Ryan's 4-Runner Projects

[raevenzero]

Drain the front diff and found metal shavings in the oil. Putting it all back together how it was and searching for some elocker diffs.

I need to get a trailer and keep it off the road until this is resolved. If it explodes on a trail, oh well.

 

[raevenzero]

So, I went ahead and ordered some 5.29's for the current 3rds. I've read that 4cyl gears fit in V6 carriers, so I'm hoping that these will fit in elocker housings once I find some. Still kicking myself for not grabbing one last time I had a chance.

 

[John Stw]

E-lockers run the V-6 gears.

 

[raevenzero]

From what I understand, the 4cyclinder gears work in all v6 carriers, the pinion just has to be shimmed out further. I should be able to transfer the gears if I ever get my hands on the elockers. However, v6 gears can not be placed in a 4-cylinder housing.

I'm hoping that the 5.29's are not too low for the truck. I do plan on going with larger tires, but I may be stuck with the 35's for a while. I really liked how it did with the 4.88's. Hopefully the rpm differences will be negligable. Looks like about 300 rpm difference at 65mph. I should have a trailer soon but I would still like to be able to drive to local trails.

 

[raevenzero]

They're here...

 

[Bang Bang]

Christmas in October.

 

[raevenzero]

Pulled both diffs tonight. I just pulled the knuckle assemblies in the front. The left side had a bit of play in the bearings. It isn't bad, so I will see if I can tighten it up. Also found the birf on the short side to be really hard to bend. It looks good so I will clean it out and put some new grease in it. If all else fails, I have a few extra birfs. Passenger side seal was obviously leaking. When I pulled the driver, it had a pool of oil in it that just hadn't made it to the outside yet. Both will be replaced. I also noticed that the oil return for the turbocharger is leaking where it meets the pan. I'll have to think outside of the box for that one.

Now I am waiting on a few tools and some solid spacers. I really wanted to go crush sleeve but l like the idea of being able to change the seal and flange without tearing into the axle. In the meantime, I will work on putting a simple jig together to make the gearing work a bit easier. I have Monday off, so I am hoping that the rest of the stuff is here by then.

Btw, the front diff looks good besides the pinion being a bit shallow. I didn't see where the metal in the oil came from. However, there were some weird foreign objects in there that looked like about 1" pieces of welding wire, but were way to stiff. They were sharp, round, and hard to bend. Some had flat spots as if they were smashed. Everything will be cleaned before it goes back together.

 

[lostinafog]

that is a VERRY s***ty pattern U have there

 

[raevenzero]

Yes it is. I see it better in the picture than I did in the shop. No shims were used on the pinion and there was no preload. I had someone set it up that I probably shouldn't have.

 

[lostinafog]

uh yup

 

[John Stw]

If you were closer, I have some set up bearings you could use, and we have been able to reuse the pinion shim for the right depth. Enjoy the wrenching time.

 

[raevenzero]

I'm going to start off with the same shim, but I don't have my hopes up about it being the right one on the rear. The front has no shims, I will probably start with the same thickness as the rear and go from there. I'm really going to take my time on these. I'm pretty pissed that the rear 4.88's are already shot.

 

[raevenzero]

I am still waiting on my in/lbs beam torque wrench and the crush sleeves. So I threw this together in the meantime. I got the idea from zuk and I think it will come in very handy when torquing it all down. All I am missing now are some bearing tools, but I can get those at the local parts store at any time.

 

[raevenzero]

Still waiting on the solid spacers, but I was able to get a good start. Housing have been cleaned and races changed. The larger race in the rear was extremely difficult, the rest weren't bad. Carrier bearings changed. Ring gears on carriers with new bolts and Red Locktite.

I stopped at the pinions because I need a bearing separator. None to be found in my little town. Heading to Peoria tomorrow. I'll find something there. I broke the cage on one of the old pinion bearings trying to use some scrap metal I have. Glad it was an old one.

If I get a separator tomorrow, I can work patterns and shim the pinions, but I have to wait for the spacers before I can permanently install the carrier.

 

[Darasick]

Progress!

 

[raevenzero]

I've got one diff done and will probably get it all back together this weekend. I must have pulled the pinion 20 times to get the solid spacer right. The caliper I was using only did .01" increments. I went out and got one that does .001", so the second one should go a lot faster with much less guesswork. I'm not feeling too great today and I have some homework to do, so hopefully I can get back into it tomorrow evening.

 

[raevenzero]

I finished up on the second diff last night. It took forever to set up the first diff, but I was able to run through the second in a few hours using some of the settings I used on the first. I went a bit deeper on the first pattern since I will be running it in the front. One seemed to favor coast a bit more than drive, so that's the one that will end up in the front.

I have a conference call at four, but then it's off to the shop to hopefully put the axles back together.

 

[raevenzero]

The diffs are back in and the shafts are back in the rear. Now, I'm working on patching some other issues up as I go.

My rear caliper brackets aren't spaced where I need them to be. I will weld some 3/16th's steel to them to get them right and purchase some lengthened bolts. I also need to grind a little more off of one of the hubs. It was good when I first did the disk conversion but it was pretty hard to pull the rotor off this time.

In the front, I decided to clean everything in put in some new grease. My knuckle bearings rough so I pulled them to clean them out. On one of them, the rollers were hanging out of the cage a bit. On another, a roller fell out on the floor when I was carrying it over to the bench. I order 4 more from RockAuto and the two that were good will go into a ziplock back and into the trail spares box. Broken birfields are rough on these bearings.

Also, as I was cleaning out the axle housings, I washed a lot of shrapnel out of the front axle tubes. It looks like thin pieces of metal that are folded up like tin-foil. There are also some pieces that resemble the welding wire like pieces found when I drained the oil. Nothing was broken in the front end since I got the truck in 2007 except for one birf. I find it hard to believe that so much would have make it past the seal with the shaft in place. Plus, when it broke it broke into glass-like pieces that were stuck in the grease around the inside of the knuckle. I've never seen anything come out in the oil before. I have no idea where this came from! Maybe I can shoot a pic of my findings. I was able to pull most of it out with brake cleaner, a rag, and a magnet.

 

[raevenzero]

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be? Shrapnel from the front axle in diff oil. I didn't find anything broken. The wire there looks like welding wire, but much harder, like tie wire, maybe even harder. The rest is like sheet metal.

 

[Volunteer]

Glad to hear its coming back together bud, I've seen my share of shredded ring and pinions not getting along but nothing like that pile you have there.