Is that rust in there and did you clean the grease out or was it that dry? it looks like it might be dry to me. How did the diff fluid look when you drained it? how was the axle seal? I'm assuming the front drive shaft is off, I would stick the axle shaft back in the diff and make sure it is funtioning correctly before moving forward. the c-clip we were talking should be holding that star on the axle shaft.
What he said. definitely looks dryer than I've ever had one.
That star on the end of the axle shaft will need to be beat like a readheaded stepchild to get off... some use a pipe, but i use a brass hammer (not really a brass hammer, a five pound hammer)
You bought a flange with the birf, right? you just did the bearings and it wasn't too long so I don't think that was the problem. How much grease did you pump in the other night? It looks very dry to me - the birf shoud have been packed totally with grease and the knuckle 3/4 of the way full. when I did mine last week I pumped about a half tube into the birf, scooped an entire tub into the knuckle and pumped some more from the tube to fill it in.
How much grease was in the knuckle? spindle? I am curious if the grease you pumped in the other night already made it into the birf - it would be good to know if it would actually move like that. the inside of the birf either looks rusty or burned up - either would be bad.
I wonder if the cage was damaged during installtion... the birf doesn't look bad.
Not to put your mechanic on front street but you said they knew what they were doing... not many people actually do when it comes to joining a birf to an axle shaft. it's a rare job that even most mechanics never do. And i've seen VERY seasoned LC techs struggle with getting the axle shaft properly in the birf... i could easily see a tech fubaring this up and i can easily see you driving around for a year on a bad cage and it finally giving up.
A buddy's 96 had bad inner bearings for about a year or so from the previous driver and he had to replace the entire knuckle assembly because people just don't take time to listen to thier vehicles.
I'm a jedi shunt. When I tested the 94 for a few days, i knew something wasn't right on the driver side front. i could slightly hear it when wieght was put on that side like say a slow turn when weight is shifted and i could even feel to "un smoothness" of the bearings. I had about 4 other yota truck folks drive it and they all said they "may" feel soemthing but i was probably paranoid. When I pulled the hub the inner bearings were SHOT and destroyed.
Okay I'll answer what I can. I did clean them up after I pulled them. The star looks like it has heavy scoring on it so I'm thinking the birf wasn't packed properly with grease. The knuckle was 2/3ish full and the birf had a fair amount of grease in it but I don't know if that's from me putting a couple of tubes into it or not. Going to drain the diff and pull the drive shaft this afternoon so I'll have a report on that later.
man...that a run of bad luck. From the pics it does look like mabye not enough grease... I've only worked on my 60. A friend and I but longfields in the front and new seals etc + auburn limited slip diff.
Its a greasy nasty job but not as bad as many have related... I just get some cheap plastic tupperware type large boxes and all the crap gets dumped in there and have one on each side while you work. Reduces the mess.
Is there some discussion regarding 80 series trucks about using a yota stock birf over longfields for DD ? something to do with fulltime 4wd?
if you put a couple of tubes in the other night and the pics depict what was in it when you pulled it... then whoever put it together needs to pay for your parts if they're a licensed mechanic... an idiot would know to put grease in there, much less a mechanic...
these birfs last for decades with no maintenance when driven on road normally like you've done... it lasted a long ass time given that it was dry... but still installed very poorly.
I'm getting longs, but then, my truck will not see much pavement. chromo wears out way to quick for daily use.
it depends, if you just had that one side up in the air it could have just been down in the long side of the axle. make sure you pull the fill plug before the drain plug, btdt.
I would stick the axle shaft back in the diff and make sure it is funtioning correctly before moving forward. the c-clip we were talking should be holding that star on the axle shaft.
