Can you drop some pics in for the folks who don't have insta?
Really enjoy following your build.
Build Roaming Lost: x3 Locked 1990 Toyota HDJ81
- Thread starter roaminglost
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Can you drop some pics in for the folks who don't have insta?
Really enjoy following your build.
- Thread starter
- #162
killer set up!
- Thread starter
- #165
about 340 lbs about 100 over my previous drawer.
- Thread starter
- #167
Third times a charm...
- Thread starter
- #168
Had some play in the front end of my '90, so I took it to Off-Road Toy Outfitters. They diagnosed a loose trunnion bearing. Worn, damaged, or set up wrong, no way to know until it came apart.
Once the knuckles were open, the wear and contamination went deeper than the bearings. Swapping bearings alone would have masked the symptom without fixing the truck, so they recommended a full knuckle rebuild and I went for it. Both sides came fully apart, got inspected, and went back together with Trail Gear Trail Safe ball wipers and inner axle seals in place of the factory parts. Better contamination protection for a truck I use hard.
The detail work is what sold me on this shop. Before reassembly they took a flat bastard file to the machined mating surfaces on the knuckles. Decades of service work leaves high spots and burrs where things bolt up, and skipping this step stacks tolerance errors into a rebuild. They knocked every one down so the surfaces sit flat and true, like they came off the line.
They stripped the knuckles with a wire wheel and acetone, primed them, and shot them in 2K chassis black. Holds up as well as or better than whatever left the factory in 1990. All the reused hardware went through an ultrasonic cleaner first.
Everything went back together with Loctite and palladium grease. They also upgraded the knuckle and hub studs to ARP hardware while it was open. More clamping strength, and a lot cheaper now than opening this front end back up down the road.
This is what a knuckle rebuild looks like when nothing gets skipped. If you're chasing play in a solid axle front end, don't stop at the bearings.
Once the knuckles were open, the wear and contamination went deeper than the bearings. Swapping bearings alone would have masked the symptom without fixing the truck, so they recommended a full knuckle rebuild and I went for it. Both sides came fully apart, got inspected, and went back together with Trail Gear Trail Safe ball wipers and inner axle seals in place of the factory parts. Better contamination protection for a truck I use hard.
The detail work is what sold me on this shop. Before reassembly they took a flat bastard file to the machined mating surfaces on the knuckles. Decades of service work leaves high spots and burrs where things bolt up, and skipping this step stacks tolerance errors into a rebuild. They knocked every one down so the surfaces sit flat and true, like they came off the line.
They stripped the knuckles with a wire wheel and acetone, primed them, and shot them in 2K chassis black. Holds up as well as or better than whatever left the factory in 1990. All the reused hardware went through an ultrasonic cleaner first.
Everything went back together with Loctite and palladium grease. They also upgraded the knuckle and hub studs to ARP hardware while it was open. More clamping strength, and a lot cheaper now than opening this front end back up down the road.
This is what a knuckle rebuild looks like when nothing gets skipped. If you're chasing play in a solid axle front end, don't stop at the bearings.
- Thread starter
- #169
fresh set kind of day.
- Thread starter
- #170
Been chasing a steering problem on this truck for a while and finally getting somewhere, so linking the thread here for anyone following along.
Truck wouldn't track straight. Followed every crown and groove, wouldn't come back to center on its own. I rebuilt the box, rebuilt the knuckles, replaced every bushing, corrected the panhard, got a clean alignment printout, and it still did it. Caster measured fine at 4 degrees.
Turned out the alignment sheet was lying. Put toe plates on it and found 1/8" toe-out when the rack claimed toe-in. Fixing that got most of the straight-line wander. What's left shows up when the suspension is actually working, and a lot of it seems to be coming from the rear. Swapping rear links and panhard next to see if bushing flex is part of it.
Full thread, with a lot of good input from people who've been through it:
80 steering issues, wont track straight - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/80-steering-issues-wont-track-straight.1384495/
If you're on 37s with a lift and the truck feels like it's arguing with you, worth a read. Every part can be new and correct and it still drives like crap. Geometry at this height is its own problem, and worn parts were never the story.
Truck wouldn't track straight. Followed every crown and groove, wouldn't come back to center on its own. I rebuilt the box, rebuilt the knuckles, replaced every bushing, corrected the panhard, got a clean alignment printout, and it still did it. Caster measured fine at 4 degrees.
Turned out the alignment sheet was lying. Put toe plates on it and found 1/8" toe-out when the rack claimed toe-in. Fixing that got most of the straight-line wander. What's left shows up when the suspension is actually working, and a lot of it seems to be coming from the rear. Swapping rear links and panhard next to see if bushing flex is part of it.
Full thread, with a lot of good input from people who've been through it:
80 steering issues, wont track straight - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/80-steering-issues-wont-track-straight.1384495/
If you're on 37s with a lift and the truck feels like it's arguing with you, worth a read. Every part can be new and correct and it still drives like crap. Geometry at this height is its own problem, and worn parts were never the story.
- Thread starter
- #171
Now that looks good.
