Builds Good Times - 1992 HZJ73

[LDRF]

Help - Transfer Case - Rear Oil Seal Question

Is there any (easy/magic) way to know whether I have a 65mm (90311-48023) or a 62 mm (90311-48010) seal?
My manufacture date is March 1992 and it's an automatic.
I don't want to have drive out and take the rear drive shaft off if I don't have to. And, yes, I could order both, but I don't want to.

 

[LDRF]

It’s the hard way! I removed the rear propeller shaft.

Measured 62mm

Time to place a parts order.

Part number: 90311-48010
Seal, Oil (For Output Shaft Retainer)
[01.1990 - 05.1993] FJ75,HZJ7#,LJ7#,PZJ7# 外径＝６２

 

[Sundowner]

Shaft looks pretty good; give it bath while it's out.

 

[LDRF]

I placed two orders for front brake lines, seals and misc parts the other day. Hopefully they will be here over the holidays.

In the mean time, I’ve moved forward and am replacing the tie rod and relay rod ends, and a new steering damper.

The cotter pins on the castellated nuts were a bear. All rusted in. I had to use a punch to drive them out. I borrowed a pickle fork from a buddy, but it was no match (I was no match … I got tired from pounding my 5lb sledge) for the rusted in ball joints.

That’s it until I get a better tool.

On the way home yesterday evening I picked up a ball joint separator from Princess Auto (the Canadian version of Harbor Freight). There was a nice 1992 RHD 80 series in the lot with a military style trailer. I should have taken a picture. I didn’t have time to wait for him to come out so I could chat him up but I said “Hi” to his wife who was waiting inside. Hopefully I’ll bump into him again.

I got back at it today and got everything apart. The ball joints went ok. I was a little scared as I’ve never done it and they def come apart with a BANG! The hardest part was the clamp bolts. They were rusted up and brutally tough, requiring my 24” flex bar!

I moved the clamps out of the way and cleaned up the threads and slot with a wire brush. I’ve given the threads a thorough soaking in loose-nut in preparation for removal of the ball ends. I’ll tackle removing them next weekend.

 

[Sundowner]

Ooof, lots of work there; looks like that was a long day.

On those tapered shanks, I like to do it a different way. Take out the large crowbar - like, the one you rarely use that's called "Brutus" or "Mongo" or "Big Pun" - and put some separating pressure between the two links...then smack the female side of the linkage. Usually, it only takes a few good thwacks before the joint gives, because you're applying pressure in exactly the way that the taper cannot resist your efforts...and if you're attempting to not-damage things, you stand a better chance of succeeding because the only areas being deformed are unimportant. It's also a good way to use heat effectively.

Just a thought; might save your arm a bit when it comes time to do things again.

 

[LDRF]

Ooof, lots of work there; looks like that was a long day.

On those tapered shanks, I like to do it a different way. Take out the large crowbar - like, the one you rarely use that's called "Brutus" or "Mongo" or "Big Pun" - and put some separating pressure between the two links...then smack the female side of the linkage. Usually, it only takes a few good thwacks before the joint gives, because you're applying pressure in exactly the way that the taper cannot resist your efforts...and if you're attempting to not-damage things, you stand a better chance of succeeding because the only areas being deformed are unimportant. It's also a good way to use heat effectively.

Just a thought; might save your arm a bit when it comes time to do things again.

The tool worked pretty good. It’s only downside is the boots on the ball joints don’t survive when I pound in the fork part. But, since I’m replacing, I’m not caring.

I loaded it up pretty good with the screw, up to the point where I said “This is waaaay tight!”. At that point I whacked the female end once or twice and it broke apart. I only needed to do that on 2 of the five. The other three came apart with a “reasonable” amount of force.

All in all, the ball joints were in pretty good shape. Most boots were intact and had grease in them. The damper was in decent shape, with only a little hesitation in the middle of the stroke.

 

[Sundowner]

The tool worked pretty good. It’s only downside is the boots on the ball joints don’t survive when I pound in the fork part. But, since I’m replacing, I’m not caring.

I tend to tear up more than the boots whenever I've used a fork, but I'm also a lummox so that kind of tracks.

I loaded it up pretty good with the screw, up to the point where I said “This is waaaay tight!”. At that point I whacked the female end once or twice and it broke apart. I only needed to do that on 2 of the five. The other three came apart with a “reasonable” amount of force.

Yep, same basic idea; the crowbar method just doesn't require a specialty tool...but if you have the tool, now, no reason to not use it.

All in all, the ball joints were in pretty good shape. Most boots were intact and had grease in them. The damper was in decent shape, with only a little hesitation in the middle of the stroke.

I would probably replace a stabilizer that wasn't 100% in its travel, but that's just me: I'm pedantic about steering parts. I also have a love/hate relationship with steering stabilizers, so I look for excuses to angrily throw them in the trash bin.

 

[Felde]

Hehe.
Yes, that's a fun part and the BANG is awesome. The only BANG that loud on the LC I ever heard, that didn't mean something broke.
If anybody reads this and experiences the same: Do not overthigten the bolt on the tool, but just apply load up to “This is waaaay tight!”, and just allow it some time.. Have a coffee in between. The BANG will notify you when done.

Just another tip:
The reason why the tierod ends tend to rust in place are those slits, which allow moist to get in. Once done with all adjustments, you may want to coverr those with a bit of a bandage covered in underbody protection wax. Water tight, but not sticky.
Good Luck for the further operation.

 

[LDRF]

Yes, that's a fun part and the BANG is awesome. The only BANG that loud on the LC I ever heard, that didn't mean something broke.

Once I got one BANG out of the way it was fun. A little TV intimidating at first though. It reminds me of Elf and Buddy testing out the Jack in the box - LOL

I would probably replace a stabilizer that wasn't 100% in its travel, but that's just me: I'm pedantic about steering parts.

I have a brand new one in the box and ready to go: 4WD Steering Dampers - Terrain Tamer - https://www.terraintamer.com/4wd-products/steering/steering-dampers

 

[Sundowner]

Interesting; I'm not used to a TRE on the stabilizer/damper. I'll have to give that some thought.

 

[LDRF]

Interesting; I'm not used to a TRE on the stabilizer/damper. I'll have to give that some thought.

On reason I bought the TT was because of the TREs. I’m not sure where the one I took off came from, OEM or otherwise, but it’s ends are TREs as well.

 

[Sundowner]

If that's an OEM setup, then there's no reason to go with another mounting method. I was just wondering if there would be any long-term impact to the shim/valve stack and fluid due to no longer having a rubber isolator to damp the tiny little vibes...and I don't know enough about those systems to make an informed judgement.

 

[LDRF]

I got back at it yesterday. The first order of business was to remove the rod ends. After taking photos showing the number of threads exposed and measuring the end to end lengths, it was time to remove them. I was a little apprehensive as I’ve read some posts from people with rust frozen rod ends needing huge pipe wrenches with a 5’ cheater pipe to break them free. As we get plenty of salt down and the PO drove it a lot in the winter, I was expecting the worse. A lot of worry for nothing. After attaching the tie rod to the spindle to hold it, it was a fairly easy pull on my 18” pipe wrench for success! The other three were just as easy.

The ends were all in decent shape, probably not needing replacement. I suspect that the ends were all done, as well as replacement of both the relay and tie rods, within the last 15/20 years as both rods has Toyota parts label remnants on them and the rod ends came out easily.

I cleaned everything up and reassembled the ends with LOTS of copper anti-seize.

Before:

After:

Parts:
Terrain Tamer ROD END KIT TIE ROD & RELAY ROD R/H/D - 45040-69100XTT
Terrain Tamer Steering Damper - T14024

I’ll reinstall them after I do the hub and front brake rebuild as I want to have extra room to get the front axle area cleaned up nicely before everything goes back together.

 

[LDRF]

As I was in the “let’s keep on taking things apart” mode, I decided to tackle the stabilizer bar end cushions and hardware. A rare, on the truck, before shot:

Slightly rusted up and dry rotted

Both sides came apart with the bolt snapping; not a big surprise.

The left side bolt was a little bent and the cushions are rotten to the core!

I went to my parts box to reassemble things and discovered that I missed ordering the bushing for the bolt (part number 90440-14024). FAK!!

Time to either place a new parts order or hit up a metal supply store to source some steel tube to make my own. Good thing winters here in Manitoba are long! I’ll need to finish the after post once the part is sorted.

P.S. Does anyone know where the part number for a Rancho RS9000X shock might be. I’ve got an undetermined lift: 4x4Engineering springs and longer shackles, so I’m unsure of the lift height or shock length. I am debating replacing with same. The bushings look ok and there is no leaking. Plus when I was wheeling it, it rode pretty good.

 

[Sundowner]

Man, those links are unhappy; glad you're replacing them.

I don't know the part number location off the top of my head, but you can always pop a shock loose and measure. That'll give you a pretty solid reference for what'll fit, across all brands. Normally I'd suggest cycling and doing all of that stuff, but 1) that's a pain with leaf springs unless you have a set-up spring to play with, and B) you said that what you have works, so why futz around with it?

 

[Broski]

Nows the time to paint the tie rod ends before they go back on

 

[LDRF]

Nows the time to paint the tie rod ends before they go back on

I’m not sure that’s in the cards for two reasons. The first is that I live in an apartment and I can’t do any work there. The second, is my workspace is in a large unheated garage. I don’t have the facilities there to properly clean and prep the parts. It’s winter up here and although it’s been unseasonably warm through November and December, temps are often in the -15 to -25 Celsius range. Too cold for painting. I use a 80,000 btu diesel heater that warms it enough to work, albeit in long johns, multiple others layers and a torque!

I started front hub disassembly. The PO has installed AVM manual locking hubs. The three T20 Torx screws proved to be problematic. The top one came out ok. The one on the right, behind the spline, was pre-mangled so it stripped instantly. When I did one on the left, pictured, the Torx bit instantly snapped off in the screw. FAK!!!

I have a Dremel and will try to cut slots and take them out with a slotted screwdriver.

Any tips or tricks?

I have an impact screwdriver that I can use. You wack it with a hammer and it turns the screw. Is there any parts damage potential there!​

​

I can drill the head off the screw. Will the electric hub ring thingy come out? Will there be enough screw available to attach some vice grips and twist it out.​

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

 

[jblueridge]

Do you plan on keeping those manual hub locks?
If you do, try drilling and using a screw extractor.
Some extractors are sold with the correct size left hand spiral drill bit as a set.

 

[LDRF]

Do you plan on keeping those manual hub locks?

So far, yes I plan to keep them.

They have a spacer, so I think I can bolt on Aisin hubs, but not sure. I’ll need to poll the audience.

Continuing on with the theme, two of the three Torx screws came pre-FAK’ed.

Stay tuned!

 

[LDRF]

I got out the Dremel with the cut off wheel and went to work on the first FAK’ed screw.

A regular slot screwdriver was a no go! So, impact driver to the rescue.

A good whack with my mini sledge hammer and …

Success!!!

I used the same method on the three other FAK’ed screws and, for good measure, the remaining good one. All done.

I’m not sure the power locking hub slip ring will work with the electric mechanism after this