Completed First Birf Repack! (1 Viewer)

[CHibbard]

All,

I like to thank everyone involved with this site for providing such a great resource for our LC's! Yesterday, I completed my first complete front-end service (Birf repack, all new seals, all new bearings - trunions/wheel, new rotors, 100 series pads). I was able to use all the great write-ups and even ordered Jim's DVD -- this simple DVD took much of the mystery out of the project and helped make the project smoother. Thanks to CDan for all the parts -- if your getting ready to do the job yourself -- CALL CDAN! Simple one-stop shop for everything.

The overall job took about 7 hours (not a world record). No surprises at all. Everything came part as planned and went back togther as expected. The toughest part of the entire project is cleaning out all that grease! A portable parts cleaner would have made the job faster.

To make the bearing race's install easier, I froze all the races for about 4 hours prior to installation. This shrinks the races just a little, making for a fast tap in.

Buy lots of shop towels! When you think you bought enough, buy more.

Have plenty of parts cleaner handy.

I drove the LC last night and what a difference! The brakes are tight and with the new trunion bearings, the front-end feels real solid.

Again, thanks to everyone for the guidence! Here's to another 173K+++

Craig

 

[MaddBaggins]

Congrats on your first BJ (Birf job). i just did mine a month ago. Took about 7 hrs also. And messy! Not really a difficult job though, just need a little patience.

 

[Matador98]

So you 80 guys that have the DVD tutorial that takes some of the mystery out of it....would it take the mystery out of it for a 60 guy as well? Are the jobs close enough? I would imagine so, but I am sure there is somebody who has both vehicles that can say for sure. I'm gunna have to do my first birf job this winter sometime.

 

[mabrodis]

So you 80 guys that have the DVD tutorial that takes some of the mystery out of it....would it take the mystery out of it for a 60 guy as well? Are the jobs close enough? I would imagine so, but I am sure there is somebody who has both vehicles that can say for sure. I'm gunna have to do my first birf job this winter sometime.

Haven't seen the DVD but I'm sure it would help. The frontend of an 80 and 40/60 are very similar, just the 80 is bigger all around. The 80's steering attaches to the bottom of the knuckle (2 studs top, 4 bottom), the 40/60's steering attaches to the top of the knuckle (4 studs top and bottom). Procedure is the same, the 40/60 knuckle is smaller, and birfield smaller (and if you seperate the birf it usually breaks the inner snapring, whereas on the 80 it doesn't usually seem to).

 

[CHibbard]

Birf Complete

Matador80,

Having the DVD really took the mystery out of the project. It was really great that Jim did this DVD. I did use the FSM as well, but mostly for torque specs. Not sure how the 60 and 80 compare, but I would bet they're close.

Looking back on yesterday's project, it really wasn't that difficult of job. If your a detail oriented person, the job will be smooth. Make sure all your tools are ready, lay them out. Have two seal pullers, as I broke the tip off trying to extract the axle seal. Next time, I would have a good 1/2" air impact wrench for the rotor bolt removal, a good set of 1/2" drive 6-point metric sockets, have two boxes of disposable gloves, a cheap throw-a-way overall, old shoes that you never want to see again and plenty of cleaning fluids. I also picked up a 5-gallon bucket at Ace Hardware for $3.00 which became the cleaning bucket for birfs -- this was also trashed at the end of the project and made the after project clean-up faster.

Have a planned mandatory food break. If you don't, all the cleaning fluids make you rather goofy by the 6th hours

Craig

 

[tarbe]

Have a planned mandatory food break. If you don't, all the cleaning fluids make you rather goofy by the 6th hours

Craig

Maybe that explains some of those bonehead moves late in the project.....

 

[NovaFZJ80]

Just ordered the DVD from Jim and plan on tackling this birf repack this 3 day weekend...gathering all the necessary tools, cleaning stuff, grease this week...have the fsm, this website, and some posts to help me along...

hopefully i will be successful...somewhat a backyard mechanic..redid whole suspension on DD civc, brakes, tuneup, new f/r swaybars, replace whole exhaust system....

 

[wsdavies]

Very cool...One of these days I'll get the nerve to tackle the birfs on my 93

 

[Biff]

Good for you, I just finished my first Birth job as well, and it was a very satisfying experience.