Do these look right to you? Just bought FJ60 digging through it. (plus build thread) (1 Viewer)

[cruisermatt]

Do you have any crazy vibrations, clunking, or weird handling in the front axle? I have a hunch you have an extremely worn out knuckle or wheel bearing causing those wonky alignment numbers (camber should be at zero), and bad enough to cause that tie rod to rub. You would feel it driving down the road though. Where are you in Florida?

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Shims are avail for the knuckles. Do a rebuild and borrow a knuckle centering tool and do it right.
You can see it does have one or more in there but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.
After my knuckle job and new TREs I brought it in and the shop got the alignment nearly perfect. I tried in my driveway and I just found it too frustrating w/ the draglink tweaking too.

OK good eye. I couldn't tell if it was dirt or crud or what in there. Will try and remove that shim and see where the numbers end up. The knuckles definitely have a lot of grease residue arund them. So you are probably right, they definitely need to get done just for peace of mind. I need to keep going process of elimination.

What is a knuckle centering tool?

Do you have any crazy vibrations, clunking, or weird handling in the front axle? I have a hunch you have an extremely worn out knuckle or wheel bearing causing those wonky alignment numbers (camber should be at zero), and bad enough to cause that tie rod to rub. You would feel it driving down the road though. Where are you in Florida?

I admit I haven't driven it much, because after the tie rod ends fell apart, I decided to go through the truck a little more thoroughly. When I do the knuckles I will check the bearings. IS there a way to check bearing play beforehand? Normally you can hear a bad bearing or you get play side to side when it is up on the lift. I'm in Orlando as well. You need to show me some trails!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Jason @reevesci makes one similar to the NLA SST from Toyota. I know a guy who loan’s his out he bought w/ a group from Jason for a small fee. I myself borrowed one from someone else. When I did my knuckles I started w/ passenger side which seemed okay shim wise. Driver side tho had none on top and a few odd ones on the bottom so I broke out the tool and had some help via text getting it accomplished.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I totally agree w/ Matt too. Glad I could find my alignment shop photo for proof. Knuckle job in your future. If I can do it... novice female shadetree driveway mechanic here, you can do it w/ all those fancy tools in no time.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I found this old thread w/ a great photo in it showing various measurements.

CASTOR Adjustment ? (was camber)

 

[cruisermatt]

OK good eye. I couldn't tell if it was dirt or crud or what in there. Will try and remove that shim and see where the numbers end up. The knuckles definitely have a lot of grease residue arund them. So you are probably right, they definitely need to get done just for peace of mind. I need to keep going process of elimination.

What is a knuckle centering tool?




I admit I haven't driven it much, because after the tie rod ends fell apart, I decided to go through the truck a little more thoroughly. When I do the knuckles I will check the bearings. IS there a way to check bearing play beforehand? Normally you can hear a bad bearing or you get play side to side when it is up on the lift. I'm in Orlando as well. You need to show me some trails!

If you have a bad knuckle bearing you should be able to identify it pretty easily by raising that wheel off the ground and trying to shake it. Same way you would look for a bad wheel bearing. Although when I first got my Cruiser the driver's side upper bearing had completely disintegrated and I had been driving it like that for who knows how long. Best to just get it apart, it looks original which means all the seals, grease and oil in there is pretty old. On top of this new rotors, pads, calipers are usually put in at the same time if needed.

 

[FJ40Jim]

Definitely start by inspecting the trunnion bearings and wheel bearings for looseness. That was probably done during TRE replacement.
If any is found, correct that and then recheck alignment.

If no bearings are loose and those are still the alignment numbers, then a new axle housing is in order. These numbers being so far off indicate accident damage.
Cross camber is out by 4.7 (holy pull to one side, batman!). There are not shims per se, but there are offset lower pins that can adjust camber up to 1.5*. If the max offset pin was put in each side, cross camber would still be out by 1.7, with a target of zero.
And cross caster is off by 2.5 on a target of zero. Caster shims can change the total caster, but do nothing for the cross caster.

 

[Mace]

Shims are avail for the knuckles. Do a rebuild and borrow a knuckle centering tool and do it right.
You can see it does have one or more in there but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.
After my knuckle job and new TREs I brought it in and the shop got the alignment nearly perfect. I tried in my driveway and I just found it too frustrating w/ the draglink tweaking too.

View attachment 1766039

Those shims do not adjust Camber or caster, they adjust how the knuckle is centered to the Axle housing (edit, and preload).

Jim hit the nail on the head with bad knuckle bearings or a bent housing. Those numbers are horrible. An allignment without solidly rebuilt knuckles is a waste of time.

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Definitely start by inspecting the trunnion bearings and wheel bearings for looseness. That was probably done during TRE replacement.
If any is found, correct that and then recheck alignment.

If no bearings are loose and those are still the alignment numbers, then a new axle housing is in order. These numbers being so far off indicate accident damage.
Cross camber is out by 4.7 (holy pull to one side, batman!). There are not shims per se, but there are offset lower pins that can adjust camber up to 1.5*. If the max offset pin was put in each side, cross camber would still be out by 1.7, with a target of zero.
And cross caster is off by 2.5 on a target of zero. Caster shims can change the total caster, but do nothing for the cross caster.

Ok thanks. SOmething else to look at I guess. Is there a way for me to check the housing for straightness?

In good news, the body shop measured the frame and it is straight as an arrow. That's a huge relief for me.

I will check the bearings today and will try to get a knuckle rebuild kit ordered.

Just receied these excited to get them on after I figure out this alignment stuff. Did a bunch of research on this forum and I am confdent these will fit: 265/75R16 on FJ70 Steel Wheels

Trying to find a place that will powedr coat them. Called one place and they wanted $150/ wheel plus a two week turnaround?

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

 

[FJ40Jim]

Ok thanks. SOmething else to look at I guess. Is there a way for me to check the housing for straightness?

You just did check it, on the alignment rack.

Trying to find a place that will powedr coat them. Called one place and they wanted $150/ wheel plus a two week turnaround?

They are already painted silver, just mount them and go. To powder, they should be blasted to bare metal first, which adds to the cost, but $150 is still too much.

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

 

[Shes Mad]

Curious how Cepeks ride, wear, noise, etc. in the market for new tires, and never have used them. I do a LOT of highway driving vs gravel/trail

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Curious how Cepeks ride, wear, noise, etc. in the market for new tires, and never have used them. I do a LOT of highway driving vs gravel/trail

Well I slapped them on and they are super quiet. Meaning they added absolutely zero noise to the ride. I could not notice them in my 10 mile ride yesterday. I got the fun countrys.

About to go off road right now and will report back. Will probably do about 200 miles or so today.

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr


Also, I can't explain this:

Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr
Untitled by NotoriousJJE, on Flickr

 

[Shes Mad]

Looks awesome! Tires are the size I plan on getting. I have the same rims

 

[Infinity00]

Looks really good! So, no more wheel offset?

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Looks really good! So, no more wheel offset?

I dont see it anymore...
it is the strangest thing

still need to rebuild knuckles and replace bearings.

Went looking for some trails yesterday and put about 160 miles on her. we had fun in sand and mud. Tires were great. Can not hear them with windows up. Wkth windows down, you can make them out.

found out my fuel gauge doesn't work and I need to figure out the RPM's pulsating with the a/c on.

will try and put video of a/c

 

[franklin40]

Curious how Cepeks ride, wear, noise, etc. in the market for new tires, and never have used them. I do a LOT of highway driving vs gravel/trail

What? Front and rear axles are not interchangeable whatsoever.

i have them on my 62 and love them. they are quiet, handle well, have a smooth ride and look great. but more expensive than bfgoodrich but i think they’re anway better tire

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Have been installing a Sniper kit the last couple weeks and have asked questions in this thread:

Sniper EFI questions

Hey guys and gals, I'm in the middle of my sniper install. Taking it super slow between kids being home all the time and work. Have read too many sniper threads and I am trying to figure out what to do with my stock distributor. I assumed I was ok to run the sniper with the stock Dizzy but...

forum.ih8mud.com

Got the replacement display from my friend and plugged it in and it was giving me the same fault. So time to diagnose a bigger problem. Broke out the multimeter and found the wire that I was using to give ignition power to the pink Sniper wire had a short in it somewhere. Cut that and tapped into the old charcoal can purge valve connector and voila, LCD booted up and loaded fine:

Then came the big moment. Turned it over and..... it doesn’t want to start.

Checked all the sensors per Holley instructions and they are all reading well.

Seems like car is getting flooded now. Checked the Sniper and I could see fuel coming out the air cleaner. Now I’m stuck. You can see the fuel here:

Need to check for spark (which it should have) and then I’m out of ideas.



Any help would be huge.

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Here’s the vid:


Edit: Just checked and it has spark.

Also took the air cleaner off to get a better look at what was happening and when you cycle the key on, it seems to really flood the barrels with fuel. Like way too much and the thing fuel locks and won’t turn over. Need to let it rest for a while before the fuel washes away all the oil on the cylinder walls. This thing is starting to be a pain in my ass.

Any suggestions I welcome.

Thanks

 

[NotoriousJJE]

Here's another vid from this morning. I don't think the unit is operating properly. Seems like the injectors are not working the way they are supposed to. All the pressure is coming down one barrel and the other injector is sputtering out.

Thoughts?

Good times.

 

[SteveH]

Can Holley help you out with this?