Help! Are my birfs supposed to look like this? (1 Viewer)

[Gimme a 60]

I noticed today that there was a LOT of grease around my birfeilds…… I’m not sure if this much is supposed to come out. My family’s old FZJ 80 series would leak fluid from the birfs, hence why we sold it. Just want to know if this grease was normal or not as far as I can see there is no liquid dripping down.

 

[Seth S]

Looks like you could use a knuckle rebuild. And no reason to sell it. The rebuild kits are reasonable price or if paying a shop it’s not going to be your life savings. Unless your life savings is really small I guess.

 

[micruz60]

BirfSoup, it's time for a FA rebuild; what Seth said ^^

 

[Gimme a 60]

Looks like you could use a knuckle rebuild. And no reason to sell it. The rebuild kits are reasonable price or if paying a shop it’s not going to be your life savings. Unless your life savings is really small I guess.

How long can it run like that? When is it absolutely necessary for a rebuild?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Just keep topping up the grease and you can probably run quite a while like that - maybe. The risk is that you can get enough gear oil into the bearings that they fail due to inadequate (or more correctly - incorrect) lubrication. If that happens then you could damage the axle. Then you're talking much larger dollars to repair.

So you sold an 80 just because the birfs were leaking? And now you have a 60 with the same problem? I haven't added it up but you're probably talking less than $200 if you do it yourself to replace the seals and bearings. You could skip the bearings and just do the seals but that would be less than smart - like way less. If you are trying to save money then your choice of vehicles is not the best.

I would tear that down tomorrow. Good luck.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Just keep topping up the grease and you can probably run quite a while like that - maybe. The risk is that you can get enough gear oil into the bearings that they fail due to inadequate (or more correctly - incorrect) lubrication. If that happens then you could damage the axle. Then you're talking much larger dollars to repair.

So you sold an 80 just because the birfs were leaking? And now you have a 60 with the same problem? I haven't added it up but you're probably talking less than $200 if you do it yourself to replace the seals and bearings. You could skip the bearings and just do the seals but that would be less than smart - like way less. If you are trying to save money then your choice of vehicles is not the best.

I would tear that down tomorrow. Good luck.

No this FZJ 80 was a grocery getter when I was a very little child. It wasn’t my choice obviously to sell it (it was triple locked) but I remind my dad that he’s silly for selling it over birfs but it was a different time back then. He tells me that my birfs are fine but I don’t think it is just given how much grease there is. The truck only has 300,000 kilometres on it and I’m surprised it needs a rebuild already. I will have to look into doing the job by myself….. I hope it’s not too expensive to rebuild because I’m not ready to fork over 1000 dollars to a shop.

Thanks.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Do it yourself. It’s not difficult, but it is messy. It’s a rite of passage. It’s not so bad and there are so many people who will cheer you along.

 

[kevin in okinawa]

do some reading on repair threads, assemble the tools and parts you don't have, arrange to have two days to complete the project, and do it. That needs to be addressed soon, and if you want to drive a 60 you need to be able to repair this yourself or have deep pockets.

 

[batthewmrown]

This'll help.

 

[g-man]

That's not birf soup. Birf soup is grease from the knuckle mixed with gear oil from the axle housing. The gear oil gets past the outer axle seal and seeps into the knuckle. When this happens you'll see dripping gear oil. Those 4 nuts on the bottom trunion cap would be a lot wetter and dripping down onto the wheel and tire.

That grease may be pushing past a bad knuckle oil seal. Maybe it was installed wrong? Either way, you'll need to remove the knuckle to replace the seal set. You'll need to redo the entire knuckle if you want to go this far.

this part looks easy and you could take the backing plates off w/out removing the knuckle but the felt, rubber and steel ring... need to go on AFTER the knuckle is removed and before it goes back on...

and FYI...here is where the axle seal goes The one that can leak oil into the knuckle...

 

[Gretsch]

How long can it run like that? When is it absolutely necessary for a rebuild?

He tells me that my birfs are fine but I don’t think it is just given how much grease there is. The truck only has 300,000 kilometres on it and I’m surprised it needs a rebuild already. I will have to look into doing the job by myself….. I hope it’s not too expensive to rebuild because I’m not ready to fork over 1000 dollars to a shop.

I wouldn't say they are 'fine'. No one is 'ready' to part with money but if owning one of these beasts, you should always expect to do so at a moments notice if doing right by them. You can keep organizing in your head if it really needs to be done or not, but in an effort to alleviate your struggle, I'll offer this: It needs to be done. They shouldn't do this. Talk to Cruiser Outfitters @cruiseroutfit for a rebuild kit and special tools and get after it. Video above is good for a starter primer on how its done. GL and HTH.

 

[kevin in okinawa]

This'll help.

@OTRAMM FTW!

 

[g-man]

Wipe that grease off. Take off the square nut/plug that is near the top of the knuckle and probe the knuckle to see if there is much grease in there. It should be about 3/4 full ...NOT packed full and not low. Take a grease gun and put some moly grease in it if you need some. Drive it a while and check again to see how bad the leak is. You can drive like this for a while and continue to check the grease levels in the knuckles until spring or warmer weather or until you can afford a knuckle rebuild kit.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I think @g-man may have identified the issue. If you look closely at your photo it appears that the knuckle seals might be installed in the wrong order. You should have metal to metal contact on the knuckle and it looks to me like you have felt. That should be easy to identify in person.

 

[archtimb]

That's not birf soup. Birf soup is grease from the knuckle mixed with gear oil from the axle housing. The gear oil gets past the outer axle seal and seeps into the knuckle. When this happens you'll see dripping gear oil. Those 4 nuts on the bottom trunion cap would be a lot wetter and dripping down onto the wheel and tire.

That grease may be pushing past a bad knuckle oil seal. Maybe it was installed wrong? Either way, you'll need to remove the knuckle to replace the seal kit. You'll need to redo the entire knuckle if you want to go this far.

View attachment 2911002

this part looks easy and you could take the backing plates off w/out removing the knuckle but the felt, rubber and steel ring... need to go on AFTER the knuckle is removed and before it goes back on...

View attachment 2911004


and FYI...here is where the axle seal goes The one that can leak oil into the knuckle...

View attachment 2911005

Listen to G-man. Birf soup is different. My thoughts go to thinking that someone stuffed the hub full with grease. With no room for heat expansion it squeezed out like toothpaste. I think this might happen even if the seals were correctly but it is hard to tell with that mess. In any case, open it open and check things out.

 

[OSS]

That’s classic overfilling/over pressurizing the knuckle cavity with too much grease.

Just wipe it off.

 

[g-man]

I think @g-man may have identified the issue. If you look closely at your photo it appears that the knuckle seals might be installed in the wrong order. You should have metal to metal contact on the knuckle and it looks to me like you have felt. That should be easy to identify in person.

Hmmm. Not so easy to see the rubber or inner metal ring. I'd suspect as OSS says that the knuckle was packed full ...the grease had nowhere to go so got pushed out. That's why I say to pull the plug near the top and see how much grease is in there. If you want to know if the seals are on correctly, you can pull one of the backing plates off and see if there is a rubber gasket and metal ring in front of the felt. First wipe off excess grease. It would be ok to spray the area with some parts cleaner or brake kleen first so you're not getting dirt filled grease in the threads.

 

[Gimme a 60]

OK…. Well some of you are saying I overfilled it which is true because I did. The first thing that I did when I got the cruiser was grease the birfs. It was my shop teachers said to do and he said you should have it gush out the top….. now I know. Would my my seals be damaged?

 

[OSS]

Seals didn’t get damaged. They’re in the same condition they were before the greasaphernalia

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

OK…. Well some of you are saying I overfilled it which is true because I did. The first thing that I did when I got the cruiser was grease the birfs. It was my shop teachers said to do and he said you should have it gush out the top….. now I know. Would my my seals be damaged?

One thing that comes to mind for me is mixing up different greases. Its probably not a huge deal, but if it was me I'd be shooting to only put one type of grease in the knuckle (your grease might match the grease in the knuckle) so I didn't have any compatibility issues that caused my grease to do unexpected things and not lube my birds completely. But at the end of the day you if you still dont know the maintenance history on your axles you may want to plan on going through them.