LJ78 Brake/SwivelHub/E-Hub Rebuild

[GTSSportCoupe]

Gave my LJ78 a present this holiday season. A job I'd been putting off for a while, but had to be done. My family and I had been planning a 1200km trip, and I was adamant this work be done before leaving.

I rebuilt all of the brake calipers (piston seals, boots etc.), sand blasted and painted them at the same time, installed new PBR Metal pads and springs/pins, new premium rotors, and bled the entire system clean. The rear calipers needed new pistons, which I could not get in time, so a machinist friend of mine made me a new set out of stainless.

I also rebuilt the swivel hubs. I bought a full high pinion 70 series rebuild kit (all bearings, oil seals, gaskets, grease etc) from RADD cruisers. Only thing it was missing was the e-hub specific outer oil seal which I bought from Rocky Mountain Imports.

This was all a pretty big job. The old wiper felts and seals were totally worn. The inside axle oil seals were worn too so that diff oil was mixing with the knuckle grease. The last person to do the rebuild had not set the preload right for the wheel bearings, so they had spun on the spindle and done damage. 3 out of the 4 e-hub brushes were totally missing. Wheel bearing grease had mixed into the e-hubs. Some of the wheel studs had been cross threaded at one point. Grit in the oil seals had worn into the spindle and hub. The kingpin bearings were severly rusted and worn, etc. etc.

I really took my time and cleaned everything very well, sandblasted and painted certain parts, and had my machinist friend correct damage to the spindle and hub. We also milled new OEM size e-hub brushes from brush stock (size is noted in the Toyota manual). Everything was very carefully re-assembled. I used a very special grease (Dow Corning 44 MolyKote LIght in the e-hub assembly). I soaked the swivel hub felts in oil before re-assembling (recommended by someone on here). I also put a tiny bit of silicone above the upper kingpin bearing to try to keep water out of that area in the future (not enough to mess with the shimming etc of the kingpin bearings). I also put some silicone around where the e-hub wire goes into the spindle/knuckle.

Unfortunetely I did not take any pictures while doing the work, but I do have some pictures after the job was done.

You'll noticed in the pictures the front caliper pins are a little long. They are for a slightly bigger caliper (all I could get at the time); I'll put the proper pins in when I get a chance.

After the job the steering is so much lighter and better with the new kingpin bearings. Everything feels good and tight. The brakes work incredibly well now. I can lock up my heavy e-rated 32" tires easily. Also, I think my e-hubs were not dis-engaging before, and were causing me to get bad fuel economy, as my economy has really improved now. This could also have to do with the rear brakes being siezed/sticky. The 1200km trip went very well, and I achieved 12l/100km with a mix of city driving, mountain passes, 120km/h freeway driving, and some idling (all with winter diesel). I'm sure 10l/100km could be achieved under more ideal conditions.

Next jobs are air/water intercooler and custom front bumper and winch.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Testing out the 4wd at the destination of our holiday trip (BC Canada interior).

 

[ForealBoreal]

Minty fresh, I like it!
I really need a sand blaster.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Minty fresh, I like it!
I really need a sand blaster.

Thanks!

Sand blasters are definitely nice when doing this sort of work. Maybe there is a autobody or machine shop in your area that you can give some beer to in exchange for some time with their sand blaster? Would save you the expense and space of setting up your own. I don't own one myself, but use one we have at work in our machine shop.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Beer ..... One of the best negotiating tools every invented.
That is one nice looking LJ78.

 

[yotahed]

Makes me want to do the same. Just cause its so purdy! Nice job sir

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thanks guys!

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Just a few notes:

- A very nice looking job there!

- the W-shaped spring that goes over the brake pin should be on the leading edge of the brake pad, not the trailing edge. You can also run them on both ends, but if using one, it should for sure be on the leading edge.

- silicone sealer acts as a lubricant, and things like hub gaskets, king pins etc. should be assembled clean and dry and not have things like silicone sealer or grease used at all. I will even go so far as to say that the metal surfaces should not be painted where the parts meet at these points - which is in sticking with my "clean and dry" theme.

- Don't put Anti-Seize on the rotor or hub face where the wheel contacts this area. Bolts, wheel studs etc. only hold things in place due to friction between surfaces and these mating surfaces should not be lubricated with anything as it reduces that friction substantially and you are far more likely to have issues. A small amount of anti-seize can be applied to the very edge of the lip where the rotor meets the axle shaft hub to reduce rusting and sticking, but painting it all over the parts where the wheel mounting surface meets the rotor and where the rotor meets the axle shaft is really not a good idea (looking at the third photo showing the rear disc rotor) - "clean and dry" for these thing too.

- Using a small amount of anti-seize on wheel studs is an accepted practice in the automotive world, however, it is actually being taught as something to NOT do in automotive tech / trade schools. Some have hypothesized that is leads to wheel nuts coming loose, I personally disagree, however. Others indicate that this can lead to over-torquing - this may be possible so use a torque wrench. Be sure to NOT get anti-seize on the wheel mating surface or on more than just the wheel stud thread. Use it very sparingly in these applications.

- I can tell from the fin frequency in the rotors that they appear to be "off shore" made units. The Chinese supplied rotors that most parts places sell have about 1/3 fewer fins / vents in the rotors when compared to OEM or high-end (Japanese, typically) aftermarket units.



~John

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Hey John,

Thanks a lot for the tips! I have inserted a couple comments below:

Just a few notes:

- A very nice looking job there!

- the W-shaped spring that goes over the brake pin should be on the leading edge of the brake pad, not the trailing edge. You can also run them on both ends, but if using one, it should for sure be on the leading edge.

Good to know; thanks! I think this was part of the job that got done midnight on a Friday... I'll swap 'em around.

- silicone sealer acts as a lubricant, and things like hub gaskets, king pins etc. should be assembled clean and dry and not have things like silicone sealer or grease used at all. I will even go so far as to say that the metal surfaces should not be painted where the parts meet at these points - which is in sticking with my "clean and dry" theme.

I should clarify what I did here, as I was not very clear above. I applied a tiny bit of silicone sealer around the bolt studs between the knuckle arm and the knuckle body as I assembled it. The silicone did not contact the part of the knuckle arm that slides through the inner race of the kingpin bearing. So the silicone is no where near the bearing/grease it's self. The idea was to keep water from seeping through from the knuckle arm stud holes to the inner race of the bearing.

- Don't put Anti-Seize on the rotor or hub face where the wheel contacts this area. Bolts, wheel studs etc. only hold things in place due to friction between surfaces and these mating surfaces should not be lubricated with anything as it reduces that friction substantially and you are far more likely to have issues. A small amount of anti-seize can be applied to the very edge of the lip where the rotor meets the axle shaft hub to reduce rusting and sticking, but painting it all over the parts where the wheel mounting surface meets the rotor and where the rotor meets the axle shaft is really not a good idea (looking at the third photo showing the rear disc rotor) - "clean and dry" for these thing too.

I was certainly way too liberal with my application there. Thanks for the heads up. I was trying to prevent the wheel from rusting to the disk. I actually figured someone would probably comment on it, and thought of wiping it off before the picture, haha.

- Using a small amount of anti-seize on wheel studs is an accepted practice in the automotive world, however, it is actually being taught as something to NOT do in automotive tech / trade schools. Some have hypothesized that is leads to wheel nuts coming loose, I personally disagree, however. Others indicate that this can lead to over-torquing - this may be possible so use a torque wrench. Be sure to NOT get anti-seize on the wheel mating surface or on more than just the wheel stud thread. Use it very sparingly in these applications.

Dually noted.

- I can tell from the fin frequency in the rotors that they appear to be "off shore" made units. The Chinese supplied rotors that most parts places sell have about 1/3 fewer fins / vents in the rotors when compared to OEM or high-end (Japanese, typically) aftermarket units.

Yup, you're right. They are just the NAPA Premium units. I simply did not have any more $$ for the Japanese Mountain Brand or Toyota rotors that some people recommended. I've had decent luck with the NAPA rotors before though, and they were certainly better than the worn-beyond-min-thickness rotors that came off. I did a very careful job bedding the pads/rotors and the brakes are performing very well (as per your recommendations in an old thread on the subject).



~John