Chattanooga - Knuckle Rebuild Help (1 Viewer)

[Pericles]

About 8 months ago, I bought my first LC, a 93 FZJ80 (unlocked). It was almost completely stock with nothing but highway miles, good condition, etc. The seller did, however, disclose that it needed some PM and would need a knuckle rebuild at some point. Fast forward, and I've finally ordered a rebuild kit (including new bearings) to knock out the job.

I'd like to consider myself mechanically inclined and try to do as much of my own work as possible, but looking over the threads on knuckle rebuilds makes me think this job has a good bit of room for error. Any chance one of y'all in the Chattanooga area who have done this before might be willing to lend a hand in exchange for some beers? If not, other than following the FAQ Front Axle Rebuild - For FAQ and the FSM, are there any general tips or tricks I should keep in mind? Any particularly troubling steps? I'd like to get it right the first time around.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Looking forward to getting the PM out of the way to start on the fun stuff soon.

*Delete if not posted in the correct place*

 

[LDowney]

If you are mechanically inclined, you will be fine. On knuckle rebuilds ... re-use your existing shims in the knuckles if possible. (i.e., Be careful when disassembling and keep track where they went so they be re-installed the same way) This way you won't need the SST to locate the center of the axle and shim the center of the knuckle to match.

Good luck and welcome to STLCA.

 

[91FJ80Super44]

About 8 months ago, I bought my first LC, a 93 FZJ80 (unlocked). It was almost completely stock with nothing but highway miles, good condition, etc. The seller did, however, disclose that it needed some PM and would need a knuckle rebuild at some point. Fast forward, and I've finally ordered a rebuild kit (including new bearings) to knock out the job.

I'd like to consider myself mechanically inclined and try to do as much of my own work as possible, but looking over the threads on knuckle rebuilds makes me think this job has a good bit of room for error. Any chance one of y'all in the Chattanooga area who have done this before might be willing to lend a hand in exchange for some beers? If not, other than following the FAQ Front Axle Rebuild - For FAQ and the FSM, are there any general tips or tricks I should keep in mind? Any particularly troubling steps? I'd like to get it right the first time around.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Looking forward to getting the PM out of the way to start on the fun stuff soon.

*Delete if not posted in the correct place*

So, if you do have some issue with getting it repaired, and decide to have a shop do it I would go to Blackwell automotive over off of Eastgate Loop over by the Krispy Kreme in brainerd they are amazing people, and they specialize in Toyota products, and for me walking distance to "hot now" donuts is the best part, I do all the work on my cruiser, and my parents cars, but the rear hub/ wheel bearing went out on their sequoia with 362k miles on the clock i got the whole thing apart and i could'nt get the bearing out so my fam decided it was too difficult and had blackwell do it

 

[oldredfj60]

I've done a few of them; pretty straight forward if you go slow and clean things well, especially on an 80. It's a good idea to swap the birfs side to side which means popping the axle out. Get the little retainer clips as a safety - they occasionally break. This is also when you'll want to replace your rotors unless they're in great shape.

What part of town are you in and is this a daily?

 

[Pericles]

Thanks for the replies.

If you are mechanically inclined, you will be fine. On knuckle rebuilds ... re-use your existing shims in the knuckles if possible. (i.e., Be careful when disassembling and keep track where they went so they be re-installed the same way) This way you won't need the SST to locate the center of the axle and shim the center of the knuckle to match.

Good luck and welcome to STLCA.

Thanks for the welcome! I think I read this advice in the FAQ, though, since I haven't gotten in there to see what's going on, I'm not really sure what this looks like in practice.

So, if you do have some issue with getting it repaired, and decide to have a shop do it I would go to Blackwell automotive over off of Eastgate Loop over by the Krispy Kreme in brainerd they are amazing people, and they specialize in Toyota products, and for me walking distance to "hot now" donuts is the best part, I do all the work on my cruiser, and my parents cars, but the rear hub/ wheel bearing went out on their sequoia with 362k miles on the clock i got the whole thing apart and i could'nt get the bearing out so my fam decided it was too difficult and had blackwell do it

Thanks. I've had two folks, including the seller, tell me that Blackwell is the place to go for 80 repairs. That's where most of the repair records for my 80 are from. I might end up going that route -- just hate to shell out the cash! No idea what they'll charge, though, if I already have the kit and it's just labor costs.

I've done a few of them; pretty straight forward if you go slow and clean things well, especially on an 80. It's a good idea to swap the birfs side to side which means popping the axle out. Get the little retainer clips as a safety - they occasionally break. This is also when you'll want to replace your rotors unless they're in great shape.

What part of town are you in and is this a daily?

Thanks, I read that swapping birfs is a good idea. Also, an intimidating step until a break everything open and peek inside. I did plan to replace the rotors.

South Chattanooga in Saint Elmo. Yep, DD.

 

[Pericles]

Blackwell quoted $880 just for labor. This looked to be about a 4 beer job to me, which comes out to $220/beer. Too steep for my book.

 

[91FJ80Super44]

Blackwell quoted $880 just for labor. This looked to be about a 4 beer job to me, which comes out to $220/beer. Too steep for my book.

Damn!!! That is expensive, as I said they have worked on my parents Sequoia and Rav4 but not my cruiser, I would just go for the 4 beers hahawell when I have to do it to mine I'll have to do it my self as well, but good luck on doing it and do you have a Haynes manual?

 

[Pericles]

Damn!!! That is expensive, as I said they have worked on my parents Sequoia and Rav4 but not my cruiser, I would just go for the 4 beers hahawell when I have to do it to mine I'll have to do it my self as well, but good luck on doing it and do you have a Haynes manual?

Yeah, crazy pricey. I have the Haynes and relevant portions of the FSM. If it could be done by reading alone then I’d be all set, haha!

 

[LDowney]

Blackwell quoted $880 just for labor. This looked to be about a 4 beer job to me, which comes out to $220/beer. Too steep for my book.

Assuming $60/hr for shop labor, $880 comes ~15 hours of labor which is in in the ballpark of time that I would expect it to take me. I am a shade-tree hack, but knuckle rebuild takes time for any of us and leads to sticker shock like this.

On a possible bright side ... You have this quote to show your bride as proof that your sweat equity is saving the household $880 minus the cost of a few tools needed to realize this savings...

Good luck

 

[oldredfj60]

That's why I asked you if it were a daily - the first time you do it, you should count on a full weekend of your truck being down. The second time you do it, you can knock it out in a day. The two most technical parts of the job are 1) knocking the races in and out and 2) properly setting the axle seal depth/squareness. Seems those two areas are where most people go wrong if they go wrong at all. The rest is a whole bunch of laying things out in the order they are removed (so that they go back in just as they came out) and CLEANING. Lots and lots and lots of cleaning. So much cleaning. Nasty cleaning. So much of it. Did I mention cleaning?

Don't let swapping birfs be intimidating. Get a chunk of pvc pipe, drop the axle into it with the birf pointing up, put a piece of wood on the ground and slam the bottom of the pipe onto the wood a few times...axle separates from the birf, falls down and hits the wood undamaged if you do it right. Oh, and triple check your knuckle studs upon reassembly. Lastly, are you making birf soup yet, or just thinking it is time?

I'm in the North Chatt area and could help out time/schedule permitting. I also have the axle nut tool you could borrow.

PS: as Larry said, that's actually not a bad price for the labor. Call the dealer if you want a real shock.

 

[Pericles]

That's why I asked you if it were a daily - the first time you do it, you should count on a full weekend of your truck being down. The second time you do it, you can knock it out in a day. The two most technical parts of the job are 1) knocking the races in and out and 2) properly setting the axle seal depth/squareness. Seems those two areas are where most people go wrong if they go wrong at all. The rest is a whole bunch of laying things out in the order they are removed (so that they go back in just as they came out) and CLEANING. Lots and lots and lots of cleaning. So much cleaning. Nasty cleaning. So much of it. Did I mention cleaning?

Don't let swapping birfs be intimidating. Get a chunk of pvc pipe, drop the axle into it with the birf pointing up, put a piece of wood on the ground and slam the bottom of the pipe onto the wood a few times...axle separates from the birf, falls down and hits the wood undamaged if you do it right. Oh, and triple check your knuckle studs upon reassembly. Lastly, are you making birf soup yet, or just thinking it is time?

I'm in the North Chatt area and could help out time/schedule permitting. I also have the axle nut tool you could borrow.

PS: as Larry said, that's actually not a bad price for the labor. Call the dealer if you want a real shock.

Thanks for the advice! Oh, yeah, it's soup all right. Had to replace a lug stud a few weeks back and it was yesterday's Taco Bell inside. It's time. Can't complain, though - the seller was straight up and told me Blackwell's said he'd need it soon.

I may take you up on the offer to borrow the tool. Unless, of course, it's something I can grab from Harbor Freight or Napa for cheap.

Assuming $60/hr for shop labor, $880 comes ~15 hours of labor which is in in the ballpark of time that I would expect it to take me. I am a shade-tree hack, but knuckle rebuild takes time for any of us and leads to sticker shock like this.

On a possible bright side ... You have this quote to show your bride as proof that your sweat equity is saving the household $880 minus the cost of a few tools needed to realize this savings...

Good luck

Yeah, I didn't necessarily think it was a price gouge, but just a little too expensive for my pocket book if I can do it [correctly] myself.

I'll pitch your rationale to my wife and let you know how far back her eyes roll in her head.

 

[oldredfj60]

It's 54mm; tough to find locally.

I may take you up on the offer to borrow the tool. Unless, of course, it's something I can grab from Harbor Freight or Napa for cheap.

 

[91FJ80Super44]

You could check Feltons clutch, they have axel nut sockets, I had to buy a 4½ inch one for my family's 66 Chevy C 60, they do have metric as well , but if my memory serves me correctly it was quite expensive, if oldredfj60 is willing to help you and lend the tool I would take it.

 

[LDowney]

...
I may take you up on the offer to borrow the tool. Unless, of course, it's something I can grab from Harbor Freight or Napa for cheap.
...

It's 54mm; tough to find locally.

I have found Northern tool to have a good selection of larger sockets on the shelf and at viable prices. You may need to select a 3/4 inch drive socket which would require a 1/2 to 3/4 drive adapter to go with it.
Final consideration, is a 2 1/8 inch socket is equivalent to a 54 mm. As you go higher in size like this, the manufacturing tolerances results in room to interchange a 2 1/8 for a 54. I actually use a 2 1/8 socket and have never had a fitment issue.

 

[ERG80]

Watch this vid a few times. I think it does a great job of showing what’s involved (besides the cleaning part).
Take it slow and refer to the manual/vid often. Follow torque specs. Use the torque method for tightening the axle nuts (instead of a fish scale). I use a 2 1/8 craftsman socket for my axle work.

 

[chattfj40]

I'll also throw my name in to help, also in North Chatt. I have all the tools except the SST and if you let me know when, can be available to answer any questions. Free to text so I have your number. Four Two Three Four Two One Four One Nine Nine. Also I agree with all that was said above.

 

[Pericles]

I know everyone's been on pins and needles waiting to hear how this story ends, and I apologize for the delay. The constant rain made me think I'd never get a decent weekend to do the job myself, I came oh so close to forking over the change to have it done at the shop. Finally, I was able to spend this past [beautiful] weekend up to my elbows in birf soup and painting the driveway with moly grease like Jackson Pollock. Got it knocked out around 10 p.m. Sunday night. Sweet relief!

Huge thanks to everyone for the advice! ERG80 - that video was perfect. It really is a very straightforward job. Hopefully the PM stage is coming to a pause so I can do some fun stuff once the money magically appears in the bank.

Oh, and Tractor Supply keeps 2 1/8 sockets in stock. Worked like a charm.

 

[ERG80]

Good work!

 

[Pericles]

So, before I post on the general forum I thought I'd check here first. As y'all know, I just serviced the knuckles, which meant the 80 was on jack stands for two full days. Before I serviced the knuckles, I had the CEL throwing an o2 sensor code. Replaced the sensors to no avail; truck ran a bit rich but nothing terrible, so I left it alone. Now, after the knuckle service, it's idling/running very rough and very rich.

Question: what could being jacked on the front end do to cause it to run rough/rich? I'll do a general "rough idle/running rich" check this weekend, but want to know if there's a quick connection between the knuckle service and sudden change.

Thanks in advance!

 

[oldredfj60]

I can't imagine there's a connection unless you boogered up the O2 wiring somehow. If it's been running rich for a bit, you might check the plugs for fouling. Check the Engine Coolant Temp sensor as well.