Builds 1969 FJ40 Father / Son Build

[Green Bean]

Front and rear end are dropped. Transmission and transfer case are out for rebuild.
I got a suspension kit in but haven’t looked at the hardware yet. I’m assuming it reuses the same “inside” pins but new bolts for the shackles.
also got the clutch and flywheel off the old motor. I assume I’ll use the same flywheel for the 2F coming in. I’ve got to dig into front and rear end details to get those back into shape.

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Great build.

 

[royal cake]

Opened up the rear end today and found some treasures. I’m on the fence about tearing into this myself. I’ve got the book and think I could get through it but I don’t want to miss anything like gear wear or something.

 

[royal cake]

So I got the axles and differential out- but I can’t tell what journal bearing, spacer, etc got chewed up in there (bottom right in picture). Anyone know what part that might be?
it has the shape of the pinion gear spacer- maybe there’s a shim that does there as well? It’s thick though.

 

[royal cake]

Aaaand that’s not good either.

 

[royal cake]

Well after a good long while of working without a break, finally back onto some FJ tasks. I was warned about not tearing up the oil slinger? behind the bearings in the rear end so I made a bearing puller with a plate behind it instead of using some jaws. Worked pretty well.

 

[royal cake]

So by the way, does anyone know how the rear axles come apart to replace this gasket? I tried searching some but not successful. Didn't see it in my book either...

 

[royal cake]

Today was a milestone. First new parts installed. Feels good to be going the other way on some stuff.
Rear bearings and seals are in. Thankfully they didn’t put up a fight.

 

[royal cake]

Got inner races removed and installed. I've seen a couple different methods out there. I ended up using a grinder to get close to breaking through the race, then it just cracked on it's own. Pressed in the new ones.

 

[royal cake]

Not sure what rear diff cover this is, but noticed that the tapped hole for the drain was not perpendicular to the face. I'm surprised it wasn't leaking more.
Son and I got it set up on the mill and got the seat flat, hopefully that will do the trick.

 

[royal cake]

Well the rear end is almost complete. The third member is low mileage replacement since my old one was obviously damaged. But now my pinion shaft spacer doesn’t fit, and it’s the smallest of the three that were apparently made for these. I guess my last knob to turn is the side gear thrust washers? I’ll pull those today and see how thick they are. I need like another 0.012” to get the right gap.

 

[royal cake]

So the side gear thrust washer on the left from my old third member measures about 0.063, while the one that’s in the new one measure 0.080”. So if I put the old ones in I may be gaining too much clearance and would have to pick the next size up pinion spacer.
I may throw it all together anyway just to measure. By the way I didn’t keep track before - does the oil groove go against the case or the side gear?

 

[royal cake]

Well the older thrust washers I had were just right. I show about 0.006 - 0.008” clearance to the spacer. I’m happy with how it came out.

 

[royal cake]

So one step back today, but seems like a good change. After talking with Mark @65swb45 he mentioned prob better to keep the thicker thrust washers for side/spider gear fitment and reduce the thickness of the spacer just slightly. Got that on the mill and took off just about 0.013", fits up nice again with the thicker thrust washers.
Ready to put the cover on and brake cylinders, that'll wrap up the rear end. Now for the front end...

 

[royal cake]

A little progress today. Got the steering center arm shaft out, now to assess what I’ve got here and parts needed. Looks like there was still a felt seal at the bottom and a mangled oring at the top. Shaft seems to be ok so maybe new bearings and soft goods. Gotta take a look at the center arm races next.

 

[royal cake]

Some weekend progress - got the front end pulled apart. 3rd member looks good and plan is to replace all the bearings. @65swb45 noticed these fancy racing stripes on my Birfield joints; so picked up a couple replacements and got them installed. That was a good learning experience. Some new grease and hopefully they're ready to go.

 

[royal cake]

Also got the first hub done. The little harbor freight blast cabinet has been a huge load off my shoulders. I hate wire wheeling stuff clean. Gotta be careful to get all that black oxide out though; I'm sure that's not good on bearings. This has also been a good way to get through all my cans of paint.

 

[Max.Powerzz]

Wow, fantastic build, what a great father son project. Looking forward to following.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Impressed and following!

 

[65swb45]

A little progress today. Got the steering center arm shaft out, now to assess what I’ve got here and parts needed. Looks like there was still a felt seal at the bottom and a mangled oring at the top. Shaft seems to be ok so maybe new bearings and soft goods. Gotta take a look at the center arm races next.

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Shane

If you look carefully at your pic, you’ll notice that the bushing that is higher in the pic has a ‘flat’ in its taper at the end closest to the taper of the spindle. The lower bushing does not have a flat. That is a sign that either the lower bushing is worn, OR (and I have seen this several times) the bushings came out of different kits.

Why? Because sometimes when two fresh bushings of a larger cross-section are installed in one center arm, the castle nut will not properly seat.

I was just explaining to @ToyotaMatt last week that I have seen at least three different versions of the early center arm. Different length spindles, different diameter castle nuts, different end caps/packing materials.

 

[65swb45]

Cleaning up storage space in my iPhone I found a couple of pics of your TC vacuum pod: