Finally extended my breathers

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Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Threads
12
Messages
323
Location
Fort Collins, CO
This is my first post that may be of any benefit to other members. I had fun doing it and figured I would share.

Over the summer I crossed three moderately deep water crossings that got me thinking about my fluids after each one. First thing I would do once I got home was check my fluids. This was getting annoying and I figured I wanted to extend my breathers so I didn't have to keeping worrying about getting water in my diffs.

I put together my ideas for this project based on a few different articles I found on the web; one I saw here where spressomon discusses the fact that transfer and tranny breathers attach to the external of the tranny dipstick, a few from some other 4x4 sites discussing breather extensions in general, and a few from Australia discussing how they did it as well.

I think the finished product turned out great... I probably over engineered this, but hey, we drive Land Cruisers, so it's only fitting.

All said, I probably spent $35-$40 to extend all 5 breathers (transfer case has two breathers, plus the rear diff, transmission, and front diff).

Parts used:
25' of 1/4" ID low pressure fuel hose
1/4" ID fuel filter
5/16" to 7/8" hose clamps (I used 9)
2 rubber padded hose clamps (purchased from ACE)
1/4" ID hose T's (purchased from Home Depot)


This water crossing was in Crested Butte. It was a little deeper than the image lets on, as you can see I'm climbing out already. (The second water crossing was also in Crested. It was the deepest and widest of all three, however my GoPro decided to only record audio, which was pretty disappointing.)
IMG_7737.jpg



This one was at the beginning of a trail that had two options, cross the water or go to the south and cross really deep, thick mud. I believe we all have the same feelings toward MUD, so I choose the water.


Illustrations from the FSM for each of the breathers.
Front Diff
1.jpg

The front breather is attached to a metal extension running from the diff.

Rear Diff
2.jpg


Transmission
3.jpg


Transfer Case
4.jpg


Fuel Line
5.jpg


Hose Clamps
6.jpg


Hose T's and Padded Hose Clamp
7.jpg


Fuel Filter
8.jpg


The beautiful girl being worked on
9.jpg


You can see both Transfer Case breathers in this shot. I've already removed one hose.
10.jpg


First hose on
11.jpg


Old hose vs new hose
13.jpg


OE rear diff breather
16.jpg


Rear diff breather and hose removed
17.jpg


The rear diff took the most hose, I brought the spool under the truck with me and fed it along the E-Brake line. I made sure to leave extra hose for full flex of the suspension
18.jpg
 
Rear diff hose along E-brake line
19.jpg


You can see the red rectangle in the left of the image, this is where the e-brake enters the cabin. You can see where I zip tied the rear diff line to the transfer case line
20.jpg


A shot from the transfer case and rear diff coming together
21.jpg


Another
22.jpg


The transmission breather nipple was plastic. This was the hardest part of the whole project. The hose didn't want to slip on and you had to do some serious Land Cruiser Yoga to reach it.
24.jpg


You can see the two nipples that the old hose used to terminate on to the transmission dipstick.
25.jpg


Clamped to the back of the firewall
26.jpg


Front breather removed
27.jpg


Metal nipple from the front breather
28.jpg


New front breather hose on
30.jpg


And the finished product. Pretty happy with how it came out. The hose on the top of the filter actually touches the hood when closed, so I'm as high as I can get in the engine bay.
31.jpg


The old hoses that I pulled off
32.jpg


And my helpers
33.jpg

34.jpg
 
Excellent informative write-up and great detailed pictures! I've always had this on my list of mods to do but have never gotten around to it. Now when I do, this will make it much easier to locate and switch them out. Thank you!:cheers:
 
Great write up and thank you! This is on the to do list as well. If i may make a suggestion....

On the last pic with the air filter. What are your thoughts on putting one of the air nipple plugs on that intake line? The one that goes into the top of the filter. My thinking on this is that if water were to get that high then you will suck it all in. I have been in water deep enough to cover the engine and i would hate for you to make a costly mistake like that.
 
Great write up and thank you! This is on the to do list as well. If i may make a suggestion....

On the last pic with the air filter. What are your thoughts on putting one of the air nipple plugs on that intake line? The one that goes into the top of the filter. My thinking on this is that if water were to get that high then you will suck it all in. I have been in water deep enough to cover the engine and i would hate for you to make a costly mistake like that.

That's a great suggestion and a thought I had actually while looking at of all the old hoses. I probably will end up doing that, but I need to clean them up first. They are covered in years worth of grime.
 
I did this a couple of weeks ago but used the ARB breather kit which allowed enough hose for two axles. I was going to buy more tubbing for the transfer and trans simce the breather has 4 inlets, but to my surprise my 01 has the Trans breather and transfer breather hooked to the transmission dip stick. Which is almost as high as where I installed the breather. Was yours set up this way?

20160916_181735.webp
 
@savirc

Check out this thread (post #8 and the photos near the bottom): Breather Hoses and water crossings
It was "100 TD" that actually mentions that the transfer and tranny breathers terminate along the transmission dipstick, but do not actually enter the dip stick. They are external to it.

I wanted to verify this while under my truck, so I did it the most scientific way I could think of. I pulled the hose off the transfer case and blew into it while I had my hand up against the transmission dipstick and sure enough, I could feel it was leaking air from the outside.

So while yes, they are high-ish in the engine bay, they were not high enough for my liking, so I decided to tie them into the system I was making.
 
Thanks! I'm gonna copy you!
 
silly question; does it matter which way I installed the filter, I just noticed I actually did mine backward from yours
 
silly question; does it matter which way I installed the filter, I just noticed I actually did mine backward from yours

It doesn't really matter, it's personal preference more or less; the filter is there to keep dirt and dust out. You're not running fuel through the filter, so there isn't a right or wrong way in terms of flow.
 
It doesn't really matter, it's personal preference more or less; the filter is there to keep dirt and dust out. You're not running fuel through the filter, so there isn't a right or wrong way in terms of flow.

Thank you! That is what I figure.
 
Thank you @willbt! Really great write-up. Your experience helped me to do my own home-brew setup. My setup was inspired by yours and some of the other ebay kits and I figured I would share some details here in case it helps someone else make their own.

Here is pretty much everything that I used, save for some zip ties and some other miscellaneous hardware I had laying around.

Viair 92820 6 Port Manifold with Mounting Holes
Amazon product ASIN B00RMC4J2Y
Fuel Line Hose 1/4 Inch Inside Diameter X 25 Feet Length
Amazon product ASIN B00UVNYUUC
1/4 PT Sintered Bronze Exhaust Muffler
Amazon.com: uxcell 1/4 PT Sintered Bronze Exhaust Muffler with Brass Body Protruding 2pcs: Home Improvement

Brass Hose Barb Fitting -1/4" Barb to 1/4" Male NPT
Boeray 5pcs Brass Hose Barb Fitting -1/4" Barb to 1/4" Male NPT Adapter: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Oregon 02-040 Hose Clamps 10 Pack
Amazon.com : Oregon 02-040 Hose Clamps 10 Pack : Lawn And Garden Tool Replacement Parts : Garden & Outdoor


1929373
 
This is a great write up. Thanks for waking it up.
Using spring clamps like Sierra looks neater, and they keep the same clamping pressure throughout their life, unlike screw clamps.

If you have OE RDL, the locker actuator has a breather as well; in which case you could use another Tee back there.
Is one of the two hoses for the transfer actually for the CDL actuator?
 
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