Ball joint & ABS unit replacement plus stuff.. on 98LC W/151K (1 Viewer)

[2001LC]

So cold weather is giving me some catch up time away from the garage. So I thought I post up some work I've done on a 98 LC w/151K. I'll start thread with last job done this Sunday, lower ball joint replacements.

A fellow member sold his rig to other mudder' out from of state. Seller disclosed lower ball joint needed replacing, in the "mud" spirit of full disclosure. So the seller & buyer asked if I could do job before local pick-up thursday. Lucky we had some good weather to do job in my driveway, as my garage is tied up.

Test drive revealed a light pull to the right just as one would expect with drop on right side of road. But on acceleration pull would switch to the left.

Tested with bottle jack under lower control arm, raise tire a few inches off the ground. Place 20lb pry bar under tire, and life repeatedly.


I'd not done a ball joint replacement before, so estimating time had a lot of blue sky. I estimated 6 to 8 hours. With research, parts & tool acquisition, setup and cleanup it took ~8 hours, 6 hour hands on at full speed.

With my trusty 3/4 breaker bar, I went to work.

• Key off pump brake pedal 40 time, releasing pressure.
• Chock rear wheels
• Break loose lugs nut of front wheel I'm working.
• Jack up and place jack stand back of wheel under frame near front side I'm starting on.
• Remove wheel.
• Remove bolts holding wheel speed sensor and brake line bracket.
  
• Remove the caliper and hang out of the way. (3/4 breaker makes easy work of these bolts).
• Loosen nut off upper ball joint, release with puller.
• Release TRE by removing the two bracket bolts. 3/4 breaker bar again.
• Release lower ball joint. It is being replaced so it does matter if thread damaged. So I pound it out with 5lb sledge, with bottle jack under LCA
• Pull grease cap and snap ring.
  
• Remove hub/rotor/knuckle as one assemble. (Use piece of wood placed on LCA so front drive shaft out axle dust shield (bends very easy) does not contact LCA or piece of wood)
• Tie axle up out of the way.

Now that's out of the way ball joint is accessible with rental tools to press out and in.

Tips:
Remove bolt hold bracket on knuckle that is holding brake line & speed sensor line brackets. Often if you just pull the bolt holding brake line on bracket, you'll damage smaller bracket on brake line.

Remove boot from new ball joint, carefully pulling off retainer wire. You may be reusing so take your time.

Clean axle, then grease axle bushing & needle bearings before assembly.

Check snap ring gap before finishing up. Make sure you pull axle out very hard to press the grease you just put in back side (don't over grease). Otherwise you'll get false gap reading, that will loosen/widen as you drive. You can also just drive to settle grease, then recheck snap ring gap.

Use red loctite on TRE and caliper bolts.

Now for the meat of the job, the fun stuff.

 

[2001LC]

 

[2001LC]

 

[2001LC]

 

[78f150tx]

Great attention to detail and work as always. I especially like your trick for removing the c-clips. Those are buggers to get off. I wish I had thought of that a few weeks ago.

and can I request on your next job you get them to throw in a couple of jack stands. I cringe every time I see your stand with that nail as a safety pin.

 

[2001LC]

ABS unit failed. We had Dealer diagnosis to make sure before digging in. Dealer would only do as complete master unit. By picking up a recycled unit we save thousands of dollar. This was my first ABS unit replacement so some study time was need to prep.

First was removing the master, started by relieving brake booster pressure (40 pumps of brake pedal).

Interesting I found the two wires & nuts on bottom of ABS very rusty and frozen on. I've noticed this on a few picture in mud of ABS replacements. Preserving wire was paramount.

It's now have a new inspection I do. I do this by peel back the boot cover off the wire & nuts, then use a mirror to inspect. I'm not sure what causing this, but suspect it's a leak in the ABS unit. Brake fluid attracts moisture like a magnet. It's why open cans can't be used if they sit on the shelf to long. Also why flush often is a good idea.

 

[2001LC]

Recycled ABS unit had been open by yard worker inadvertently, so I needed to closely inspect and carefully clean. I did find some dust so glad I did.

 

[2001LC]

Assembly went well.

 

[2001LC]

Great attention to detail and work as always. I especially like your trick for removing the c-clips. Those are buggers to get off. I wish I had thought of that a few weeks ago.

and can I request on your next job you get them to throw in a couple of jack stands. I cringe every time I see your stand with that nail as a safety pin.

Those nails freak everyone out that pays attention. The bad parts about them is when they get stuck in my head,,, ouch. Christmas is just around the corner, HINT! Oh and just to be clear, those nails aren't safety pins like modern jack stand have. Those are what holds up a ton or two of iron.

The stand, well those are at least 50 years old maybe 80, American steel!

 

[2001LC]

Brake bleeding was a pain due to missing bleeder boots. I find these missing or falling apart on every rig. They get rust in plugging bleeder holes. But what much worst this can lead to damage of caliper. All because a $2 bleeder cap is not replace every 5 to 7 years.

 

[2001LC]

 

[2001LC]

It's always so rewarding replace old drive belt pulley bearing, reduce noise under hood so nicely.

I've been using the Hyden idler pulleys from Rock Auto. I really don't know how well they hold up. As I've not used for long. It was report in mud of one low milage failure. Was that a fluke or are they junk. I just have to wait until someone reports a failure of one I installed, then I'll not use anymore.

 

[2001LC]

 

[2001LC]

Vacuum leaks are very common in our aging fleet. I start with both PCV hoses & the one grommet (no grommet on 03-07)

A little oil helps install go smoothly.

 

[badlander]

I've been considering removing the knuckle and hub assembly as a unit for axle replacement. How difficult is lifting it off and reinstalling it - weight wise. Last time I had mine apart I weighed all the components and it was around 60 lbs. Made me wonder if I could even lift it out of the wheel well much less get it back in with the axle flopping around behind it. Did you do it by yourself or have help? I think I could do it with the assist of a floor jack but that wouldn' be available in the field.

 

[2001LC]

I too was concerned about weight of knuckle w/hub & rotor (assy), more so with install. I found it not bad. I controlled axle by sliding out/on kunckle slowly & carefully lying on or lifting off wood support. The new ball joint threaded shaft seem (I didn't measure) longer, or at least nut caught threads going on easy. This made a big difference, as I didn't have to hold up"assy" but a few seconds. Basicly I slid knuckle onto axle, then up into stem of lower ball joint, I did this with two hands. Then grab the nut (placed close by) with one hand and threaded on while holding "assy" up with other hand. Of course, getting my body in just the right position for best leverage was key.

No issue with axle flopping around. Notice in my picture above the piece of wood under the front drive shaft tulip lying across LCA. I always place that there to protect the dust seal at outboard end of tulip, whenever removing knuckle. That dust seal bends really easy and will rub knuckle or oil seal if bent. So it needs to be protecting, or straightening if bent "Don't ask me how I know"...LOL

 

[TheForger]

Man you really do some awesome work, I love your detailed pics and videos so definitely keep those coming as they really do help out the community. You do a great job of documenting part numbers in your pics and that has really helped me out with some recent projects and I'm sure I will resort back to your pics for additional help for future projects. Love the attention to detail!

 

[2001LC]

Man you really do some awesome work, I love your detailed pics and videos so definitely keep those coming as they really do help out the community. You do a great job of documenting part numbers in your pics and that has really helped me out with some recent projects and I'm sure I will resort back to your pics for additional help for future projects. Love the attention to detail!

Thank you for saying that.

Keep in mind part number of some stuff varies by year. So always double check with your supplier, with your VIN # is best pratice.

 

[2001LC]

We also replace front drive shafts (FDS) with CVJ rebuilt, all cone washers and the DS hub flange plus a few incidental. One front drive shaft the PS, Stevinson Toyota replaced while I was just too busy with Snowy. They really botch the job, very poor workmanship. In addition to that, drive shaft was not acceptable and should have never been installed. It had remarkable play, which is not acceptable. Yet Deal installed it. They beat the ball joint off, smashing the ball joint and busting the boot with there BFH. They also did not clean off the paint from FDS that CVJ painted as usual (I hate that). This paint gums up the needle bearing, axle bushing and rear oil seal & dust seal. It also can keep the hub flange from sliding in and out, as designed. I said take it back, take to them, they messed it up, owner did. They'd warranty the parts but wanted labor again, what BS. So I ended up doing that side over for him also.

Early in the year Stevinson Toyota west also service the wheel bearings. What a poor job that was as well. I reset breakaway preload and got a chance to inspect their work. What a waste of money. The PS lock ring was not set (no tabs bent). Axle bushings & bearings not greased. Both snap rings were factory originals and I had to go up two size to get to spec. Man these shops just get worst year by years. Guys if you do use a shop, take the time to meet your mechanic. It makes a difference.

Anyway I'll show DS here and what we dealt with.

First I rejected the FDS from CVJ, as it had tapered outer groove on axle that retains snap ring. That would allow snap ring to pop off. A new snap ring may hold for awhile, but once removed and replaced at next service would certainly not hold. I ended up pulling the DS FDS and running over to CVJ and had them rebuild it. It was at least from a known source, being this 98LC. They turn me around in two hour. This gave me time to have lunch with my son, always a good thing. Also time to visit a machine shop I'm considering using for my 2UZ-fe VVT-i engine rebuild. So time well spent. I asked CVJ to not paint the axle, which they agreed too. Sweet no paint or very little to remove as they still you some paint on tulips which over spray needed cleaning off. If I had to do again, I would ask for OEM boots, their boots seem hit and miss and will not last as long as OEM. These DS is holding, but the PS which I later replace look like 10 years old cracking in the folds.

For some reason the CVJ inner snap rings have tooling markings so I installed new.

As always I grease up snap ring to hold open end down. Then greased the oil seal in differential tube before install of FDS

I'm not giving much detail here on Front Drive shaft install or setting breakaway preload, checking snap ring and such. If you like more see The Reborn & Snowy in my signature for much more detail.

 

[bigredmachine]

looks like it was a busy weekend for someone, nice trick with the c-clip thats way better than the two screwdriver method