yosemitesamiam said:
No special tools or equipment needed? I'm still in the market, making up my mind what I want to do.
I guess no matter what is wrong with a used vehicle, the approach and advice just needs to be, "replacement over time"...not necessary to do it all at once. Unless something is really wrong, there is no reason to replace or fix something that "should be" because of mileage...it can wait until you have time/can afford to do so. Those birfs don't look any tougher than doing a brake job.
Not really any tougher than a brake job . . . and a brake job is part of this job . . . just a larger number of parts and steps, messier, and more time consuming.
There are some tools you need, and depending on the state of your garage they may or may not be "special."
This one is -- it's the 54 mm socket you need to remove the front rotor and get into the hub and onward. You need a good metric socket set, a largish breaker bar, a big hammer, a brass drift, a torque wrench, the posts on this forum, elmariachi's Birfield DVD, cruiserdan's phone number, a major credit card, and a weekend. I think that about covers it. If there is more, you'll uncover it in your research.
I can't say I entirely agree with your "'should be' because of mileage" statement. I did mine at 140k because it "should" have been done at 60 and 120, or at least at 90, but I bought my truck with a completely unknown maintenance history. I consider it cheap insurance. I replaced the plugs, wires, rotor, and distributor cap for the same reason, and if I'd taken pics of the parts I took out, you'd see why that turned out to be a really really good idea.
Here's the thing to remember -- we're getting these trucks for $8,000 or $10,000 or $13,000 now, but when they were built and sold they were north of $40,000. They require the care and feeding of a $40,000-$50,000 car. It's just part of the equation. The Toyotas are amazingly engineered and built, but they need their maintenance like any other high end vehicle does. Doing it just because the mileage interval has rolled around is a really good idea. Your truck will run better, last longer, be safer to operate, and be much less likely to leave you someplace you don't want to be if you do your repairs on the interval and not 10k, 20k, or 30k miles later.
Okay, preaching done. Point is, the birf job is not that hard and it's a good idea to do it if you're not sure about the condition or history. Fixing as PM is cheaper and easier than fixing as an emergency.
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