UK and US axles the same?

[Dan W]

Hello, I'm about to purchase a front axle refurb kit from the US, but just thought I'd check that they are the same axles as ours and not something ridiculous like 1mm wider etc. etc.
Unfortunately the terms UK and US are too short for the search function.
Thanks

 

[clivehorridge]

AFAIK UK RHD and European LHD are the same with one exception, the axis of the panhard bush mounting on the axle is rotated by 90 degrees. Don't know if it's the same with US LHD.

This isn't too much bother, simply cut them off with an angle grinder and re-weld in the required orientation.

I suppose care should be taken not to overheat the casing in the vicinity of the oil seals situated inside the casing, this isn't to difficult with some well wetted cloths strategically placed between the welding area and the seals.

If you want a pic of my European LHD axle, I can take one in the morning...

 

[Chris]

But why are you buying it from the US?

Clive, I don't think that this goes anywhere near the PH rod. it's the swivels that Dan is talking about unless I am mistaken. Why not just get the Terrain Tamer kit from Roughtrax, or all the bits from Milner that are good and main dealer for the rest. I've done loads of these and never had to resort to the US for parts.

 

[Dan W]

Thanks for the replies, yes it's just the hub and knuckle I'm referring to.

I went with the US kit because I am very limited by budget, but at the same time wanted something that was good quality so I didn't have to do the job again for quite some time. I was wary of the Milners kit because of the reputed poor inner axle seal quality, and although I could have changed it for a Toyota part, I was still aware that there's other seals in the kit and they could be of the same quality but the effects would not be as noticeable as the failure of the inner axle seal. Also I would have needed to add the price of genuine seals, Koyo wheel and kingpin bearings to the price.
The Roughtrax kit seemed a better option. Despite some contradicting statements regarding Terrain Tamer stuff on various boards, the bulk of the opinion came out in favour of it. Again though it has a third party inner axle seal and wheel bearing needed to be added to the kit.
There were many US kits, if I get around to writing a detailed thread about it I'll try and write a bit more about each one, but some of them were out of stock.
The kit I've gone for seems to have favourable reviews and has all of the seals included in the UK kits plus genuine Toyota inner axle seals, Koyo wheel and kingpin bearings. Also different shims for the kingpin bearings if I need them. The kit is £136.85.
Admittedly the postage is expensive and I'll probably get hit with import duty, but I've also ordered some other parts I'll probably need for the rebuild as there appears to be corrosion on some of the parts I'll need to remove.
I will try and get the needle bearing upgrade from Milner, but I think the kit I have got is of good quality (I'll hopefully go into more detail when I do a write-up, hopefully it's true!), and adding up the parts I needed from Milners, the US kit has come in slghtly cheaper even with the postage costs.

 

[Dan W]

I did try main dealer (via the excellent Simon Holton), but the price made me let out an involuntary scream. The axle refurb kit (just the big seals around the knuckle) was £280 after discount :-(

 

[Chris]

The Milner stuff for this job is fine. The bearings are mostly Koyo or similar. No one makes rubbish kingpin bearings, that's just old wives' nonsense. The inner seals, get from Lambs in Chesterfield. The swivel seals from Milner are genuine Toyota. The rest is fine from them too. Don't listen to paranoid rubbish.

from Milner, odd thing is that the full kit doesn't have the OEM swivel seals, but bought separately does.

C

 

[Chris]

Big seals on the knuckle from Milner are £14 per side - genuine.

You're making this hard honestly.

 

[clivehorridge]

But why are you buying it from the US?

Clive, I don't think that this goes anywhere near the PH rod. it's the swivels that Dan is talking about unless I am mistaken. Why not just get the Terrain Tamer kit from Roughtrax, or all the bits from Milner that are good and main dealer for the rest. I've done loads of these and never had to resort to the US for parts.

Sorry lads, thought it was a refurbed axle... Obviously too preoccupied with my suspected bent casing!

 

[Dan W]

I'll have another look at the Milners kit.

OK as far as I can work out-
Hub seal kit=£40
Kingpin bearings £7.80x4=£31.20
Bearing kits (with same seal manufacturer as the inner axle seal)-£25.20x2=£50.40
Inner axle seal from Toyota (about) £12x2=£24

Total £145.60 plus delivery (no shim kit or lock nuts)

Kit I got £136.85. I admit that delivery was a lot and high potential for imort duties, but I did get a few other parts at the same time which were more expensive or seemingly lower quality from Milners/Roughtrax.
So I'm okay with that and I think it's simpler as all the parts are from one place

 

[Chris]

I wish you the best of luck Dan.

Don't know what Milner charge for delivery as Matlock is only 10 mins away from me. 20 mins from you.

 

[Dan W]

Thanks very much, I don't have much spare time to work on the truck so my paranoia kicked in reading lots of posts about failing seals and worrying about having to do it again if anything was substandard.
I've gone as far as wheel bearings already, but never done the knuckles before. I've watched a couple of videos on YouTube which make it look really easy, which usually means it'll be a nightmare. Starting to soak everything in plusgas now as my biggest problem is corroded nuts and bolts snapping off when disassembling.
Going to swap sides with the CVs as the Toyota and longfields are out of my price range at the moment so that'll be a new experience

 

[Dan W]

Sorry forgot to mention, milners is about at hour away from me, a little closer if I'm at work but I try to go to work on the bus.
Postage I think is about £8 from what I remember but I could be wrong.

 

[Chris]

Dan, the knuckle bit really is very easy. Forgetting the hub, bearings and inner seals etc - the wiper seals and kingpin bearings are a no brainer. Never had a problem in that area.

 

[frank rabbets]

Dan, don't forget to get the preload right on the kingpin bearings.

Frank

 

[Dan W]

Thanks, I've been reading as many guides as possible, but each part seems to have at least three names, like kingpin bearings, swivel bearings and trunnion bearings all appear to be the same thing, so searching takes ages :-S
Quick. Iuestion though, you're using cv grease for the cv and to pack the hub, but do you use cv grease for the kingpin bearings and needle roller upgrade, or do they use wheel bearing grease. I don't think they'd mix in the hub, but I couldn't find a definitive answer.
In some guides they seem to use some kind of red synthetic grease for everything but this stuff seems to cost three times as much per tub. Do you think it's worth the extra or just stick with the usual stuff?
Cheers.

 

[Chris]

Perssonally, I grease the bearings - well I pack the bearings with good bearing grease. I figure that migration from the hub is going to be minimal. I'd rather not fill them with CV grease to start with. There is quite a load on these but they don't move very far. It's not like they spin.

 

[Gary820]

I used a roughtrax kit with genuine inner axle seals, tbh to look at the seals were similar to the ones in the kit (still used gen though). Bearings got cleaned and re greased.

Not a bad job to do just rather messy lol.