Good East Valley Shops?

[Landie]

Hi there,
Can anyone recommend a reputable shop in the East Valley that would be able to perform a front axle service/knuckle rebuild on an FZJ80?
PO said he drove it for 100K and doesn't remember ever doing anything to the front axle...
Thanks!
Bill

 

[Tools R Us]

Hi there,
Can anyone recommend a reputable shop in the East Valley that would be able to perform a front axle service/knuckle rebuild on an FZJ80?
PO said he drove it for 100K and doesn't remember ever doing anything to the front axle...
Thanks!
Bill

Welcome!

Maybe, will have to ask if this is something they want to tackle. The shops that I deal with are suddenly busy, so are somewhat picky about what they are accepting. Camelback Toyota is always a good choice,,, Murf?

My first question would be why do you feel it's necessary? Do you have birf soup peeing on the ground?

 

[Landie]

The knuckles aren't leaking, but the truck has 235K miles on it and I wouldn't be surprised if the axle had never been serviced. There is a little bit of slop in the steering...
How long can a front axle go without a service?

 

[murf]

Landie, check your diff oil and if it looks like pea soup, its time! With 235K, Id be suprised if the birf grease hasnt seeped past the inner seals and mixed with the gear lube. MMmmmm.

If you want to bring it by here, we can throw it up on the lift and check it with you to see. Pm me if you'd like.

Murf

 

[Tools R Us]

Landie, check your diff oil and if it looks like pea soup, its time! ...

I disagree. The knuckles don't have breathers and the axle seals are designed to seal gear oil out of the knuckles, so there is always some migration of grease into the oil. My indicator for a reseal job is gear oil in the knuckles.

On a new to me rig, I would inspect all bearing preloads, reset as needed. Change diff oil, check knuckles for oil, if none, fill knuckle grease to the proper level and put some miles on it to get a feel for it and decide what/how you want to use it. Chances are, with some trail miles, you will want bigger tires, so lower gears, this is a perfect time to reseal, it all has to come apart to regear.

 

[murf]

Hurrying while typing...its vice versa like you say, oil in the knuckles. Stuff mixing up

IMO I personally would service and repack/reseal the front axle if its never been done by 235K miles. But thats just me...

 

[Relix]

Classic Automotive Gold 305 S. Rockford Tempe, they are the only people I let touch any of my cars/trucks.. They machined and rebuilt the head on my 1977 fj40 last summer quickly and the 40 has never ran so good

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Hurrying while typing...its vice versa like you say, oil in the knuckles. Stuff mixing up

IMO I personally would service and repack/reseal the front axle if its never been done by 235K miles. But thats just me...

I agree...at 235K I would want to know what condition everything is.

 

[Tools R Us]

...
IMO I personally would service and repack/reseal the front axle if its never been done by 235K miles. But thats just me...

I agree...at 235K I would want to know what condition everything is.

I agree, somewhat. I would inspect and make sure no damage would be done by driving, if I were confident of this, would drive it a bit before taking it apart. On a new to me/old rig, there is a good possibility that other things maybe needed and they may not be evident.

For example, say the gear oil is thick, so reseal the axle, everything goes great. Once it is back together with new thinner oil, the pinion bearing starts howling. If this was known, it would have been a quick job with the axle apart, now everything needs to come apart, again.

I guess I have been bit too many times and often on customer rigs, making for uncomfortable deals. If it were mine, would check/set bearing preloads (wheel, knuckle), fill knuckles, change diffs, tcase, lubes, etc and drive to get a baseline on the rig before major surgery. This is relatively quick, inexpensive and may net good info, especially on a rig with 200K+ and little history. If it had birf soup, my answer would be different.