Panted the knuckles, brake lever and the brake bracket. The bracket paint was already chipping off so I just hit what I could reach with the wire wheel and painted again.
Set up for paint of the knuckles
First coat on the knuckles
Removed the paint on the bracket to repaint
Second coat on the knuckles and first on the brake lever and bracket
Installed the brake drum on the parking brake with the nut loose. Put oil on the machined surface where it rides on the seal, and put RTV on the splines before inserting. Also backed off the adjuster to get the drum and then turned to the first notch.
Finished the second coat on the brake lever and bracket. Then started pulling the front axle out.
When removing the front shocks, both nuts sheared off
Passenger side
Driver side
Then removed the center pivot and the tie rod and relay rod to never be put back in. I got a tie rod end separator, but it was slightly to big and only separated one TRE and had to get a pickle fork to finish.
Then removed the shackles and the pins from the springs which came out much easier then they did on the rear
Got the axle out from under the frame, but fell off of the jack stands and of course the oil had to run out of the knuckle
Got the jack stands back under the axle and on the wheel dollies and pulled the drain plug to drain what was left. I will get it moved around so that I can move it will the tractor and forks and get the other axle off of the axle dolly and put this one on the dolly for the tear down.
You can see the rust line where the rusty part was exposed to the atmosphere(humidity and condensation)for quite sometime. The owners manual recommends engaging the hubs periodically to lubricate the diff and frt end components. The non rusted area was submerged in 90wt. Water intrusion would have blended with the 90wt., then after a while of non use the water would've separated from the lube and settled in the bottom of the housing.
I was just surprised the rear differential that sat as long as the front did was not rusted. When the oil was changed last they commented there was a lot of water in the gearboxes. I had been in water up to the turn signals on the front fenders.
Yesterday the truss showed up along with FJ70 TREs.
Today I replaced the original vent with a hose barb like in the rear axle and attached a 5/16" fuel hose to vent later at the firewall.
Attached the hose
I used a step drill to get a hole in the truss to 3/4" and then used a die grinder and a burr bit to open it 1" for the vent hose and laid out cut lines.
Got the truss tacked in place, then seal welded to the tube
Worked on fitting NAPA tie rod clamps that can be opened up enough to fit FJ70 tie and relay rods. The Toyota clamps did not have enough material to open up to 1.083" ID because they only had 1.023" ID and the wall thickness was too thin.
NAPA part number. But they came with sleeves that are useless.
Opening the clamps with a die grinder until they fit the relay rod with tie rod ends
Fitted to the relay rod with tie rod ends
NAPA only had one set and will get the second set on Wed.
The shock mounts showed up from Ruff Stuff today, so I ground the shock mounts that were broken from removing the nut to remove the shocks.
Cleaned up the old welds and the welded on the new mounts
