Knuckle Shims

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Plus I’ve gotta get my truck out of the driveway. My rear roof is in a bad way and my roofer needs to get to it. Warm weather is coming and mold will start growing wicked fast. I’d have him drive over the lawn on other side but the power lines attach over there and tossing shingles down so close to them could pose some risk.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Ok stealing some time to watch the video @OTRAMM added to YouTube for the SST a few months back. I need to get some dye unless someone thinks something like oil pastels would be workable. It goes on a bit thick but would def allow the scriber to scrape a line in it. As a single mom, the less running to one store or another w/ the kid the better. Raining nasty today but tmrw I might be able to get at it during nap time.
I also have a big dial caliper I borrowed from a local friend. Not as accurate tho as digital tho huh?

 

[Prairie Swamp]

That works too. If the seal fails on the side already done you probably know why and you're only out the seal. And it will likely last years. Let's just hope your still on good terms with all your buddies that own the tool

 

[Prairie Swamp]

Sharpie marker should work well enough.

 

[mwebfj60]

Lipstick would work good too

 

[mwebfj60]

As long as the caliper measures to thousandths you should be good.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Lipstick would work good too

That would require owning some.

 

[Jaric00n]

mud?

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I found in a thread that @Juggernaught added and then another from that one.... black sharpie, rattle can primer or the grease pencil.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

This thread is loaded with good info too.

Home Built Knuckle Centering Tool

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Gear paint works well too. Available at NAPA or online.

If you need a large digital caliper, Harbor Freight sells a workable one for pretty cheap.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Gear paint works well too. Available at NAPA or online.

If you need a large digital caliper, Harbor Freight sells a workable one for pretty cheap.

The caliper I have is a large dial one. I borrowed it for the measuring the ID of the drums.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Tackled this today. Only got the measurements since my son wouldn’t nap and was tooling around me.
Thanks to borrowed tools it would appear this was a good idea to do. Previously my top had zero shims and bottom had three thick. Seems my post measurements were a bit different and a tad more true to what’s typically expected.

Edited the picture w/ the before and after shims. That was crazy before. Also I forgot to mention, once I pulled the free wheel off and had a visual of the lock nuts and star washer... I actually had none. Driver side was soupy sloppy all the way out. The seal looked okay while it was in but when I pulled it the spring was out of half of it, maybe me from pulling it but I wasn’t rough by any means and did use an actual seal puller. So just thought I’d add all that for anyone in the future.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Wow. Proud of you and the mud collective here. That is nice work, and implies a deep understanding of how it really works. Strong work. You are likely the only woman other than Ige @nuclearlemon to set up a knuckle properly. Themselves. Ever. In history. Very, very, cool.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

If you want to call it an understanding I won’t argue it but I had some heavy hand holding from @mwebfj60 throughout it.

 

[Prairie Swamp]

Nice! Don't know about you but I can sleep better knowing your $h1t is set up properly. A job done well is a job well done.

 

[mwebfj60]

That’s all you. Good work F.

 

[sodafeld1]

The bottom shims are used to adjust the vertical alignment of the knuckle housing (ends up a bit below center as per FSM). The top shims set preload. Technically both set preload as total shim...less shim thickness, higher preload...more shims, less preload.

I think a decent digital caliper is a necessity. A magnifying glass too.

When you measure distance ‘A’, don’t do it as per FSM picture from cutout to cutout. You need to measure from bottom of flange to bottom of flange.

View attachment 1685408

It took me a couple hours and doing the complete set of measurements about 10 times to really get it figured out. It all makes sense after a while. You’ll get it figured out.

Don't mean to doubt you, but why? Otram fella measures as fsm, he has done a few of them I imagine.

 

[sodafeld1]

'Yota,

Use the tool.

Use a good tool. There are a lot of home made and copy cat tools out there that are not accurate or need to be used with deviations from the FSM to compensate for bad machining.

Take the time know the 'why' for each measurement. Resist advice that such details don't matter to Land Cruisers. The knuckles precisely coordinate the center of the rotating axle with both the oil seal and the spindle bushing. The axis of the steering trunion needs to pierce through the exact center of the Birfield joint (at all angles of deflection in all 3 axis'). If its off even a little, it will wobble and eat away at the oil seal, diff and axle splines, and the guts of the Birfield. If its off a lot, it will bind and break at full articulation. All of these parts are expensive. This is worth getting right.

The housings did vary from the factory. But not much. As mentioned, Mud consensus seems to be that the normal OEM configuration is one thick on the bottom and one thick and thin on top. There are different thicknesses of 'thin' shims; .10, .20, and .30 mm. The thick shims are 1 mm.

Because your RH side follows this pattern, it is probably good and you shouldn't feel too obligated to tear it apart.

Your LH side is way off of normal and you should definitely investigate why. The axle housings tend to bend at the neck of the ball when abused by rough use or jumping. It's possible the PO tried to use shims to compensate for a bent housing. Given the dismal state of previous maintenance on your Cruiser, you should assume the worst until proven otherwise.


4Cruisers - If the cone and flat washers were mixed or a cone washer was missing on your 62 - its extremely unlikely to have come that way from the factory.

With a copy cat tool, which is quite nice really, I get 1.7mm for the lower and .3mm for the upper. Subtracting 3mm from the largest amount of play in the tool measurement gives you the lower shim measurement. So the larger shim value would be the lower shim, hence folks say 1 thick and 1 thin. The lower shim total shall usually be thicker than the upper.