Da 40 (1 Viewer)

[LDowney]

Need to get this thing back together so the girls can ride around this summer. I knocked off the old rotor and drove out the old bearings, races and seals this afternoon.

View attachment 3002992

Should be ready to wash everything tomorrow and get a coat of gloss black on the outers so they can be drying.

Then I set my sights on the knuckle balls. They were pretty badly pitted. So I hit them with some filler primer and sanded them down.

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I taped off the races and the face and cleaned everything up and hit the ball with some gloss machine grey.

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I'll let that cure good for the next few days. I am pretty dang happy with the result. Not as good as a machined ball, but for a weekend cruiser, I'm gonna call it good.

Tomorrow cleaning and paint. Then I'll start putting all these new parts back together this week.

Matt,
The paint is an abrasion resistant paint from AkzoNobel in their aerospace coatings line.

24T3 Series - Abrasion Resistant | AkzoNobel Aerospace

24T3 Series - Abrasion Resistant | AkzoNobel Aerospace

aerospace.akzonobel.com

Our specs show multiple versions that are active to cover different purchase quantities [pt, qt, gal, single use repair kit; colors = gray or white]. Per AkzoNobel's online info, it is described as a two-component, fluoropolymers filled polyurethane (i.e., don't mention teflon so there are no copy or trade right considerations). However an engineer that regularly encounters this coating/paint on the parts/assemblies that he is responsible for, said that there is a version that is a single component. I suspect that he is entirely correct. Namely we have repair (touchup) kits of two component paints that come out ready to use for small application cases (i.e. spot / localized paints repairs). [the two components are stored separately in the kit until use; at use, the two components are mixed internal to the kit and exit the kit as ready to use paint => giving the appearance of a single component paint]

I did not check price / order requirements / delivery lead time ... no use ruining the vision tonight. lol

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Matt,
Like your attention to detail. I encountered similar pitting on the knuckle balls on the 70 (Canadian salt I guess). Approached it similarly, but my attention to detail and final quality was not up to your standard. Kudos to you

FYI At work, we apply paint with teflon in it for surfaces where a blade seal / wiper seal rubs against. I have never thought to look for it before, but your thorough efforts here has me wondering if a teflon paint would have a great top coat here.

Looks like I need to check on general availability of teflon paint and how user friendly it might be.

Did you paint yours with something else Larry?
I have never considered painting the balls. This is an interesting approach.

 

[LDowney]

Did you paint yours with something else Larry?
I have never considered painting the balls. This is an interesting approach.

Yes. I just used self-etching primer with a coat of standard primer over it. So I did not think ahead to do even as nice a job as Matt did

FYI I rebuilt the knuckles on the 70 last weekend, so I had the opportunity for close inspection. It appeared that the paint in the pitting remained, but the wipe seals had rubbed all the paint off otherwise. The pitting was clearly visible but the surface felt reasonable smooth.
The reason I rebuilt the knuckles was I suspected that I had a bad knuckle pivot bearing that was allowing occasional front-end vibration. [yes, the lower bearing on the drivers side had gone bad]
All the seals were still very tight from the previous rebuild. Due to how smooth the ball surfaces felt and the seals had not been eaten up early by the pitting, I elected not to repaint. This might have been mere rationalization. If I was wrong, I will get to find out and have to rebuild them again.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Again, I had never thought of painting. I have a rebuild ahead of me on the 40. I will consider that. I wonder if POR15 would be a good substitute for the stuff you recomended above. It is very resilient, would fill pitting, is very smooth and would likely stand up to the rubbing of the felt as well as any chemicals in the grease.

 

[jynx]

Again, I had never thought of painting. I have a rebuild ahead of me on the 40. I will consider that. I wonder if POR15 would be a good substitute for the stuff you recomended above. It is very resilient, would fill pitting, is very smooth and would likely stand up to the rubbing of the felt as well as any chemicals in the grease.

I actually saw it on here somewhere. The thread I saw the guy cleaned up the balls, filled the pits with JB weld, let it cure, sanded it all down and then put an industrial 2-part epoxy paint on them. Turned out amazing. I tried the jb weld on the 80 when I rebuilt it, but it didn't turn out great. The filler primer stuck and then I put a thick coat of enamel on the 40. Ultimately I was just trying to get the smooth so the wipers and seals wouldn't fail prematurely.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Powder coat them balls. Then you’ll have the biggest, shininess balls of them all.

 

[jynx]

Well I loaded the new tires in the back of the 80 to take to be mounted tomorrow. Still not 100% sure on the cat situation, so I left them in until I could make a few calls. Plus I somehow managed to get eat up by ants yesterday. So trying to find something that needed doing that didn't involve a lot of moving around, soo I decided to finally throw the knuckle, hub and steering in the parts washer.

The hub still needs some wire wheel work, but the rest is ready for a final scuff, tape and some paint.

Then I can grease everything and finally reassemble this corner and get the other side torn down. Just hope it doesn't take me a year to get it back together...

 

[jynx]

Finished up cleaning up the knuckle and steering parts. Taped them up and hit with some rustoleum rust converter and then topped it off with some semi-gloss black. Left it drying last night.

I'll pull the tape tonight and check everything out.

 

[jynx]

Welp, so much for getting the PS knuckle back together today...

New axle seal in, races for trunions installed, felt and wiper on but got skunk'd by the lack of the scraper ring in the Terrain Tamer seal kit...

Now I have to find just the scraper ring. I hate to buy another whole kit just for the scraper, but may have to, which sucks. It's supposed to be in there, I checked. Oh well. On to something else.

So I went ahead and put the new studs in the knuckle to try and be productive while I was in the shop.

It's the 11mm studs, so I did all 8 since I had a full kit. Guess I'll order another one when I get I to the DS.

Then once I got those in I cleaned up the brake backing plate and got a coat of paint on it.

So not a completely wasted day. Just kind of a bummer. I'll hunt scrapers and then maybe next weekend I can get the knuckle back together in between prepping the 80 for an upcoming excursion. Also, getting the Ford and WarPig tweaked for SCC'22 that's coming up in about a month.

I also need to get the arm off the steering box and get it sent out for rebuild, since that's what actually started this whole thing..

 

[jynx]

After dinner tonight I went out to stare at things. I sat down and made a list...

It's as complete as I could come up with. Lots of bits to do and I'm sure I will add more as I go along, but it gives me some idea of what the road has in store.

Then I put a coat of semi-gloss on the brake backing plate and then just got a wild hair and worked on getting the last bolt out of the old windshield frame. Then the hair got even wilder and I decided to see what I was working toward.

Hood on, drivers fender, bib and a front bumper I have all temporarily "installed" to get an idea of what it will eventually look like.

I'll be honest, I don't even hate the 80 wheels on it. It needs a lot to actually get here, but now I have an idea of what I'm aiming for. Sometimes you just need a glimpse of the goal to line back up and run the next play. Onward.

 

[jynx]

Finally got around to ordering the steels I needed to get the front-end back together.

Tonight after a day trip to Jack Daniel's with some buddy's I went out into the shop and started with the going back together.

Knuckle went back on quickly, snugged down and ready for all the front bits. Cleaned up the bolts up and when I catch some time this week, or this weekend, I'll get these bits all back on and start getting the 40 back where it needs to be.

I'll have to try my hand and bending up some new hard lines for this side as well. Be good practice for the 80 rear brake project. Finally making traction.


P.S. JD is a good trip, I recommend it if your a whiskey fan.

 

[jynx]

Packed the knuckle and bolted the spindle back on last night. Need to pick some red loctite to torque the knuckle studs. And then I will install the bearing races and new rotors so I can get the hub bolted back on.

 

[jynx]

Earlier this week I drove in the races, packed the bearings, installed the seal and bolted the new rotor onto the hub.

Then hung everything on the spindle.

I picked up a seal driver set a couple months ago. Man, talk about a game changer. Right tool make installing things soo much easier.

I also got the knuckle studs torqued with some red loctite.

Today I cleaned and painted some misc brackets to finish up the caliper install. I'll also try me hand at making some new hard lines tomorrow.

 

[jynx]

Got the brake brackets painted and mounted and got the caliper bolted up.

Then cleaned up the hub body and face cleaned up and painted. That finishes up the bulk of the passenger side knuckle job.

Still need to stuff in the pads, loctite the caliper bolts and bend up a new hard line for the caliper and a new short side line. Then I'll be ready to move on to the drivers side.

 

[jynx]

I finally think I've got the passenger side wrapped up, well I still need brake pads, but other than that, it's done.

I broke out my new flaring tool today to make new hard lines to replace to one's I had to be less than ginger with on removal.

If your going to try your hand, get the proper tools... this and a tubing straightener are magic

I've never made lines myself, but even I feel pretty confident in the flares I came out with. Getting the length and bends right became the hard part.

Went thru a few before I got the caliper line right.

The final version

Similarly it took a few tries on the axle line as well

And the finished product

I feel like I wastef a few feet, but it was good practice with the flaring tool.

Toyota makes some tight bends right at the fitting. I need a better bender to make smaller radius bends. But overall I figure not too bad for my first real try.

I'll stuff some pads in and wrap this side up and start stripping the DS tomorrow after oil changes in the Rav and the LX.

 

[jynx]

Well, the PS is all together and I started on the DS... now I wishing I would have torn the DS side and pulled the diff to inspect...

To start, a seal somewhere had given up because when pulled the hub dial it began draining fluid

Then more with the hub body

The rotating assembly was full of black goo which can only assume might have been grease at some point.

Then I pulled the sweep backs and fou down a lot of corrosion.

Then I pulled the spindle and slid the long side shaft out to find it covered in this

And the knuckle itself full of what I'd best describe as the love child of molasses and chocolate syrup.

So now looking d9wn the tub I wish I'd pulled the chunk while I had the short side torn down. I'm going to drain it and refill it with some good oil and a little diesel and run it up and down the drive a few times to see if I can clean some of that nasty out before I top it off with fresh oil. But first I have to clean and paint all these nasty bits so I can make it look new like the other side.

 

[jynx]

I started playing with my balls again...

I stripped all the bits from the DS, cleaned and painted the arms, block and knuckle assembly.

Then I started working on the DS ball. Wire wheel, chemical cleaners and scotch brite got it as clean as I could.

Then I put down a heavy coat of filler primer to let that cure before sanding.

So now I need to sand them down and see if it needs more primer or if they are ready for some machine grey.