birf's clicking after repack? (1 Viewer)

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Oct 4, 2004
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Location
Richmond, va
Hey everyone been reading a lot on this site, figured I would say hi.. I have a 93 FZJ 80 and I just did the front birfields. I put new gaskets, trunion bearings, wheel bearings, seals, and wipers in, and repacked the bearings using mobil1 synth grease.. The seals were leaking just a little bit of diff fluid which is why I did the rebuild.. There was no clicking before I rebuilt them.. Now there is, they click in tight turns while applying the gas only.. Im wondering if I did something wrong or maybe all the diff fluid they were swimming in before was masking the fact that they are infact bad?? and help would be greatly appreciated.. Im guessing I should just suck it up and get new complete axles??
Thanks in advance

you guys are a varitable cornacopia of information:D
 
How many miles on truck?

What did the birfs look like when you pulled them?

More info please.
 
The specs for the birfs call for moly disulfide grease. I doubt that the difference in the greases would show up as clicking (especially quickly) , but its possible.

You should have swapped the birfs on the axles (if you didn't).

I wonder if you got enough grease in there (it takes some work with a putty knife or spatula to get it packed) and whether you immediately noticed the clicking or whether it took a while for it to develop after driving a little bit. In the latter case, I might suspect that the grease is the reason.

If you've left some "grease voids", see if you can work it in by backing up and moving forward while alternating the steering from lock to lock. Don't know that this would help[in fact I doubt it], but its an idea.
 
The truck has 252, 000 miles.. I did notice the clicking right away, Before the rebuild it had NO clicking..
I didn't switch sides, I figured that I should only do that to try and stop the clicking if it was already clicking. The birf's looked okay to me, BUT they are the first ones I have seen in person so that doesn't hold too much weight. So should I pull the axles again, cleanout the grease, and re-pack them?? Is the mobil one going to hurt anything, it said that it is good for u joint, wheel bearings, and ball joints..
thanks for the quick responses..
Steven
 
My truck has done 120,000 and I done the birfield overhaul, on tight turn with gas on I get some clicking, just learned to live with it
 
I can learn to live with it, I just don't want to cause damage that will be COSTLY to fix at a later date.. :frown:
 
If that were my truck, I'd be tearing it apart to repack those birfs with moly grease.

I am not saying the Mobil 1 is causing the clicking...you may have several issues at work here.

You need to go back in there...sooner rather than later.
 
tarbe said:
If that were my truck, I'd be tearing it apart to repack those birfs with moly grease.

I am not saying the Mobil 1 is causing the clicking...you may have several issues at work here.

You need to go back in there...sooner rather than later.


I agree. I have not seen anything conclusive that suggests that the birfield joint cannot live in standard bearing grease......but. There is a reason Toyota chose moly-fortified, and that reason was not just to make your life miserable. As painful as this may be, I'd tear it back down, thoroughly inspect the joints for wear and then be sure to use the right grease on re-assembly.

Jim
 
SteveVA,

There have been a few guys that have used non-Moly in their birfs but I don't think we've had long-term reports on the results. This is a tough call and as you now know you should have used a moly grease.

Taking a step back....

How did you pack the birfield joint? By this I mean did you completely disassemble the joint (balls, cage, star, tulip) then repack with new grease?

How much grease did you put in the cavity? By this I mean the big knuckle cavity where the assembled birfield spins.

FWIW, mine clicked for a few minutes after the repack. I didn't disassemble the joint as described above and it takes some time for the grease to get inside the newly cleaned birfield. This might be what you are hearing if you've done everything else correctly.

If the clicking goes away after 20 miles or so then it's your call on whether to repack w/Moly. If the clicking doesn't go away then ya know what ya gotta do.

-B-
 
well I know what I am doing this weekend, so I should just pull the axles, clean and repack the knuckle, or should I pull EVERYTHING back apart, including the trunion bearings?
 
Beowulf,
I did not totally disassemble the Joint, I soaked in parts cleaner over night then made sure that all the old grease was out.. I then filled the joint back up as best I could, I did not however use a putty a knife, so the joints may be lacking the proper amount of grease.. I will pull them back apart I guess and make sure they are full,,
 
Steve,

If you didn't disassemble the birfield joint then it will take some miles for the new grease to work it's way inside the tulip. However, it will work it's way in there without having to tear it back down.

If you decide to pull the birfs, you won't need to do the trunion bearings or the wheel bearings.

How far have you driven it since the repack and is it clicking less, the same, or more?

Did you fill the knuckle cavity ~75% full?

-B-
 
I know I filled them 75% full I used a grease gun to force grease into the cavities pretty good, and then worked the joint around to work the grease in,, I repeated a couple of times, so I know they aren't dry by any means
It has been driven about 200 miles, My girlfriend drove it about 150 on the highway, so not much turning there, I haven't driven it since she got back, and of course she doesn't notice stuff like that.., I will drive it tonight and see if they quieted up.. BUT the thing that worries me now is the type of grease the dumb-a$$ mechanic(ME) used..
thanks
 
Steve,
If the clicking has gone away, then check with mabrodis here on 'Mud before you pull them again. I'm pretty sure he ran with M1 in his birfs for a long time. I cannot remember for sure but I think he checked with Mobil and got some reassurance that it would work OK in this application.

I don't think I would do the job again if I was comfortable that the job was done right other than using M1 instead of a moly. I used Amsoil purple in the birf which is a moly synthetic grease. Amsoil red (HD) in the wheel bearings.

-B-
 
Steve,

Did you work the birf around a bit after you packed it to check for dry/air spots? It sounds like you may not have packed it in good enough.
 
Moly sounds like the stuff for birfs;

Further blended into this blend of polyalphaolefin base oils, bentone thickener and selected additives is a molybdenum disulfide that gives Moly Pure Synthetic Grease the ability to act as a “backstop” lubricant. This “backstop” is created by the molybdenum disulfide’s natural affinity for metal surfaces whereby it plates to the metal surface to form a long lasting solid lubricant film. This solid lubricant film withstands pressures up to 500, 000 pounds per square inch, giving the metal surfaces of the bearing the protection they need during periods of high speed, high shock loads and extreme pressure.

The moly’s solid lubricant film also helps to reduce friction. This reduction in friction results in reduces wear and a reduction in contact area temperature. This results in increased working life of the grease, equipment life, less downtime and extended lubrication cycles.

From;
http://www.schaefferoil.com/197_grease.html
 
Any chance the previous owner had already switched sides due to clicking?
 
if it has not gone away by now i vote for the lack of moly. you probably had worn birfs and the no moly grease maybe combined with some left over solvent was enough to get them clicking. I talked to a cv rebuild shop a while back and they said they use moly grease on all their rebuilt cv joints whether originally specced or not.
 
i have no clue about the PO, or the PO before that, the 2nd owner only had it for about 45k miles.. I will pull it apart and MOLY-up.. thanks a lot, I can't believe how many people gave there advice.. Never got this kinda response when I had a dumb Jeep..You guys ROCK!!
STeven
 

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