Need to do the rotors, should I just do the front axle service? (1 Viewer)

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phishtaco

phishtaco

Cincinnati
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I need new front rotors on my 94. How much longer would it take to just go ahead and do the front axle service?
OEM rotors with either OEM 80 or 100 series pads?
 
phishtaco said:
I need new front rotors on my 94. How much longer would it take to just go ahead and do the front axle service?
OEM rotors with either OEM 80 or 100 series pads?
Click to expand...

These are two totally different jobs with totally different time and money factors. Doing the wheel bearing service while you do the rotors would make sense almost anytime but doing the total axle service simply cause you are in for the rotors is like rebuilding the engine just cause its time for tuneup! Now on the other hand, if your axle service needs to be done, or if your axle service is close to needing to be done (within 5K or so) I would definitely do all of it at once. HTH :cheers:
 
If you have not done one before allow 2 days for the whole job. Figure around a half day or so for rotors, make it 3/4 if you clean and re-pack wheel bearings.
 
I just rebuilt my front axle having never done it before. I replaced the rotors at the same time. I had to remove the extra 8 bolts that hold the Rotor onto the plate. That was the extra work from doing the axle service. If you don't know the last time it was done, it would probably be a good idea to do the Front Axle rebuild. You can have a shop do it for $1200 or do it for yourself for $200 plus grease.

The rotors and pads (100 series) are another $250 in parts.

You could do them both in a weekend.
 
turbocruiser said:
These are two totally different jobs with totally different time and money factors. Doing the wheel bearing service while you do the rotors would make sense almost anytime but doing the total axle service simply cause you are in for the rotors is like rebuilding the engine just cause its time for tuneup! Now on the other hand, if your axle service needs to be done, or if your axle service is close to needing to be done (within 5K or so) I would definitely do all of it at once. HTH :cheers:
Click to expand...


Huh? When you do the axle service, the only additional labor is to undo the 8 bolts holding the rotor to the hub. Sure it's more work, but it's hardly a completely different job. The biggest PITA for axle service is the mess.

Additional labor after removing the rotor to do the whole axle? Taking off the dust plate and spindle, removing the ABS sensor, pulling out the birfield, cleaning up the mess, and replacing the seals. Hardy a sisyphean task after the rotors. This is all assuming that when you replace the rotors you're also re-packing/checking the wheel bearings.

If the axle has never been touched before, it would be wise to go ahead and do it now.


A closer analogy would be just changing shocks to lifting the whole vehicle.
 
I just did a complete overhaul of the birfs, hubs and knuckles as well as new rotors and 100-series pads. This was my first time working on a toyota axle and it took two days at a casual pace. Not hard, just messy. I could easily do it in half the time now.

If you havent had your front axle serviced it would make total sense (to me) to do the two jobs at the same time.

Vast improvement in braking I might add.
 
Well the 80 was my parents and I bought it over the summer b/c I needed a baby hauler. So I'll have to talk to my dad and see if he ever did the axle service. I'm sure it probably needs it. C-dan will have a pm for parts soon.
 
Shocker - how many threads wouldn't benefit from referencing Sisyphus!!!
 
I would definitely do both at the same time if it is anywhere close to needing axle service in the future.
 
Hey Shocker,



How about the trunion bearings?...........:D
 
thanks c-dan
 
It is a much bigger job to do a full axle/knuckle service than to just do the brake rotors. You could do the rotors and repack the wheelbearings in half a day, but the full service will be 2 full days the first time. Decide what you need and do it, but I would guess your knuckles have never been done. This might be a good time to do everything, if you feel up to it and don't mind getting greasy. Doing a full knuckle job will also cost you about $200 additional in parts.

As to the Sysiphus reference, working on Cruisers does sometimes seem like rolling the big rock up the hill for all of eternity. Fortunately, Cruisers eventually rust, and the toil stops!
 
Haha.... just thought I'd get a little mythological on this one.

In terms of time, it does take quite a bit longer to do the whole axle, but almost all of that is cleaning up the mess. So in terms of actual labor or difficulty, it's not a whole much more.

Yeah, you can add trunion bearings and wiper seals to the stuff I had listed, especially if it's never been done before on this vehicle.
 
shocker said:
Huh? When you do the axle service, the only additional labor is to undo the 8 bolts holding the rotor to the hub. Sure it's more work, but it's hardly a completely different job. The biggest PITA for axle service is the mess.

Additional labor after removing the rotor to do the whole axle? Taking off the dust plate and spindle, removing the ABS sensor, pulling out the birfield, cleaning up the mess, and replacing the seals. Hardy a sisyphean task after the rotors. This is all assuming that when you replace the rotors you're also re-packing/checking the wheel bearings.

If the axle has never been touched before, it would be wise to go ahead and do it now.


A closer analogy would be just changing shocks to lifting the whole vehicle.
Click to expand...


Ahh, not to quible, but, the question started as needing new rotors, not "I'm gonna do the total axle service, should I also do the rotors." I'm not interested in stating from some mythological perspective how hard or how long the axle job is vs. just the rotor job but I stand by my statement that unless the axle needs the service, or is close to needing the service, they are two different jobs, I also stand by my statement that while doing the rotors it would make sense to do the wheel bearings and seals and such - try calling the local toyota dealer and tell them, "Why dontcha just do the whole axle service but I'll just pay for the rotor service okay!?! Also, try reading what I wrote which was that the jobs involved drastically different time and money (not difficulty) factors. Sheesh, a closer analogy would be reversing the question and then answering it in reverse! BTW, FWIW, I would always try to time the jobs together just to get more bang for the buck, but again that was not really the question at least as I read it. Just trying to help. Peace.
 
I guess blocking out 2 full days for doing the full axle service down to the inner axle seal is good measure. But in my experience, my first time, for both sides took less that a full day. Also...I just assisted (read: moral support) Sodajerk on doing his truck this past Friday. We even disassembled the birfs and switched sides, and he was done in a single day. Now granted neither of us ran into any problems, so like I said blocking out 2 full days is good measure, but baring any set backs you should be done in one long day. Best advice is to start early. When I was getting ready to tackle mine I had this vision of being half way done after 15 hours…I was driving around again 15 hours later. Just food for thought.
 
Not trying to nitpick, but how can they be "two totally different jobs" when you are doing 95% of one in route to doing the other? It just doesn't make sense. That is what I was speaking of.

Assuming the axle has never been serviced (and I think we are relatively safe in doing so), it would be prudent to do both jobs at once, rather than doing the rotors now, putting them back on, then performing 90% of the same steps again in another month. By installing new rotors, you are well into the task-list to overhaul the axle. Maybe not time-wise, but definitely difficulty-wise. Far different than your engine tune-up vs. engine overhaul analogy.

Money wise, it's not that drastically different. Trunion bearings and races, wiper seals, axle seals, spindle gasket and more grease, the biggest $$ being the bearings.

No mythological perspective this time, sorry.
 
shocker said:
Not trying to nitpick, but how can they be "two totally different jobs" when you are doing 95% of one in route to doing the other? It just doesn't make sense. That is what I was speaking of.

Assuming the axle has never been serviced (and I think we are relatively safe in doing so), it would be prudent to do both jobs at once, rather than doing the rotors now, putting them back on, then performing 90% of the same steps again in another month. By installing new rotors, you are well into the task-list to overhaul the axle. Maybe not time-wise, but definitely difficulty-wise. Far different than your engine tune-up vs. engine overhaul analogy.

Money wise, it's not that drastically different. Trunion bearings and races, wiper seals, axle seals, spindle gasket and more grease, the biggest $$ being the bearings.

No mythological perspective this time, sorry.
Click to expand...

Okay, how about having an agreement to disagree! Either that or tell me where I can go and pay for rotor service but get the total axle service done! That would be wonderful deal!!! In fact if you can tell me that, I'll offer to do pay not only for my "rotor" service, but for your "rotor service" as well and then we can both have beautiful axles! Also, to repeat twice what I repeated once already IF we really are talking doing the one job (rotors) and then a month or two months or even three months later doing the other job (total axle service) then I agree its better to do it all at once. If on the other hand his father did the axle service 5K or 10K or even 15K ago, should he really do it all again just cause he needs new rotors??? Also, and perhaps most importantly, its hard to tell whether phish wanted to do the work himself or pay someone to do the work for him...that might make more difference than any other part of the question; if he is willing and able to do the work himself then the answer is always to do as much as you can do all at once I would guess. HTH, but if it does not, I'm still done arguing! Peace.
 
Last edited:
Let me state Shocker's point a little differently:

Virtually every step taken to replace rotors is also necessary as part of a front axle service. So, replacing rotors now and going into the axle in a month constitutes quite a duplication of effort or paying a portion of the bill twice and replacing some parts twice.

Let's say that you wanted to do a "quick and dirty" on the inner seals. With the rotors off all you need to do is remove the ABS sensors (if equipped, 2 bolts), and the spindles and backing plates. Next you slide the axles out and pop in new seals and give the birfs a quick shot o' grease.

I'm coming up on 30K since my front axle swap and it is time to pack my wheel bearings. I think I will also pop the spindles off and do exactly what I just described since I will be so close. I suspect that part of the "grooving" issue with the inner axle sealing surface could be related to aging seals that are also hardening. This practice may slow that process down.

D-
 
turbocruiser said:
Okay, how about having an agreement to disagree! Either that or tell me where I can go and pay for rotor service but get the total axle service done! That would be wonderful deal!!! In fact if you can tell me that, I'll offer to do pay not only for my "rotor" service, but for your "rotor service" as well and then we can both have beautiful axles! Also, to repeat twice what I repeated once already IF we really are talking doing the one job (rotors) and then a month or two months or even three months later doing the other job (total axle service) then I agree its better to do it all at once. If on the other hand his father did the axle service 5K or 10K or even 15K ago, should he really do it all again just cause he needs new rotors??? Also, and perhaps most importantly, its hard to tell whether phish wanted to do the work himself or pay someone to do the work for him...that might make more difference than any other part of the question; if he is willing and able to do the work himself then the answer is always to do as much as you can do all at once I would guess. HTH, but if it does not, I'm still done arguing! Peace.
Click to expand...
You *should* be able to get your rotor service for about 30min of labor (remove hub, replace bearings) if your having your axle done, as all the other labor is part of the axle service. That is probably how most of us see it, the two completely overlap, if you do one, you might as well do the other, if they both need service in the next year or so, IMHO. Everybody seems to agree on that last part :D
 
shocker said:
...Hardy a sisyphean task after the rotors...
Click to expand...

Personally, I would have referenced Hercules rather than Sisyphus...but that's just me :D
 
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