Birfield repack, done (1 Viewer)

[Cruiserhead05]

OK, just got back from taking the 80 for a spin after doing the birf repack the last day and a half.

Coming from someone who normal didnt do much work on the truck besides oil changes and bumper installs, its very rewarding to do a somewhat, big job on the truck. Not only does it feel good to finish it but not have it fall apart on the first drive. I took advice from Dan who said it wouldnt be a bad idea to do all the wheel bearings and im happy i did, the truck rides noticably smoother and by replacing the trunion bearings it turns easier, i think....could just be in my head.
I also noticed it cut my "birfield click" by about 60%.

To make sure everything was still intact i slammed the brakes a few times with no problems but i did notice when sitting in traffic on an off ramp i hit the brakes when the truck was going maybe 2-3mph, just rolling cause the ac kicked in and the ABS went off. i tried to duplicate it but couldnt. I hit the brakes hard, i hit them easy.

Do think they are just settling in?

Nevertheless, its all done thanks to the FSM, the board, and the birf dvd. Now the true test will be to see if i get any leaks in the next few weeks. Keep my fingers crossed.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

where the hells the pics man? i know exaclty what your talking about though im the same why u are super rewarding

mike

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Mike, i actually only took a few pics. never really wanted to take time to clean my hands enough to hold the digital. I will try to post some up soon, just figured everyone has seen tons of the usual birfs job pics, my through mine in too....

I only regret not getting involved with the maintenance on this rig earlier. the knuckles honestly had very little grease in them and what was in there was disgusting. Another heart breaker was the birfs themselves, i didn take them aoart to clean them b/c there was hardly anything to clean, they were almost totally dry. oh well, another testiment to the toyota quality. I can assure you they wont go unmaintained again.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Brandon, glad to hear you got it done without any incidents. I've got to do some maintenance/repairs on my truck. Damn powersteering hasn't fixed itself yet and the truck boiled over 3 times last week. Hopefully my maintenance will go as smoothly as yours.

Ary

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Ary,
I'm sorry to hear that. Let me know when your heading back through hear and i'll try to get you your 54mm or i can mail it. whatever you want to do.
Also, sorry, but what do you mean by "boiled over", are you talking about a cooling issue?

Lastly, if you have any good pics from Snowshoe post them up, love to see them.

Brandon

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Yeah "boiling over" means the coolant was so hot it overfilled the expansion tank and spilled out onto the ground.

I'll be through the area around the 15th or 16th. I'll give ya a shout when I have a better idea.

No pics of snowshoe, been too busy workin or gettin the 80 stuck in stupid places. I'll try to get some more next week. Headed back up tomorrow.

Ary

 

[Cruiserhead05]

here are some pics....you'll notice the lack of grease, just about everywhere it SHOULD be.

 

[Cruiserhead05]

more.

 

[Cruiserhead05]

last set, during the cleanup. as you can see the joint does not look pretty, but after a few cans of brake cleaner it was looking better. 251k miles of fairly poor maintenance and the birf still looks halfway decent and has held up pretty good.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

personally i would have broken the birf apart just to repack. I know people say its not nessesary but as they have said if your in there why the hell not? i think it maybe a mental thing about breaking it apart but man when i did it i was so supprised how easy it was. just drop in in a pip and bam your done. On another note you knuckles better not have looked like that from the start. Mine were a huge ball of dried greese.

mike

 

[flintknapper]

Wow, is that rust in the birf? Mine was all shinny and new looking. Looks like you might have a groove worn on the seal seat of the axle shaft too. It definitely needed repacking looks like.

 

[concretejungle]

Wow, is that rust in the birf? Mine was all shinny and new looking. Looks like you might have a groove worn on the seal seat of the axle shaft too. It definitely needed repacking looks like.

Just what i was thinking.

 

[spartan]

Whoa - what is that discoloration - I just had mine apart today and did'nt see anything like that.....

I also didn't break the joints apart, but they were cleaned in a parts cleaner, blown out with air, recleaned and blown out again before repacking with grease. No signs of wear period.

 

[spartan]

The seal seat on the shaft is just shiny as it should be.

 

[elmariachi]

personally i would have broken the birf apart just to repack.

As long as he got all the cleaning solution out before repacking it won't matter, IMO. Looking at the pics, it does not appear the joint has been unusually hot. The rusty discoloration is likely because the joint has run in grease and water at some point for quite a while. I had an FJ-60 that looked like that the first time I went in and the next time, all the red rust color was gone, washed away by heat and clean grease.

 

[spartan]

Interesting - guess water would do that huh....

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Ok, just got home from work.

The redish color did scare me alot when i first pulled it, im guessing it was a lite film of rust as some have said, it cleaned off very easy without a problem. I extended my diff breathers earlier this year so im guessing over the course of 11 years it may have taken in some water or something and thats what caused it.
I really hate to say this but when i was pulling out the old great from the knuckle i swore i saw small clods of dirt, very sad....i know. The good part is its all fixed now.

 

[reffug]

Well done Brandon. Sorry I didn't get up that way to give a hand but it was a pretty hectic weekend. Glad to hear everything went smooth, congrats dude. Oh yaa the reddish color stuff would scaird me as well.

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Thanks jamie,

Its not a big deal. i didnt run into many serious problems. just messy.

I took the 80 to Harrisonburg today to look at some friends and so far they are doing fine. I still have a bad "highway death wobble" to figure out though. I think its time to check out my u-joints. Its odd, at times the 80 rides fine and smooth and 75mph while other times it feels like the tires could fall off.