Handbrake failure... Help please

[FJ40Jim]

Thanks for the reply sadam! We don't have that particular model over here, but others similar, or maybe the same just with a different name. I do have a pair of those calipers buried somewhere out in the shop. Any pics or info on how you adapted them to your rear axle would be appreciated, maybe in a different thread so as not to hijack Tom's thread.

Hijack on! All Subie frt p-brake calipers are the same AFAIK for ~85-90. They are slightly larger than Cruiser rear brake calipers (48mm vs 54mm), so should be a good fit. They are cheap from Rockauto, a pair of loaded reman calipers for $60. FWIW Sadam's 70 has the same rear OEM brake setup as FJ60, which means a different adapter bracket than most FJ40.

I've got parts on the way so I'm already thinking about reassembly (even though I haven't got to the bottom of the failure yet)...

Question 1: Has anybody got any idea why Toyota has this thin shim here under the thick washer?
I can't see what purpose it serves and I'm thinking of leaving it out (because it is paper-thin and on the verge of disintegrating anyway)

Nope. It's always there from the factory and serves no dimensionally useful shimming purpose in that location. Initially I assumed it was a spare for someplace else in the t-case, but it's not. There is no shim in the case like it. I discard it now, as it is simply another failure point that can lose crush and allow the drum to rock on the shaft spline.

And while I'm thinking of this area, I've usually used silicon sealant on the splines to try and stop oil from flowing between the male and female splines (and I believe this is common practice for others here to do this too)...

But this time around.... I'm having second thoughts about the logic of doing it..
So the second question is ... Anybody see any problem with omitting the silicone sealant this time?

Again, I used to do the same thing, but now the silicon is applied between the d-shaft yoke and the transfer output flage/drum. This keeps the stinky 90wt from slinging outward off the spinning drum, staining the bottom of the customer's Cruiser.

 

[handcannon]

Hijack on! All Subie frt p-brake calipers are the same AFAIK for ~85-90. They are slightly larger than Cruiser rear brake calipers (48mm vs 54mm), so should be a good fit. They are cheap from Rockauto, a pair of loaded reman calipers for $60. FWIW Sadam's 70 has the same rear OEM brake setup as FJ60, which means a different adapter bracket than most FJ40.

Thanks for the info Jim! This is good for me as I have an empty 60 series rear housing here that I plan to use in place of the stock 40 housing.

Sadam, if you have pics and description of the adapter you used for these Subaru brakes then that would be perfect for this 60 series housing.

Don

 

[lostmarbles]

...Nope. It's always there from the factory and serves no dimensionally useful shimming purpose in that location. Initially I assumed it was a spare for someplace else in the t-case, but it's not. There is no shim in the case like it. I discard it now, as it is simply another failure point that can lose crush and allow the drum to rock on the shaft spline.

Again, I used to do the same thing, but now the silicon is applied between the d-shaft yoke and the transfer output flage/drum. This keeps the stinky 90wt from slinging outward off the spinning drum, staining the bottom of the customer's Cruiser.

Perfect Jim...

Thanks tremendously for chipping in...

My mind is now perfectly at ease with my plans.

 

[lostmarbles]

In some ways it's extremely helpful to know that you can't finish a job until parts arrive.

It gives one time to think much more about what one is doing .... and to take much more time to do what little one does.. (My prose is simply marvellous don't you think? )

So today I thought I'd lube the handbrake cable.... And then I reconsidered and decided instead to use Brakekleen (which is an essential product for anyone working on brakes IMO) to simply flush any cr@p out from between the cable and its sheathing:

I sprayed heaps in and jiggled the cable up and down (like a tea bag) and checked to confirm it was pouring out below all over the driveway (hopefully carrying any oil, grease and whatever else with it).
My reasoning is that the cable is plastic-coated and therefore it doesn't need oil or grease lubrication.

And then I noted that in my younger (& less anal) days I had installed the lower spring incorrectly:

And it looks like I installed the top circlip/C-clip thingy too roughly too because that washer beneath is very close to being able to lift:

These things suggest to me that previous rough work by "yours truly" may indeed be responsible for my handbrake failure...

Shame I wasn't able to write " PO" in that last sentence....

 

[lostmarbles]

And here are 5 other photos I took today .... simply because I took them:

Edit later: By the way ..... I removed the lever itself only because I wanted to check it for wear, clean it up, and give it a fresh lube...

 

[lostmarbles]

Did about an hour's worth of pottering around this morning.

I hate having the cruiser out-of-action and it is actually a very rare occurrence for me. (I'm still waiting on a new transfer output oil seal and a new handbrake lever-mechanism and associated parts.)

So I removed this backing plate:

To reveal the oil seal etc:

And I prised it out thus:

I figure I can easily put the new seal (when it arrives) in "in situ" and even though the old seal wasn't leaking at all, it makes no sense to me be in this far without automatically replacing it..

 

[lostmarbles]

By the way, the handbrake was buggered right at the start of my recent 1500km+ trip and it provided a few hairy moments. ... Like parking on a reasonably steep slope (by "paved-road standards" but very mild by "off-road standards") whereupon I immediately cut the engine and whacked it in 1st gear (and applied the handbrake of course, but with the knowledge that it was going to do very little). Then, before getting out I waited as the force of gravity turned my engine over one compression at a time at the rate of about one compression every 5 or 6 seconds. The slowness of my rearward travel satisfied me that I had enough time to safely find and place rocks behind a couple of wheels (which I duly did).

I must say it didn't help any to have the heavy trailer hooked on... (and my son just read this over my shoulder and started talking about "artistic licence"..... reminding me that he was still in the cruiser able to apply the footbrake if needed while I searched for the rocks .... Ooops... He's so right too.)

Needless to say .... I don't want to have to repeat this ever again anyway!!! My cruiser MUST always have everything working as well as it did when new!!!!!!

Anyways ....

I saw no need to remove that "speedo drive housing" because there was no detectable play in the transfer output shaft bearings.

Here's the evidence that I've been in there before.. In my hand you see a new stake nut and a couple of bearing shims that I must have removed previously:

They go behind that housing and you remove shims (or replace a thicker shim with a thinner shim) if you want to eliminate play and/or obtain FSM preload figures.. (Edit later: Mistake here... You actually need to INCREASE shim thickness to eliminate play and take up wear.)

And here's a trick I learnt many moons ago ....

Don't waste your time buying an OEM dust seal for your adjuster. They don't last long. Instead use wad punches to cut your own.

Here's one I made at least a decade ago and it is still as good as new:

I think this Insertion Rubber I used is neoprene that's been reinforced with fabric in its centre (so that even if the rubber perishes it cannot fall apart).



Edit: Oh... Forgot to mention that there's a trap with replacing the backing plate..

One bolt is shorter (13mm) compared to the other three (20mm).

And the short one goes "top-left":

 

[Solace in Solitude]

As always... all this great documentation is gonna come in handy for the rest of us, at some point... Thanks Tom!!

 

[Bambi Girl]

Hi all
Great documentation Tom
A real talent you have there.
Look forward to the next instalment.
Cheers



...via IH8MUD app

 

[JohnnyC]

I understand how difficult it is when the truck is down... I do not like to be without driving it for very long

I have a few of those needing to blame the PO for something moments.... But... At this point everything has been done and redone several times and the only person to blame is MeO

 

[lostmarbles]

Thanks for the kind words..

BTW... I wrap some rubber from an old inner-tube around the cable sheathing and then cover that with quality electrical tape (and zip-tie the last bit of tape to stop it unwinding when the glue deteriorates .... as it invariably does if you wait long enough).

The aim of this is to provide a wear-cushion where the sheathing continually rubs against that plated cover on the transfer case (and it rubs there mainly because of the movement of the engine-transmission while you're driving).

The backing plate is just dangling on the cable in this photo. So when it is bolted back onto the speedo-drive-housing that cable will adopt a much tighter curve so it'll touch the cover in a different manner (and hopefully I've applied the protection at the right place for it to still offer protection ... but if not ... I'll redo it anyway)

I cut off the old "wear-cushion" (which was already worn right down to the sheathing at the contact point) before fitting this new one.

And can anyone decipher anything from the "9G5611" stamped here? (I know how many ih8mud members collect and store obscure information on our obsession ... but perhaps I'm being over-optimistic with this request.)

 

[JohnnyC]

I believe that @FJ40Jim had this figured out as:

9G5611

9 = 1979
G = July
5611 serial number

Maybe he can confirm

 

[lostmarbles]

I believe that @FJ40Jim had this figured out as:
9G5611
9 = 1979
G = July
5611 serial number
Maybe he can confirm

Really Johnny? You're not pulling my leg (and haven't simply read elsewhere that my BJ40's build date is July 1979)

 

[JohnnyC]

I did know your rig was a 79' ... Didn't know the month however... I double checked and it was Jim that had the info about the date code

Your was the 5611th one made in July

Like I say ... As per Fj40Jim

 

[lostmarbles]

I did know your rig was a 79' ... Didn't know the month however... I double checked and it was Jim that had the info about the date code
Your was the 5611th one made in July
Like I say ... As per Fj40Jim

Thanks again Johnny

So, making up another code here, 7L0603 would represent a December 1977 transfer case which had been number 603 off the production line for that particular month..

Cool

 

[JohnnyC]

Yes

 

[Bear]

Tom, I appreciate your comment about the previous owner, and about that possibly being YOU who f@@@ed up.

Sometimes we refer to that person as the PO, or here in the States he might be known as a POS !!

 

[lostmarbles]

Didn't get home till 1.15am and up again at 8am.. Life's tough for a senior citizen alright...

Anyway the oil seal arrived this morning so I decided to fit it before going back to work this avo.

I keep a whole bunch of old bearing races and bits of tubing etc specifically for making it easy to install new bearings and oil seals:

Here's what I selected to help me with this seal:

And I decided to smear some sealant in the housing to ensure no oil can escape around the new seal once it is installed (not that it is likely to ... but hey....I'm a fussy bastard!):

 

[lostmarbles]

Here it is getting tapped into place:

That's done it:

And now for some grease on the seal lips:

 

[lostmarbles]

With the grease on the lips, I got to thinking about the jarring loads that might be applied to the backing plate when I apply the handbrake while rolling forwards or rolling backwards..

So I added a bit of Loctite to the surface the backing plate bolts to (making sure not to get any into the female bolt-threads):

The backing plate is still going to be easy enough to get off in the future (just a light tap from behind with a soft hammer should do it) but there are no dowel pins here and the holding bolts are not a tight fit in their holes so I thought this wouldn't do any harm.

And I think the FSM advice that you can apply up to 45Nm of torque to these bolts is pushing it... I chose just 35Nm (and even less for the short one).