Mike's 1978 FJ40 Build

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I just ordered these from Man-A-Fre:

Knuckle rebuild kit
$_57.GIF



Stainless steel brake lines
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Let the fun begin...
 
Awesome, Mike!!! Get her down off that lift and let's hear how she drives/rides!

Those stainless steel lines are sweet. Love the yellow calipers too. Bling, bling! :)
 
^^^ x2 -- a detailed how to on the knuckle rebuild would be awesome. Of course, easy for us to ask as we aren't the ones having to do the work and documenting at the same time! ;) Yet...
Mike - Let us know what you think of the MAF kit and lines. You doing a "blow by blow" on the install? BTW coming along very nice!!!

Thanks guys! I will definitely do a "blow by blow" install, but first I need to thoroughly clean the front axle, it's a real turd as it sits dripping of oil and almost 40 years worth of shmeg. I hate the clean up part :mad::(:bang: I would like to just :flush: and spare y'all the effluent mess.
Stay tuned girls and boys for the good stuff coming soon the buttering of the joints and knuckles!:bounce::bounce2:
 
Awesome detail and documentation Mike...thanks for that! You are doing a great job on your truck, and when you get to drive it, you will know what noise is what, where it's coming from and whether it's 'good' or 'bad'! Look forward to your knuckle rebuild, this is coming up for me, too...I've already got all the parts.

Skip
 
Awesome detail and documentation Mike...thanks for that! You are doing a great job on your truck, and when you get to drive it, you will know what noise is what, where it's coming from and whether it's 'good' or 'bad'! Look forward to your knuckle rebuild, this is coming up for me, too...I've already got all the parts.

Skip

Hey Thanks Skip I appreciate your kind words!:cheers:
Today I started the knuckle disassembly process and taking lots of pics, I'll upload pics later today. Presently I'm stuck trying to remove the decorative chrome sleeve that's on the driver's side hub it is fighting me all the way, the gentle hand and screw driver method hasn't worked yet so I may have to resort to brute :zilla:force or maybe the rotary cutting action of the Dremel and hacking it right off the hub.
 
Can't wait to see knuckle rebuild..............
 
Nice work BTW................:beer:
 
The dreaded steering knuckle rebuild process

1. Disassembly

First I needed to remove a few steering and brake components prior to the knuckle removal
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removed the cotter pin holding down the tie rod to the steering arm
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and remove castle nut

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then I removed the tie rod using a tied rod removal tool, there are many methods to doing this, however, if you want to save the grease boot use this tool

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three to four turns with the tool and Boom!! it's done
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To be continued...
 
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Next I disconnected the brake lines and allowed to properly drain brake fluid before removing the caliper
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next removed the brake line 90* elbow and bracket and brake line
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next removed the caliper by removing two (2) bolts
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THE CHROME SLEEVE! :bang:

I'm stuck trying to remove the decorative chrome sleeve that's on the hub it is fighting me all the way, the gentle hand and screw driver method hasn't worked yet, tomorrow I will hack it off with the Dremel. There are several nuts that need to be removed that reside under the chrome dark openings I was able to remove all except one.

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To be continued...
 
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It was a five minute cut this morning and the sleeve came right off
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removed the retaining 'C' clip and the 4WD hub came right off
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I totally forgot to purchase a long socket prior to starting this project:hillbilly:, so now looking for a 54mm long socket to remove the bearing nut, hopefully I'll be able to pick one up locally if not eBay has them. The mind is a terrible thing to waste!:poof:
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