped out, but we got there eventually. just after 10pm it was finally back together with wheels on.

havnt really done any on it since then.

took it to the car wash after work today, and hoping to get the rear quarter painted tomorrow afternoon after the 4x4 show.

then sunday hoping to get the steering guard and rear bumper fitted, but they both need a bit more work first.