I am most likely guilty of this, I miss read and thought he was talking about the spindle where the bearings were, Not inside the spindle...My bad.
Nice looking tool that was fabbed up, I would like to see how it works as well
Birfield done! Forgot to grease the spindle. What now?
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I am most likely guilty of this, I miss read and thought he was talking about the spindle where the bearings were, Not inside the spindle...My bad.
Nice looking tool that was fabbed up, I would like to see how it works as well
An hour counting the trip to Lowes. The copper pieces came from the plumbing section. It is epoxied together using JBWeld, but you'll need to let it dry overnight before using the tool. You can use an old hub nut because it just threads on with hand pressure. Fill the tool cavity with grease, then pump a few times. I've only used it twice and it works very well. I just pumped until it "felt like" ~10 pumps were feeding grease into the spindle bushing area. You can tell when the grease gun (use a manual one so you get tactile feedback) is filling the tool cavity and when it is pushing grease into the spindle.
Dan's guys (aka "dirty fingernails") would take a diff crush sleeve (steel) and weld it to the hub nut, then weld a cap on the end of the crush sleeve and drill a hole in the end for the grease zirk. Same principle as the tool pictured above. I don't weld and it wasn't worth it to me to have someone fab the tool. If this was something that I used frequently then I would use steel and weld it.
-B-
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Nice tool; would also like to "see" it in action (photos). Will this also push (?much) grease past the spindle bushing into the knuckle?
FWIW; some may remember I let my knuckles get very dry, and the axle hasn't been serviced in over 120K miles. I started getting some clicking, but also had recently started getting a very rough vibration first drive in the morning. I assumed at the time that the rough vibration that went away within a few miles was due to dry U-joints, but after reading many posts, I think it was more likely from dry spindles?
Point is; I overgreased my knuckles via the inspection port/fill plugs a few times over the course of two weeks in order to see if it would stop the clicking. I used the Valvoline Palladium 3% Moly grease using a 3 inch lube tip extension until I could not get anymore in. The clicking stopped completely in about two weeks.
The rough vibration that occurred first thing in the morning also stopped however that occurred almost immediately after the first greasing. A few weeks later I noticed when the grease cups were off that there was plenty of deep black Moly grease underneath; only way that could have gotten there was via the knuckle; correct?? Guess that also might indicate that my spindle bushings are worn allowing (?too much) grease to blow by.
It is now approx 5000 miles since that supergreasing of the knuckles; no clicking, no vibration; yet. However, predictably, my gear oil is black also.
Not recommending that practice, only did it to buy time until I can do the front axle service; just passing on the observation that the grease apparently did flow from the overfilled knuckles through the spindle bushings.
FWIW; some may remember I let my knuckles get very dry, and the axle hasn't been serviced in over 120K miles. I started getting some clicking, but also had recently started getting a very rough vibration first drive in the morning. I assumed at the time that the rough vibration that went away within a few miles was due to dry U-joints, but after reading many posts, I think it was more likely from dry spindles?
Point is; I overgreased my knuckles via the inspection port/fill plugs a few times over the course of two weeks in order to see if it would stop the clicking. I used the Valvoline Palladium 3% Moly grease using a 3 inch lube tip extension until I could not get anymore in. The clicking stopped completely in about two weeks.
The rough vibration that occurred first thing in the morning also stopped however that occurred almost immediately after the first greasing. A few weeks later I noticed when the grease cups were off that there was plenty of deep black Moly grease underneath; only way that could have gotten there was via the knuckle; correct?? Guess that also might indicate that my spindle bushings are worn allowing (?too much) grease to blow by.
It is now approx 5000 miles since that supergreasing of the knuckles; no clicking, no vibration; yet. However, predictably, my gear oil is black also.
Not recommending that practice, only did it to buy time until I can do the front axle service; just passing on the observation that the grease apparently did flow from the overfilled knuckles through the spindle bushings.
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- Thread starter
- #25
200 Miles After Birfield Repack
I decided to go back in to check out how much grease made its way through the inside of the spindle. I looked at the drivers side first.
As soon as I got the flange off, I could see that the grease had migrated to the end of the spindle and was forcing its way toward the wheel bearings(it wasen't bearing grease since I used the M1 red on the wheel bearings). I decided to remove the spindle anyway and saw that there was plenty of grease all of the way through.
The passengers side showed a little bit of molly grease coming up to the snap ring but not near as much as on the drivers side. I decided that there was enough coming through to not warent removing the spindle, but I'm not sure why there was such a difference between the two sides. Maybe it's the difference in the rotation of the shafts in relation to the way the grooves are cut - or maybe I put too much grease in the drivers side. I used 3 and 1/2 standard grease gun tubes for the whole job.
I'll try to attach some pix of the drivers side spindle and axle shaft.
I decided to go back in to check out how much grease made its way through the inside of the spindle. I looked at the drivers side first.
As soon as I got the flange off, I could see that the grease had migrated to the end of the spindle and was forcing its way toward the wheel bearings(it wasen't bearing grease since I used the M1 red on the wheel bearings). I decided to remove the spindle anyway and saw that there was plenty of grease all of the way through.
The passengers side showed a little bit of molly grease coming up to the snap ring but not near as much as on the drivers side. I decided that there was enough coming through to not warent removing the spindle, but I'm not sure why there was such a difference between the two sides. Maybe it's the difference in the rotation of the shafts in relation to the way the grooves are cut - or maybe I put too much grease in the drivers side. I used 3 and 1/2 standard grease gun tubes for the whole job.
I'll try to attach some pix of the drivers side spindle and axle shaft.
Schum4; Good pics and info. Over the course of two weeks I added a total of 4 standard tubes of grease via the inspection/fill ports. It appears that grease will get forced or pumped from the knuckle area into and past the spindle bushings. The more I think about it, wondering if that isn't the main purpose of the inspection/fill port; not to only add grease to the birf, but to also get grease to the spindle bushings when they get dry?? Mr T put grease caps there for a reason; keep the grease in and the contamination out. In other words, if there wasn't a straight shot into (and out of) the knuckle, there would be less of a reason for the grease cap. Another possible reason more grease got to one side vs the other; maybe one bushing is worn more than the other, allowing more grease to get through??
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Thanks,
Another Cruiser mystery solved. Every time we learn more about how the grease behaves in the birfs, it is good news. Previously, we learned that grease pumped into the square knuckle fill plug DOES get to the birfs in short order after about a decade of feeling it could not. Now, we also know that the grease will also quickly work its way into the spindle bushing. Excelllent.
It's almost like Toyota knew what they were doing when they designed this thing. Now if someone could just come up with a way to change that $6 inner axle seal without a full teardown we'd be making some serious progress......
DougM
Another Cruiser mystery solved. Every time we learn more about how the grease behaves in the birfs, it is good news. Previously, we learned that grease pumped into the square knuckle fill plug DOES get to the birfs in short order after about a decade of feeling it could not. Now, we also know that the grease will also quickly work its way into the spindle bushing. Excelllent.
It's almost like Toyota knew what they were doing when they designed this thing. Now if someone could just come up with a way to change that $6 inner axle seal without a full teardown we'd be making some serious progress......
DougM
Go to that link, then do a text search on "Camo". Use your browser to search, not your eyes 
Copy and paste from the above link. Please note that they are not written for FJ/FZJ80 axle.
How to change one quickly Camo method
Pull locking hub cap and remove snap ring.
Unbolt seal/felts on back of knuckle.
Unbolt brake caliper and tie out of the way. (can be skipped if you have long brake lines)
Unbolt steering arm. (leave bottom knuckle cap alone)
Pull entire outer knuckle assembly off of axle.
Swap in your parts.
Put it back together.
It's a big-time shortcut since you don't need to mess with the 54mm socket or wheel bearings.
Copy and paste from the above link. Please note that they are not written for FJ/FZJ80 axle.
How to change one quickly Camo method
Pull locking hub cap and remove snap ring.
Unbolt seal/felts on back of knuckle.
Unbolt brake caliper and tie out of the way. (can be skipped if you have long brake lines)
Unbolt steering arm. (leave bottom knuckle cap alone)
Pull entire outer knuckle assembly off of axle.
Swap in your parts.
Put it back together.
It's a big-time shortcut since you don't need to mess with the 54mm socket or wheel bearings.
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Good memory.
Works great too. Idea was Dan's. He told me the guys in the shop had something like this for solid axle rigs.
-B-
Beowulf,
This special spindle greasing tool is a great idea.
I need to fabricate one to solve a problem with my vehicle.
I don't yet have experience disassembling a front hub.
Please let me know which front hub parts need to be removed prior to using the tool.
My best guess is outlined below in red.
Thanks!!
I think the beauty of the tool is that you don't need to remove the hub nuts and fiddle with the preload afterwards. I would just remove the grease cap, snap ring, drive plate and gasket. That should leave you with enough threads to engage the tool and pump away!
It saves you a lot more R&R than hub nuts. To grease the spindle bushing you'd need remove the spindle and that's much farther into the knuckle. But see posts #25 & 26 above where we learned that grease from a well-lubed knuckle migrates by itself to the spindle bushing, hence you don't really need this cool tool.
Your guess is correct. You might be able to thread the tool onto the spindle and leave the outer hub nut on the spindle (43521 in your attached diagram.) That would work fine because the tool pushes the grease around the stub axle and through the spindle to the bushing.
Keep in mind that this tool's purpose is to lube the section marked in orange and NOT the section marked in yellow. Let me know via PM if you have any questions.
(Sorry you had to PM me... I don't get on the 80-Section very often.)
-B-
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Excellent. Even if one needs to remove the outer hub nut, there is no need to reset the preload. Just re-torque the outer hub nut to 47 ft-lbs or whatever the proper spec is.
Question about fabricating the special tool. Is the zerk hole threaded, or is it straight drilled and the zerk epoxied into place?
Question about fabricating the special tool. Is the zerk hole threaded, or is it straight drilled and the zerk epoxied into place?
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The hole is straight-through. There is a nut on the inside of the tool that is threaded to the grease zirk. It is securely fastened to the tool and no JB Weld was used.
-B-
-B-
...says the man with 11K+ posts......
Mike--you going to come over and hold my rear diff on your chest when I am doing my re-gear?
