Andrew Prince
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Messages
- 2,232
As my first post here and to celebrate the start of a new forum, I thought I'd post something vaguely useful that I've done 
I did a front axle/hub refurbish on my LC a while back and thought I'd report on my experience as far as it might be helpful for any other first timers attempting this on their 80s. For info, my LC has 100,500 miles on the clock and I had no clue what prior maintenance or repairs might have been done to the front axle. The CVs were chattering badly whenever I ran it in low range, so I decided to do the rebuild!
I did a fair amount of homework beforehand. Some of the sites I found useful were:
For an excellent write-up with lots of detail and pics, see the IH8MUD FAQ (lots of other good posts on this topic there too)
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/78276-front-axle-rebuild-faq.html#post923556
SUVSteve on the TLOCUK forum has a great write-up too:
http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5905
For a list of parts, part numbers and tools, see:
Tool List
For setting wheel-bearing pre-load, follow Julian's excellent guide here:
http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5046
I used the FSM for torque settings and for some guidance on how the bits fit together. The Ellery guide doesn't give much (helpful) detail and I found it pretty useless compared to the FSM plus print-outs of the above guides off the 'net.
For the record, I bought the Milners "swivel housing & hub seal kit", mainly for the gaskets and wiper seal kit.
http://www.milneroffroad.com/categories ... D=9096&p=3
I opted to use the Milner hub seal rather than buying from Toyota (part #: 90311-62001) as I anticipate changing the brake rotors in the not too distant future, so I'll probably be opening the hub then and will get a chance to inspect the seal and replace with genuine Toy if needed.
UPDATE: The Milner Inner Hub seals caused me a lot of hassles. They are hard rubber compared to the Toy OEM metal body with soft rubber for sealing on the spindle. As a result, getting the Milner seals fitted onto the spindle when mounting the hub is a pain. I ended up popping out the little retaining spring in the seal, which ruined the spring... so that was the end of that seal! My advice - spend the extra money and buy the OEM part!!
I bought Toyota parts for:
- Inner Axle seal (part #: 90310-35010) - £12.65 ea.
- Tabbed lock washer (90215-42025) - £1.99 ea
- Circlip for inner axle/CV (90521-34005) - £1.95 ea
- Snapring for CV/axle hub (90520-31001) - £2.30 ea
I bought new Koyo trunnion/swivel bearings and inner & outer wheel bearings from Julian Voelcker. Contact Julian at Overland Cruisers for availability and prices - all I can say is that these bearings are VERY expensive from Toyota.
I decided that I would replace both wheel bearings even though their service life is supposed to be up to 300,000 miles. My thinking is that I will keep the old ones as spares. When I removed them, I found a nasty "flake" missing on the outer bearing race, so I was doubly glad to be replacing!
I bought replacement CV joints from Iezura for £50.99 ea incl delivery (make sure you order the ones with the ABS ring, if you have ABS!). I chose to go with Iezura over Milner because the Iezura had positive feedback from a number of people, while the Milners feedback was more mixed. Both of these are MUCH cheaper than replacement OEM from Toyota (I was quoted £500+ per unit! ). I wanted the "harder" CV as most of my use is on-road, so I didn't need the tougher, softer Longfields, which apparently wear out sooner (and cost a bit too).
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STANLEY-TOOLS...tZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item1e57d01f17
So, the good part, what did I learn?
1. Clean the back of the hub with degreaser beforehand and clean as much off with a pressure washer/wire brush before you start. Otherwise, expect to be covered in grease & muck.
2. You need plenty of paper towel (preferably industrial!) We went through 2 rolls and that was using as little as possible. This is a messy job and rags quickly get saturated with grease and become useless. Get 4 rolls of kitchen towel to be safe.
3. The steering knuckle/trunnion bearing races were very tough to get out. Do yourself a favour a get a LONG punch or brass drift. I had a puny brass drift which didn't allow much force (hammering!) to be applied and pieces of brass flaked off anyway. A long screwdriver was used and 45mins per race later, they were out. Not fun....
4. This is a messy job - get yourself a big box of nitrile gloves so that you can "clean" your hands occasionally by simply swapping for a new pair. Otherwise the grease gets everywhere, on every tool and is a PITA. A pair of overalls/boilersuit would be a good idea too.
5. I battled to get the inner axle oil seal out - buy yourself a seal puller/hook. Wasting half an hour trying to collapse it with a screwdriver and potentially damaging the surface on the axle housing is not smart. I bought a puller and doing the other side of the axle was a breeze!
5. This is a pretty standard problem but what spare/replacement parts to stock, other than the parts that you're replacing? We snapped a wiper seal bolt (puny pathetic little bolts) and didn't have a spare. Also a spindle/hub bolt was threaded - I suspect it was already like that from a previous job - and I had no spare. I'd suggest buying 1 or 2 spare bolts for all the bolts - if you thread a brake calliper bolt and have no spare, your LC aint going anywhere! Also have a couple of spare studs for the steering arm, if you're not planning to replace them anyway. The convenience of having a spare to hand when the unexpected happens is massive!
6. On MUD there were suggestions that the cone washers on the hub should be replaced. I saw no need for this and at £2.60 each x 6 per side, it seemed like an unnecessary expense. Obviously if they're damaged then replace - mine came out fine with some judicious tapping on the hub cover.
7. SUVSteve is a legend for being able to take pics throughout the tear-down and rebuild, despite the grease and muck. I would have added the cost of a new camera to my expenses for the rebuild!
8. The Milner seals are rubbish - the gaskets fit ok but the dust seal didn't match the hole pattern for the spindle too well and chewed up the thread on one bolt. The Milner wiper seals seem to fit ok, so will see how they last, otherwise the only things worth using are the gaskets IMHO. Contact Ian Rubie or Julian Voelcker for Toyota OEM parts at better prices than your main dealer! Going OEM is definitely the way to go if you want to end up with as perfect a job as you can!
What did I do right?
1. Snap-ring pliers were great - removing and fitting snaprings was a 10 second job! For a few quid, you will save a lot of time - buy some!
2. The hose-clamp trick to fit the CV snap-ring worked well. Buy a 25-35mm hose clip - I bought a bigger one and it was a bit unwieldy.
3. Half-marks here - I used a bit of PVC pipe to separate the half-shaft and CV. It was a bit too whippy, a metal pipe would be much better. Remember the half-shaft and CV are greasy as hell, so trying to separate by smacking it with a hammer is not very effective.
4. I bought a 54mm socket off e bay for about £10 - shopping around the SST was about £20-25 delivered and most 54mm sockets were around £30!!! I was happy to find the one that I did and it worked perfectly. The other big bonus of having a socket rather than the box spanner or SST is that you can use a torque wrench and get the pre-load right, rather than guessing.
http://cgi.e bay.co.uk/STANLEY-TOOL...ment?hash=item1e57d01f17&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
5. Amazingly, the installation of the wheel bearings and setting the pre-load went perfectly. I redid the "nut tightening and turning the hub step" a few times just to make sure that I hadn't done something wrong. I followed Julian's instructions to the T and it went so smoothly that I feel I MUST have missed something!
What did I find when stripping the hub and axle down?
1. The hub had definitely been opened before as the hub nuts had been loosened/tightened by tapping a screw-driver against the corners....
2. The lower trunnion bearing (the one the steering arm connects to) was kaput. When I removed it a roller fell out, the cage was extremely loose with some cracked "bars", some rollers were worn away or broken - basically just a mess! Scary to wonder how long it would have been until complete failure and the steering bound up? The top bearing was ok, although there were some signs of false brinelling on the race, so the bearing was definitely due for replacement.
3. The CV was very worn and the balls and cage were very sloppy and loose. The CV has big grooves worn into it and the cage shows a lot of wear too.
4. The inner axle oil seal was intact and there was no sign of mixing of diff-oil and hub grease. Given that my CV's were clicking really badly, I was sure that the grease wouild be diluted and was surprised to find that it was not the case. I was in 2 minds whether to replace the axle oil seal or not but decided to in the end. I wonder whether the previous owner had replaced the oil seal and regreased the hub and left the old bearings and CV in there?
5. Brake disc, pads and calliper all looked ok, although they had collected lots of mud.
6. The inner wheel bearing was in perfect shape
7. The outer wheel bearing race had a flake missing on its bearing surface - not good! The missing section had caked grease in it, so the damage/flaw appeared to be quite old - I wonder what caused it or if it was a manufacturing defect? Both wheel bearings were Timkens and I replaced with Koyo. Does anyone know what wheelbearings were originally fitted in the 80? I assume a Japanese brand (Koyo) would be used so the Timken's are probably replacements themselves?
Cheers,
I did a front axle/hub refurbish on my LC a while back and thought I'd report on my experience as far as it might be helpful for any other first timers attempting this on their 80s. For info, my LC has 100,500 miles on the clock and I had no clue what prior maintenance or repairs might have been done to the front axle. The CVs were chattering badly whenever I ran it in low range, so I decided to do the rebuild!
I did a fair amount of homework beforehand. Some of the sites I found useful were:
For an excellent write-up with lots of detail and pics, see the IH8MUD FAQ (lots of other good posts on this topic there too)
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/78276-front-axle-rebuild-faq.html#post923556
SUVSteve on the TLOCUK forum has a great write-up too:
http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5905
For a list of parts, part numbers and tools, see:
Tool List
For setting wheel-bearing pre-load, follow Julian's excellent guide here:
http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5046
I used the FSM for torque settings and for some guidance on how the bits fit together. The Ellery guide doesn't give much (helpful) detail and I found it pretty useless compared to the FSM plus print-outs of the above guides off the 'net.
For the record, I bought the Milners "swivel housing & hub seal kit", mainly for the gaskets and wiper seal kit.
http://www.milneroffroad.com/categories ... D=9096&p=3
I opted to use the Milner hub seal rather than buying from Toyota (part #: 90311-62001) as I anticipate changing the brake rotors in the not too distant future, so I'll probably be opening the hub then and will get a chance to inspect the seal and replace with genuine Toy if needed.
UPDATE: The Milner Inner Hub seals caused me a lot of hassles. They are hard rubber compared to the Toy OEM metal body with soft rubber for sealing on the spindle. As a result, getting the Milner seals fitted onto the spindle when mounting the hub is a pain. I ended up popping out the little retaining spring in the seal, which ruined the spring... so that was the end of that seal! My advice - spend the extra money and buy the OEM part!!
I bought Toyota parts for:
- Inner Axle seal (part #: 90310-35010) - £12.65 ea.
- Tabbed lock washer (90215-42025) - £1.99 ea
- Circlip for inner axle/CV (90521-34005) - £1.95 ea
- Snapring for CV/axle hub (90520-31001) - £2.30 ea
I bought new Koyo trunnion/swivel bearings and inner & outer wheel bearings from Julian Voelcker. Contact Julian at Overland Cruisers for availability and prices - all I can say is that these bearings are VERY expensive from Toyota.
I decided that I would replace both wheel bearings even though their service life is supposed to be up to 300,000 miles. My thinking is that I will keep the old ones as spares. When I removed them, I found a nasty "flake" missing on the outer bearing race, so I was doubly glad to be replacing!
I bought replacement CV joints from Iezura for £50.99 ea incl delivery (make sure you order the ones with the ABS ring, if you have ABS!). I chose to go with Iezura over Milner because the Iezura had positive feedback from a number of people, while the Milners feedback was more mixed. Both of these are MUCH cheaper than replacement OEM from Toyota (I was quoted £500+ per unit! ). I wanted the "harder" CV as most of my use is on-road, so I didn't need the tougher, softer Longfields, which apparently wear out sooner (and cost a bit too).
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STANLEY-TOOLS...tZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item1e57d01f17
So, the good part, what did I learn?
1. Clean the back of the hub with degreaser beforehand and clean as much off with a pressure washer/wire brush before you start. Otherwise, expect to be covered in grease & muck.
2. You need plenty of paper towel (preferably industrial!) We went through 2 rolls and that was using as little as possible. This is a messy job and rags quickly get saturated with grease and become useless. Get 4 rolls of kitchen towel to be safe.
3. The steering knuckle/trunnion bearing races were very tough to get out. Do yourself a favour a get a LONG punch or brass drift. I had a puny brass drift which didn't allow much force (hammering!) to be applied and pieces of brass flaked off anyway. A long screwdriver was used and 45mins per race later, they were out. Not fun....
4. This is a messy job - get yourself a big box of nitrile gloves so that you can "clean" your hands occasionally by simply swapping for a new pair. Otherwise the grease gets everywhere, on every tool and is a PITA. A pair of overalls/boilersuit would be a good idea too.
5. I battled to get the inner axle oil seal out - buy yourself a seal puller/hook. Wasting half an hour trying to collapse it with a screwdriver and potentially damaging the surface on the axle housing is not smart. I bought a puller and doing the other side of the axle was a breeze!
5. This is a pretty standard problem but what spare/replacement parts to stock, other than the parts that you're replacing? We snapped a wiper seal bolt (puny pathetic little bolts) and didn't have a spare. Also a spindle/hub bolt was threaded - I suspect it was already like that from a previous job - and I had no spare. I'd suggest buying 1 or 2 spare bolts for all the bolts - if you thread a brake calliper bolt and have no spare, your LC aint going anywhere! Also have a couple of spare studs for the steering arm, if you're not planning to replace them anyway. The convenience of having a spare to hand when the unexpected happens is massive!
6. On MUD there were suggestions that the cone washers on the hub should be replaced. I saw no need for this and at £2.60 each x 6 per side, it seemed like an unnecessary expense. Obviously if they're damaged then replace - mine came out fine with some judicious tapping on the hub cover.
7. SUVSteve is a legend for being able to take pics throughout the tear-down and rebuild, despite the grease and muck. I would have added the cost of a new camera to my expenses for the rebuild!
8. The Milner seals are rubbish - the gaskets fit ok but the dust seal didn't match the hole pattern for the spindle too well and chewed up the thread on one bolt. The Milner wiper seals seem to fit ok, so will see how they last, otherwise the only things worth using are the gaskets IMHO. Contact Ian Rubie or Julian Voelcker for Toyota OEM parts at better prices than your main dealer! Going OEM is definitely the way to go if you want to end up with as perfect a job as you can!
What did I do right?
1. Snap-ring pliers were great - removing and fitting snaprings was a 10 second job! For a few quid, you will save a lot of time - buy some!
2. The hose-clamp trick to fit the CV snap-ring worked well. Buy a 25-35mm hose clip - I bought a bigger one and it was a bit unwieldy.
3. Half-marks here - I used a bit of PVC pipe to separate the half-shaft and CV. It was a bit too whippy, a metal pipe would be much better. Remember the half-shaft and CV are greasy as hell, so trying to separate by smacking it with a hammer is not very effective.
4. I bought a 54mm socket off e bay for about £10 - shopping around the SST was about £20-25 delivered and most 54mm sockets were around £30!!! I was happy to find the one that I did and it worked perfectly. The other big bonus of having a socket rather than the box spanner or SST is that you can use a torque wrench and get the pre-load right, rather than guessing.
http://cgi.e bay.co.uk/STANLEY-TOOL...ment?hash=item1e57d01f17&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
5. Amazingly, the installation of the wheel bearings and setting the pre-load went perfectly. I redid the "nut tightening and turning the hub step" a few times just to make sure that I hadn't done something wrong. I followed Julian's instructions to the T and it went so smoothly that I feel I MUST have missed something!
What did I find when stripping the hub and axle down?
1. The hub had definitely been opened before as the hub nuts had been loosened/tightened by tapping a screw-driver against the corners....
2. The lower trunnion bearing (the one the steering arm connects to) was kaput. When I removed it a roller fell out, the cage was extremely loose with some cracked "bars", some rollers were worn away or broken - basically just a mess! Scary to wonder how long it would have been until complete failure and the steering bound up? The top bearing was ok, although there were some signs of false brinelling on the race, so the bearing was definitely due for replacement.
3. The CV was very worn and the balls and cage were very sloppy and loose. The CV has big grooves worn into it and the cage shows a lot of wear too.
4. The inner axle oil seal was intact and there was no sign of mixing of diff-oil and hub grease. Given that my CV's were clicking really badly, I was sure that the grease wouild be diluted and was surprised to find that it was not the case. I was in 2 minds whether to replace the axle oil seal or not but decided to in the end. I wonder whether the previous owner had replaced the oil seal and regreased the hub and left the old bearings and CV in there?
5. Brake disc, pads and calliper all looked ok, although they had collected lots of mud.
6. The inner wheel bearing was in perfect shape
7. The outer wheel bearing race had a flake missing on its bearing surface - not good! The missing section had caked grease in it, so the damage/flaw appeared to be quite old - I wonder what caused it or if it was a manufacturing defect? Both wheel bearings were Timkens and I replaced with Koyo. Does anyone know what wheelbearings were originally fitted in the 80? I assume a Japanese brand (Koyo) would be used so the Timken's are probably replacements themselves?
Cheers,
I would only use it for a rough guide to doing something that I have no clue about (if I had no better manual/guide). The torque settings are notoriously inaccurate. Lots of the descriptions are very vague and can be difficult to follow unless you're a competent mechanic.
