HOW TO : Step by Step on rebuilding Swivel Hubs (1 Viewer)

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SteelArt

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I am currently doing a complete swivel hub rebuild on a 1988 70 Series Landcruiser and thought that some people might find it helpful in doing their own if I did a complete write up on it.
The front swivel hubs are pretty much the same right through the solid Toyota front diffs so you should find most things are done exactly the same.
For reference material and exact settings I will be using the Toyota Factory Service manual.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will answer where I can. I have another thread outlining the cost to and hours it has taken to get the job done (How much does it really cost to rebuild swivel hubs ? PICS and Prices - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums - the 4WD, 4x4 and offroad truck community. Get the latest tips, news, reviews, images and video clips.)
Phase 1 - The tear down.
Phase 2 - The re-build
 
Phase 1 - Tear Down

I am lucky enough to have a hoist to do this job on. If you don't then make sure the truck is secure. Lift it up and remove the front wheels.



Once you have them off you should see something like above.

Firstly we are going to remove the Free Wheeling Hub (FWH) cover and switch plate. This is held in place by 6, m6 bolts with 10mm heads. Un-do them and then you can slide the FWH inner assembly and switch plate out of the outer case.

Depending on if the FWB has locked or unlocked with define if the inner assembly is compressed or extended.
Compressed - FWB Unlocked so the hub turns freely.

Extended - FWB is locked so the hub is locked onto the axle


Now you have removed the FWH inner assembly you can start on the outside parts.

The 1st thing you do is remove the 6 acorn nuts. They are on a m8 stud and have a 12mm head. Under these you will find a spring washers and what are called "Cone Lock Washer". A cone lock washer is a tapered washer with a slot in it like a spring washer. It goes into tapered hole and provides grip onto the stud and makes it much stronger than a standard washer and ensure the outer FWH assembly does not come loose and move around.
There are several techniques you can use to remove these. I like to use a brass drift and hammer. Simply hit them on the stud and they will vibrate up the stud. The drift I use is also a soft blow hammer with means I can keep my hand out the way and also hit stuff with it.

The result of hitting the stud is that the Cone Lock Washer vibrates up the stud. Once it is out of its tapered hole you can simply slide it off with your figures.

Then simply work your way around all size studs. Once they are all off you remove the large circlip in the centre on the axle and then the outer FWH Housing will simply slide off.


Once the FWH assembly is completely removed you are down to the hub and disc assembly.

Once the FWH assembly is completely removed you are down to the hub and disc assembly. First thing to check here is that the 6 m8 studs are there and there is no play in them. Also ensure the two dowel pins are in place as well.
Ok, if you clean away some grease you will see a large 54mm nut. This nut is kept tight by a locking tab washer and its purpose is to lock the inner 54mm nut and keep the correct tension on the front wheel bearings.

Wipe around the nut and find the retaining tabs, a small twist with a screw driver tip or tap with a drift and hammer will see them moved out of the way. Once you have the tabs sorted ( there is often two or three) you use a 54mm socket and undo the nut. It is usually not that tight. Once you have it off slide the locking washer off and you are almost ready to remove the inner 54mm nut.

I say almost because before you do I recommend removing the disc calliper. By leaving the inner 54mm in place until after this you will stop any chance of straining the brake lines.

Now the calliper is held in place by two 17mm headed bolts, on this model the calliper is mounted with a hard line and fixed fitting this means you cannot swing the calliper out the way so you will need to under the brake line at the fitting and drain the fluid.

Once you have undone this you can undo the two 17mm headed bolts and remove the calliper.

Now you have removed the calliper undo the remaining 54mm nut and then slide the hub and disc assembly off the stub axle. The outer tapered bearing will often fall off and ensure to keep the large washer in front of it as you will need to reuse it.

You will not be left with a bear stub axle and you can keep going. First I would wipe the grease off of you will end up with it all over your shirt when you start undoing the bolts at the rear of the knuckle.
 
Cont .....



Next you remove the 8 m8 bolts with 12mm heads and washers holding the disc brake backing plate in place. These will also have a large metal ring and rubber seal in front, just remove it all together.

You will also notice how nice and clean this job is going to be, we will do something about that later



Now you have the backing plate off I would spend a few minutes removing the bulk gunk from the housing. This will just make your life easier later on.



Once it looks a little better we are good for the next step.



We now remove the stub axle assembly. As the bolts have been removed ( to get the backing plate off) the assembly is just sitting there. You may need to give it a fe taps with a soft blow hammer or brass drift to encourage it but it will come off easy enough.




With the stub assembly off you will often see some runny gunky crap oozing out of you knuckle, this is a good sign that your inner axle seal is toast and your diff oil has been leaking into your knuckle and thus out onto your housing. We will be replacing this seal as part of the rebuild so not to worry.



With the stub axle removed we can remove the birfield but lining up the flat top with the top of the housing and sliding it out.



Slide it out and put it somewhere safe be careful not to drop it or damage the spline in any way or re-assembly will be a biatch. Once out we can check out that nice housing and knuckle assembly ... mmm needs a good clean.



Once this is done we can turn out attention to the steering linkage. Now you can leave the tie rod connected if your in a rush but I like to clean things and since I am doing king pin bearings and will be re-shimming it, leaving it in place would annoy me.



Once again there are many ways to get tie rods off.
Remove the split pin and retaining castle nut.



Once it is off I use a tie rod splitter as they make life easy.



Just like using a snatch strap I like to ensure things are as safe as possible so I always put a rag over it when tightening it up. This way if something does break I am not hit by bits if flying steel. Tie rids are often very tight on the tapper and come off with a bang.



POP !! all done

 
Cont .....

With the tie rod off it is time to remove the steering arm. To do this remove the 4 nuts on top of it with a 17mm spanner. Once off along with the washers, these also have cone lock washers so you will need you drift and hammer again.

Work around all 4 of them removing the cone lock washers.

With the cone lock washers out the way you can remove the steering arm. If may need a small tap to help it along.

Once off you can remove the bottom king pin plate in the same way. It does not have cone washers on it.

Under the arm and bottom plate you will see steel shims. These set the preload and placement of the king pin bearings. As we are doing a complete rebuild I don't care where they are but if you were not doing the king pin bearings then take note of how many and where they were as you will need to put them back in the same place.
With the arm off we can turn out attention to the backing plate at the rear of the knuckle.... nice and clean once again.


You should be able to see 8 m6 bolts with 10mm heads through the gunk. Simply remove these and the housing will come off the knuckle. Be careful as once you have them all undone it may fall on your foot.
These m6 bolts will be retaining two half circle plate with retain the felt ring, rubber seal and shim etc. You will be replacing all that so just pull it over the knuckle and throw it away. You do need to keep the two half circle plates.
With the housing removed you can see and inspect the steering knuckle. You will need to wipe it clean and check for excessive pitting and deformation. A small amount of pitting will be fine and is quite common. Give it a cleanup and if need be use some wet and dry to reduce pitting.

There are a few ways to clean up the knuckle. I have found a kero soaked rag works the best, lay it over the knuckle and then buff it like a shoe. Work your way around and it will get all the gunk off.

Once the gunk is gone you can remove the tapered king pin bearings outers. This is easy enough to do and both have access notches in the housing to allow the drift to get in. I use an 8mm straight drift for this.

Once the bearings are out I remove the inner axle seal. This is the little fella who was letting all that diff oil into my knuckles. I use a seal puller to get it out.



Once the inner seal is out it is time to start cleaning all those parts we pulled off.
 
Cont .. almost build time

I start with a parts washer running a diesel / kero/ detergent mix.

I put all the bolts in a tin and let them soak for a while as I scrub the gunk off the rest of the parts. I also let them soak for a while once the major gunk is off.
While they were soaking I check the disc rotor thickness. It was under spec at 16.7mm when standard was 20mm and limit was 19 so they needed replacing.
The disc rotors are held in place by 2 m8 bolts with 12mm heads and the 6 wheel studs. The 2 bolts are access from the rear and undone with a socket.

Once they are out you can remove the studs. You can do this several ways I use an old paper press I picked up to make life easy.



Once the bolts and the studs are out you would often be forgiven for thinking there is no way that rotor comes off the hud due to years of corroson and driving, but they do.
I place the rotor in a vice and use a pry bar to encourage it to get off.


Once the hubs are off into the wash tub they go ..

Once washing is finished I pile up all the parts that need a good paint and better clean in a box ..

and load them into the wet blaster, even though it runs an oil separator I still try and keep the parts going in as free from heavy gunk as possible. Since I am only running pit sand it is pretty cheap to change anyway.

After around 10 - 15mins all nice and clean and ready for paint.

From hear I give them a coat of black paints and start laying everything out for the re-assembly. As I lay it out I inspect it for cracks and other issues.




Once I have checked it all and made sure nothing has been lost I confirm the rebuild kit has everything I need and then I am ready for re-assembly
 
80 series

I have an 80 series and about to do the swivel hubs, your thread is awesome, and cant find the rebuild have you posted it yet?
Is the 1995 80 series the same swivel hub?
you can email me at themonique70s@hotmail.com
 
80 series swivel hubs use a different rebuild kit, but the process of overhauling them should be very similar to the guide SteelArt has posted. The swivel hubs on in this thread are common to all Landcruisers from late 1979 to mid 1990.

Love the thread, I'd like to know what rebuild kits you're using SteelArt? Last lot I bought were a cheaper set while they did the job, I'd like to totally rebuild everything in the FWH to the kingpin bearings in my '84 HJ 47, photos of your kit looks comprehensive and good quality.
 
Excellent way of seperating the CV from the inner axle, I'll remember that one.:)
 
I'm in the process of doing this right now on my HJ60 actually. Great reference, thanks for taking the time to do this writeup.
 
Brilliant writeup. But to pick one thing. The steel washer goes on last, that is 'outside' the felt washer on the swivel hub. It is a s.c.r.a.p.e.r. (swear filter?) It should be sprung slightly against the ball and is used to remove buildup of dirt and dust, leaving the felt pad to wipe the remains to protect the rubber seal lip.. The rubber seal is last in the series (from outside in)to retain the grease.
 
Last edited:
Excellent write up, must have taken awhile to photograph and do.
I always get halfway thru documenting it then give up.
Thanks!
However previous post re seal arrangement.
The seal arrangement in the write up is correct. (Also is in factory manual)
Felt wiper over swivel ball first, then rubber then finally steel washer.
Put on swivel hub.
The steel washer locates into swivel hub and supports the rubber wiper and the felt from falling into the gap between the hub and ball.
Also soaking the felt washer in oil helps slip it over the ball and return to its proper shape when bolted up.
Also acts like a seal.
I was told by an old salt that's what you do with felt seals.
Works for me and I have had mine out several times.

Swivelhub.jpg
 
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This was a great write-up! Thanks SteelArt. I'm ground-up rebuilding my 1985 Aussie-market HJ-75 Troopy, and I used this thread for the dis-assembly of my 299,000 km front axle. It was 100 times better than the Gregory's #502 I bought last time I was Down Under.

Now... Where's the RE-assembly? I tried the rebuild link SteelArt referenced, but I get a 404 error - Not Found. The URL embedded in the text was http://4wdaction.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=90889.

Can anyone point me to it?

Or another good place for tips rebuilding swivel hubs, setting knuckle preload, etc...?

Thanks!

Darrin in Wyoming
 
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