Builds 1969 FJ40 named Mavis

[locklaw]

O

I stopped working on this rig to work on my FJ55, Zeke. Got back to Mavis and finished rebuilding the wheel cylinders.

Had a little scare when the right wheel had a pool of liquid under it. While tearing down the wheel cylinders to see what was wrong, I accidentally put my hand in the pool of oil. Said oil was much, much too thick to be brake fluid.

Seems to be fresh 90W.

So I have a bad seal on that side. I'm putting off fixing it until I can get the clutch working.

Except upon putting both brakes back together and mounting the wheels, now the driver's side rear wheel is locked up solid every time I torque the lug nuts.

I've disassembled that brake a few times, swapped pads, made sure the adjusters are all the way in, and even mounted the wheel in different positions and still it's locked up fairly solid.

The wheel will turn as if it has a parking brake on if I drive it back and forth, but will move not at all if I run it on jackstands, forward and reverse.

As that wheel worked fine before, I'm not getting what I did wrong here.

On factory wheel cylinders the round slotted bolt/screw portion had an angled slot in it (one side of the slot is cut deeper than the other). Your screw might be the wrong way round or, if the replacement cylinders don't have this, it might account for the dragging and lightly filing the slot away might just help.

 

[120mm]

O

On factory wheel cylinders the round slotted bolt/screw portion had an angled slot in it (one side of the slot is cut deeper than the other). Your screw might be the wrong way round or, if the replacement cylinders don't have this, it might account for the dragging and lightly filing the slot away might just help.

I overhauled the existing cylinders in place.

Even so, I don't understand how the cylinders would interfere with the wheel lockup

 

[locklaw]

The high side of the slot slightly pushes out the brake shoe causing it to drag. Then you also have leading edge and trailing edge orientation issues to contend with on the shoes themselves. Lower/angled side of the slot should point towards the longer shoe side. Also, one tension spring must be outside the shoes while the other side must be inside. Picture explains it.

If you can live with it and seeing as the wheel turns when driving, a butch way is to drive it a bit to self clearance. Just don't let everything get too hot.

 

[120mm]

The high side of the slot slightly pushes out the brake shoe causing it to drag. Then you also have leading edge and trailing edge orientation issues to contend with on the shoes themselves. Lower/angled side of the slot should point towards the longer shoe side. Also, one tension spring must be outside the shoes while the other side must be inside. Picture explains it.

View attachment 3295469

If you can live with it and seeing as the wheel turns when driving, a butch way is to drive it a bit to self clearance. Just don't let everything get too hot.

My tensioner springs are all on the inside. Looks like I have a job to do.

 

[120mm]

The high side of the slot slightly pushes out the brake shoe causing it to drag. Then you also have leading edge and trailing edge orientation issues to contend with on the shoes themselves. Lower/angled side of the slot should point towards the longer shoe side. Also, one tension spring must be outside the shoes while the other side must be inside. Picture explains it.

View attachment 3295469

If you can live with it and seeing as the wheel turns when driving, a butch way is to drive it a bit to self clearance. Just don't let everything get too hot.

Excellent advice and I found the issue. Left rear wheel had the adjustment slot clocked 180 degree out.

Took it apart, reclocked the slot and put the springs in the right position and it spins easily.

Thank you very much!

 

[120mm]

Now about that leaking seal.

The bearings on all four corners sound and feel good. Provided that it sat so long, am wondering if I should just look and possibly repack the rear bearings and replace the seal(s), or is there value to preventatively replacing the bearings while I'm in there.

Once it's running and driving well, the intent is to put at least a rear locker in, so I will get another bite at the apple anyway to replace those bearings if necessary.

It needs birfs done just based on the amount of caked on grease alone, but I'll deal with that later.

What think ye?

 

[pb4ugo]

There are no bearings to grease in a semi float rear end. They get lubed with the gear oil in the diff. Being parked for a long time could cause the seal to leak. I usually replace the bearing if a seal starts to leak, but It could be from sitting for a long time too. Make sure the brake shoes aren't oil soaked and are clean on assembly. Maybe sand the surfaces if they're not saturated.

 

[120mm]

There are no bearings to grease in a semi float rear end. They get lubed with the gear oil in the diff. Being parked for a long time could cause the seal to leak. I usually replace the bearing if a seal starts to leak, but It could be from sitting for a long time too. Make sure the brake shoes aren't oil soaked and are clean on assembly. Maybe sand the surfaces if they're not saturated.

Good to know.

That's the plan, then.

 

[120mm]

I'm assuming one reason to replace the bearings if seals leak is that bad bearings will cause eccentric motion which will then take out the seals.

When I pull the leaking side, I will be sure to inspect the bearing thoroughly and replace if necessary.

 

[120mm]

Flipped it around to clearance the leaking side so I could get at it.

I think I got a little toe out....

 

[120mm]

Metal sno cones!

Rear diff plug brought me a nice little surprise. Good thing I have a couple extra diffs...

 

[120mm]

Received the new seal from SOR in the mail today, and pulled the right axle. It appears the last guy who installed it might've been a little frustrated.

The new seal went in fine, the rest of the gears looked good, so I reassembled.

But now the driver's side axle is locked up solid.

Decided to stop for the night, do some research and give it a think.

 

[120mm]

Had a good sleep, a good think and took off the driver's side rear wheel and found that darned brake had gotten out of sorts again.

I think I might've failed to adjust it correctly so back everything down to slack and it now spins fine.

Reassembled the third member, refilled with oil and Shazam! No more leaks.

Now to finally tackle that darned stuck clutch.

BTW, how do I tell what ratio my third member is?

 

[B y r o n]

You can either count the number of teeth on the pinion and ring gear or simpler is to spin the rear wheel and count the number of rotations of the drive shaft.

 

[120mm]

As an aside, I managed to reassemble the bits from the drain plug magnet to fit into the mangled seal housing.

I just got this little gem from City Racer. I was using a combination of screwdriver and generic brake adjustment tools.

Totally different shape and size than the generic ones I've been using. No wonder people told me to get it.

 

[120mm]

Finally got around to pulling the transmission in order to troubleshoot the sticking clutch.

Anyone want to guess as to what I did wrong?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you put the clutch disc in bass ackwards!

 

[120mm]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you put the clutch disc in bass ackwards!

Bingo!

Funny thing is I checked and double checked and STILL put it on backwards

 

[Pura Vida]

Man, that sucks

I see some metal has been chipped/machined. Is the current clutch toast or can you reuse it?

 

[120mm]

It looks like it could be reused, but I have another I am throwing in there just in case.

It's funny how extra parts just appear once you start rebuilding an old car