Knuckle rebuild. (1 Viewer)

[Paul]

I need to rebuild my Knuckles on my 40 series.
I have never done this before.
I bought back my 1978 40 from a guy I sold it to this past spring.
It returned with the front 2 steering arm knuckle studs broken off in the right knuckle.
I attempted to remove the broken studs after removing the Hi Steer and was unsuccessful, so need to remove the knuckle to remove the broken studs.
I thought since the knuckles are leaking, might as well rebuild them.
I have a front end manual, rebuild kit and have watched a few videos.
Looking for suggestion on references and any pitfalls I might avoid.
To start with I have removed the Tie Rod ends, Steering arm and brake caliper.
Moving onto the Locking Hub, ect. I'm a little spooked by it, but I'm mechanical for a ER doc.
Any help would be beneficial.
I do have all the tools for the job.
I want to do this job myself, to learn and be ready for future repairs or breaks.
Thanks for the help.
Paul

 

[rossl]

I'm going through very much the same thing with my '78 as well. Mine is completely torn down and I'm painting/refurbishing at the moment. I've also not done the rebuild before now, but it is fairly simple so far.

OTRAMM and Low Range Off Road both have good video series:




I got a couple of cheap plastic bins to put under each axle to catch grease/gear oil and drop dirty parts into, as well as a staging table to clean them up after. This helped me organize everything.

The only gotcha so far is the factory alignment tool/shims. Seems like if you keep the same shim pack organized everything *should* be ok, but I might try to see if I can borrow one when I go to put things back together.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

If you haven't bought your knuckle kit yet, I'd suggest Marlin for his inner axle seal alone. It's supposed to be the best seal. His knuckle kit can be bought with or w/o the wheel bearings. I bought the full kit to have the bearings on hand if needed. Remember to take pics if you think it would be helpful putting things back together. Also take the shim packs out as one piece and put into little ziplock bag and mark location taken from, e.g., upper drivers side, lower drivers side, etc. as they represent the proper measurement for tightness of clamp load on knuckle bearing (upper shim pack) and the centering of the birf (lower shim pack). If I have that backwards, someone can tell me.

 

[Paul]

Thanks guys for the super helpful information. The 40 has Warn hubs. Any concerns with these hubs. Should replace with Asian hubs. The Warn hubs seem to work fine w/o issues.
I will start break down tonight.
Kinda Pumped to get started.

 

[rossl]

@Paul - I had the same question on my build thread. The Warn hubs are the only hubs which will fit prior to 1979 unless you get a shorter birfield. My understanding is the Aisin hubs are a short body and really only fit on the shorter length birfield. All aftermarket birfields are apparently the shorter style (I think I've gleaned this from the hub FAQ if you want to read more).

The short answer I had was keep the Warn hubs - this seems to be the consensus on the forum.

I'm upgrading my axle shaft as long as I have everything apart since I think I'm going to run 35" tires, so I'm considering upgrading the hubs to a heavy duty Aisin.

Also, like @Blue77FJ40 said, the Marlin inner seals are the better. That's what is going back into mine once I start re-assembly.

 

[MadMace]

@Coolerman did an awesome write up on Rebuilding knuckles.
Hope that helps, sure did help me.

Agree that the Marlin inner seals are the way to go. @cruiseroutfit has everything you need.

 

[Paul]

Thanks. I need to run out to buy a 3/8 impact wrench and a seal remover. and then should be good to go.

 

[rossl]

Thanks. I need to run out to buy a 3/8 impact wrench and a seal remover. and then should be good to go.

Seal remover is needed. I don't think I needed to use an impact to pull mine apart, I just used hand tools to make sure I was gentle with everything.

 

[Bluegrass40]

I used the marlin seals on my 78. Was happy with them. I borrowed a sst and found that the shims in mine were way out of order so if I would have replaced them as I found them then I would have likely had a leaking issue. Glad I checked it with the sst.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Thanks. I need to run out to buy a 3/8 impact wrench and a seal remover. and then should be good to go.

You don't really NEED an impact to do a knuckle job on your rig but it would be a solid reason to buy one.

@cruiseroutfit for the rebuild kit, call em up and they will know exactly what you're working on.

Rags, degreaser, more rags.

Big caliper do do some measuring with if you're going to use the SST to dial everything in.

And a good torque wrench to put it all back together correctly.


When are you looking to knock it out?

 

[Brian/99uzj100]

I changed from long birfields to short Longfields, and changed from Warn to New OEM Aisin hubs.

Before:

After:

Short Longfield and long (stock) birfield:

I used Marlin seals (left) as well:

This was the first time I'd ever had the axles apart, so it was a little intimidating (I'm a mechanic on a good day). Take your time and take lots of pictures during disassembly. Newspaper works really well to clean the old grease off of parts, so you don't go through all your shop rags.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

I didn’t see any mention of it but pay attention to the shims under your steering arms and trunnion bearing caps. They center your axle in the knuckle and help prevent early axle seal failure.

This, of course, assumes they were centered right in the first place. To confirm (or redo) the centering, you need a Toyota SST knuckle centering tool. This crazy piece of wizardry is expensive, hard to find, and confusing but it gets the job done! Might be able to borrow one from someone on the forum.

Otherwise, a knuckle job really is just messy, it’s not difficult. The hardest part will be drilling out those broken studs.

 

[DSRTRDR]

Thanks guys for the super helpful information. The 40 has Warn hubs. Any concerns with these hubs. Should replace with Asian hubs. The Warn hubs seem to work fine w/o issues.
I will start break down tonight.
Kinda Pumped to get started.

I wheeled in Moab on 10 separate outings with Warn hubs, nothing inherently wrong with them - nothing ever failed on me - and that was on coarse spline birfs

that said, when I went to 60 series knuckles and outer shafts, I converted to Aisin hubs - no issues since then, either

 

[ArkyFJ40]

I did this last Spring. It was intimidating, but once I got in there it wasn't so bad. Be patient and take your'e time.
It will be VERY messy with all the grease. Put down a tarp or something to cover the floor. I wore old clothes that went in the trash afterward, rather than the washing machine.
Will need to buy/borrow a 54mm socket to remove/install the spindle nut. The PO on mine used a chisel and hammer to do this.
I replaced the wheel and knuckle bearings while I was in there. Saw no reason not to. Need a brass punch to bang out the races. I bought the kit from Marlin that included Koyo bearings, gaskets, seals, etc. Their wheel bearings were Koyo, but the knuckle bearings were Nachi with a different taper (althought they did fit). Was difficult for me to set knuckle preload. Cruiser Outfitters had the Koyo knuckle bearings with the proper taper. Cant remember the part # at the moment.

This forum is you're friend. Do searches and ask what you can't find in a search and you will be good. I've only been here a few months and made a few posts, but the knowledge here is amazing.

 

[Paul]

Torn down last night. Not too difficult and had fun doing it. The PO used gasket sealant instead of a gasket between the spindle and knuckle, so have to pry that apart. I have to remove the broken knuckle studs, which will be the biggest pain.
Thinking about upgrading the axles. Running SOA with 36's and ARB.
Also considering replacing the Warn hubs for Aisin.
Looking for recommendation here as well.
So Far so good. Thanks for all the support, comments, recommendations and videos. Really appreciate it.

 

[Paul]

Ok. Need recommendations on good/best GREASE to use for repacking the bearings and birfields?

 

[MadMace]

Ok. Need recommendations on good/best GREASE to use for repacking the bearings and birfields?

You’ve got a lot of options and probably get a lot of different opinions. I like Lucas Red “N” Tacky.

 

[Paul]

The broken STUD of the knuckle!!

Next question:
1. Best technique to remove a gasket sealant used between the knuckle and the spindle? The PO glued together the knuckle and spindle with some type of Super Duty gasket sealant.

2. Need to I.D. my Birfield axle. The stamping reads- Birfield NTN 100AC T G 4. Is this a Mini or Land cruiser Birfield?

Thanks again.

 

[rossl]

Ok. Need recommendations on good/best GREASE to use for repacking the bearings and birfields?

FYI, here is a link to a birfield grease list discussion:

Chewbacca's Birfield Grease Guide

Chewbacca's Birfield Grease List UPDATE 2023: Some new greases added. I will check to see if anything in the list is unavailable. Okay... so there are some scattered posts on which greases are appropriate for the Birfield joints on the 80 series Cruisers, so here is a list of some greases I...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[GA Architect]