Service: Wheel bearing, Steering Knuckle, Brake & Timing belt W/Surprises!

[2001LC]

It was a Sunday, and I just taking it easy working on the yard. Before I was to start on building Merlot 07LC non AHC w/64K, for new owner to take to HIH and then cross country to his/'it's new home. When a local member bought his good looking clean 05LX w/102K miles to my garage.

He asked if I'd take it and do what is needed. Which included brakes and timing belt job. Along with fixing an AHC issue, where it will not stay in "H", when just sitting. I said sure, but it wouldn't be until August as Merlot took top spot now in the shop.

I did take a quick look at engine and front end. That way I could get idea of parts to have on hand. Darn if I didn't find a CV of front drive shaft inner boot badly ripped open. By looks of lube in wheel-well, it appeared this was not recent. That was very concerning as it was not coming back for a month or more. Even more concerning was he had 100 plus miles HWY mountain drive to get home. The CV could blow apart from heat, as CV bearing were dry. This may damaging other components and put him on the side of the road. Not good.

I lucky had a used front drive shaft (end being no good) on hand and two new ones (used a new one) all OEM. Also had differential side oil seals, along with all other parts I may need for the job.

So I said let swap it out now. So we dug in. He turned out to be the best helper I'd ever had. He was right there with tools in and out of my hands. We were moving fast. I said I felt like a surgeon in and operating room, your amazing. He said; well I'm a PA in and operating room..LOL Really!

But still it took 5 hours from finding bad boot/CV to roll-out and clean-up the shop and tools. We did have some issue getting upper ball joint off. Darn ball joint studs was spinning in the knuckle and castle nut seemed buggered-up.

So much for easy day off! Hey job went well, and he safely back on the road home. So I was happy.

Now it's August. It's in my shop on jack stands and work has begun. Some surprises as I'm work front end first.

I'll be posted this one up as I go. More to come soon:

 

[2001LC]

I start front end, suspension and engine work by removing shielding. Then inspecting for leaks along with anything else like steering rack mounts, vacuum hoses, etc that may need attention.

The steering rack mounting bushing has a washer on top, that's flat cut across top front. A sign the bushing is wearing out is the flat portion turns about 5 degrees CW. Interesting this one is turned about 3 degrees CCW HUMMM...

I find the idle up control vacuum lines are often cracking. Those and PVC seem to always need replacing.

I also check radiator for blockage. Which they almost always need cleaning. This one is much cleaner than most, but I'll still clean it.

Engine areas seems dry of oily spots. But I did find three wet spots.
Shock RH R, not dripping but wet.

Shock RH F

 

[2001LC]

I found one leak, I don't usually see at transfer case.

I also found work order showing the gear lube of Frt & rear Differential and transfer case was changed. Wherein they used 75W-140. Factory recommended a lighter weight here in Colorado. I suspect leak may be due to excess pressure from heavy weight oil. This rigs lives in the high country where average OAT is low.

Found the LH inner boot weeping at small clamp.

I also inspect the drive belt idler pulley and tensioner bearings. If they're bad I don't worry about getting wet during next step. Which is cleaning areas I planned to work on and those I may, along with general undercarriage. In this case idler bearing is shot, tensioner is marginally which I'll be replacing both. So I'm not concerned with getting bearing wet.

One trick I've been playing with, is cleaning engine while it idles. This has been working very well to keep water out of bearings including that of alternator. Naturally this limits work around moving parts. Also when I want to really get bank 2 head and timing belt covers I use different method.

 

[2001LC]

I'll be working on brakes including a flush. So I like to do some test before hand.

 

[2001LC]

I just notice something in pictures. Not sure if yellow dirt or marks from yellow marker used to indicate bolt torqued. I'll need to look closer.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

I'm going to guess that that seepage off the t-case is caused by inadequate bolt torquing or did not cris-crossed final-torqued it when it was assembled.. looked like it was serviced before?

 

[Jrod]

I start front end, suspension and engine work by removing shielding. Then inspecting for leaks along with anything else like steering rack mounts, vacuum hoses, etc that may need attention.

The steering rack mounting bushing has a washer on top, that's flat cut across top front. A sign the bushing is wearing out is the flat portion turns about 5 degrees CW. Interesting this one is turned about 3 degrees CCW HUMMM...
View attachment 2053316

I find the idle up control vacuum lines are often cracking. Those and PVC seem to always need replacing.
View attachment 2053289
I also check radiator for blockage. Which they almost always need cleaning. This one is much cleaner than most, but I'll still clean it.
View attachment 2053284
Engine areas seems dry of oily spots. But I did find three wet spots.
Shock RH R, not dripping but wet.
View attachment 2053322
Shock RH F
View attachment 2053323

Can you show where the, "idle control vacuum lines" are? I don't recall seeing those.

 

[2001LC]

I'm going to guess that that seepage off the t-case is caused by inadequate bolt torquing or did not cris-crossed final-torqued it when it was assembled.. looked like it was serviced before?

Now that I've taken a second look at picture in the morning with fresh eyes. The yellow may just be dirty that happen to hit each bolt. Funny, whats the odds! I say that, because I do see a little yellow above the the drain plug. No tooling marks on bolts. Also it is so rare to have any reason to split the case or pull from adapter.

Can you show where the, "idle control vacuum lines" are? I don't recall seeing those.

Idle up control is on the Vane (power steering ) pump. Two vacuum lines come up from it. One attaches to air pipe (air filter box pipe the throttle body) and the other to intake manifold. It varies depending on year in length and where it connects.
This is stock photo from a 2000 LX PN # is good for 98-05. 2006-2007 PN# 17030-50150. But always check based on your VIN #

 

[Whiskerz]

Those yellow marks are factory torque marks. Done with a paint pen. Have seen them on my 200 and my FJC.

 

[2001LC]

Those yellow marks are factory torque marks. Done with a paint pen. Have seen them on my 200 and my FJC.

Factory does use various color marks to indicate job done. But I just went through some of my stock photos and I'm not seeing any marks on transfer case bolt on other 100 series. Here's The Black Knight 06LC supper clean. No yellow torque marks!

This 05LX came to me with some parts. A full set of Akebone brake pads, Denso spark plugs and old can of AHC fluid along with a large box of towels/rags. Thanks, I'll put those towels to good use.
Anyone that has work side by side with me in the shop, knows how frugal I am with shop towels and gloves.

Washed, dried with short drive, and in the shop on jack stands. I pulled wheels and continued inspecting.

One of first thing I looked at was brake pads. The pads can't easily be seen without wheels off. Once off I found one front pads down to 2~3mm not bad as limit is 1mm. But when doing a wheel bearing job it save a lot of labor doing front brakes at that time. I say this, because I always like having rotors machine turned or replaced when installing new pads. This avoids having issues with bedding, chatter, pulsing, pulling, etc. I also feel it adds to life of pads. So if pads not going to make 30K more until next wheel bearing service I like to go ahead and do earlier.

Interesting on invoice above, shop recommend new front pads 20K miles ago. "Strike 3"
Strike 1 using 75W-140 gear lube.
Strike 2 recommending pads next service. (typically 5K miles)
Strike 3 stated CV boot clamps good. That kind of hard of me. As they could have said boot job, not just watch. So I'd say they are honest. shop!

The rears pads looked great at ~7.75 mm on thinnest. So will save those pads, labor and machine shop fees.

r
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nteresting the LH front rotor was down to 30.20mm (very thin for a 103K mile rig). They start at 32mm IIRC and limit is 30MM. So really too thin to have machined. Yet RH is just under 31MM (thin for 103K mile rigs?) usually they run closer! So we decided to just get both new front OEM rotors..

Some feel rotors should not be machine turned. That it just reduces life. Well, I always like to have turned if not replacing when installing new pads. If machine shop doesn't cut off to much, they can be done 3 or 4 times. I got 90K miles on set of fronts in my 01LC. Times just 3 is 270k before I even think about new rotors. If rig is in a corrosive environment, that is to long. The cooling fins can weaken from rust and disk separate. So we don't want to keep rotor forever anyway.

Good time to mention caliper mounting bolts. They need replacing if and corrosion is noted. The 80s guy have been busting them for some time and now we seeing 100 series bust them also.

Notice that Toyota changed the cooling fins. I suppose they may just have a different supplier.

 

[MongooseGA]

I love reading your threads going through these trucks. You're so methodical and take an excellent approach to documenting the process. I'd say you're probably one of the most helpful posters here in this forum. Thanks for sharing!

 

[2001LC]

Very nice of you to say, THANK YOU!
I hope you and everyone can find something in my posting of use in maintaining your rig.

 

[2001LC]

This 05LX came to me not only to get service up-to-date and base-line. But to diagnosis and correct AHC not stay in high.

When first in the shop and we replaced the RH front drive shaft, do to boot ripped open and CV bearings cooked from being dry to long.. The CV grease really made a mess all over components of wheel well and we hadn't clean that first time. So didn't notice this mess of mangled components.

This made see components in area obscured. It was noted at the time that steering knuckle had been replace with a salvage yard one. Salvage yard always mark their stuff and we saw the marks, I see this often. They usually seem due to wheel bearing not being service or front drive shaft damage, causing damage and shop saying spindle bad. I've my doubts that so many of these steering knuckles actually need replacing.

Once this area cleaned-up, I notice issue with height sensor bracket bent. As I got to tearing down the wheel bearing and steering knuckle I saw a number of issues. The brake line bracket bolted to frame was bent and adjuster arm of sensor contacting it. AHC height Sensor fastens point on upper control arm (UCA) bent and nut ripped out of weld. The UCAs rear alignment adjusters in upside down. The upper ball joint felt funny in close movement inspection. Finally found the rear UCA bushing housing bent into oval shape.

The height senor and brake brackets needed restoring and AHC adjuster arm linking sensor to UCA boot are bad. Ton of restore work needed here. It was very obvious this had been worked on, possible body and mechanic shops. A mess!

This UCA is too damaged to restore and need replacing.

UCA rear bushing Oval shape should be round..

Adjuster turnbuckle of AHC attaches to this bent bracket on UCA. The hole near my thumb once had factory nut welded in.

Shock upper sleeve took a hit. Shock has mild weep of AHC fluid. We'll need to watch, but should be okay!

Even castle nut hat had been damaged.

What a mess!

 

[2001LC]

I did see a mild hit on frame from front arm UCA while replacing UCA.

Took apart height sensor to straighten it's bracket.

Before

After

Boots of turnbuckle are damaged but it's ball joints are okay. This can wait for future replacement after we know height switch is working or not. As they can be ordered with sensor or by themselves.

 

[2001LC]

Replacement UCA back in and looking better.

Brake line bracket is now bent back into place and no long hit AHC height adjuster turnbuckle SWEET!

Seem I was able to get height sensor bracket bent back and in okay.

Before

So we'll see if Height sensor works later, after other work during AHC service.

 

[2001LC]

Steering knuckle is something I like to recondition first time into any 100 series wheel bearing service. After the first time I just lube the axle needle bearing and brass bushing with a special tool during each 30K miles wheel bearing service.

Pulling the knuckle is only way to give all ball joint the FSM recommend inspection procedure. It also give opportunity to really clean and inspect axle bearing and bushing. Also this is when I de-rust and restore metal that has been pounded on when some free ball joint with sledge hammer, rather than puller. The surface that ball joint boot set on, needs to be flat for a good seal. Often I find these surface raise on one side from pounding. So I'll recondition.

I've only found one axle needle bearing that I felt needed replacing, before this one. It was an 00LX ~350K miles and it still had factory grease in it, un-touch (never lubed) as most I find.

It is very subjective of when a bearing should be replaced. The bushing if scored is no big deal. But it would indicate bushing became contaminated at some point. Looking at this bushing it was scored deeply. The bearing also had some scoring and discolor. So this was only the second needle bearing & bushing I've ever replaced.

 

[2001LC]

During knuckle service is about the only time I replace the seal in rear of it.

In this case we did replace the brake dust shield and it's large seal. Kind of a once in a life time. By de-rust and grease the contact points, gasket & seal, it will help prevent future rust and give a better seal.

Coming together.

 

[2001LC]

I now see the LH steering knuckle was also replaced with a recycled one, along with new OEM front drive shaft at some point.

This one needed less recondition. But I found some damage to the metal of dust seal of outer front drive shaft. I had a lot of straightening to do. You may have noticed I keep a piece of wood on top of LCA ball joint. This is so when pulling the knuckle the FDS dust seal doesn't contact the LCA. If it does is will bent the metal of seal every time. Bent, it may contact the knuckle and make a scarping sound. I've seen more than one shop diagnose this sound, as wheel bearings to tight., WRONG. Just sloppy work.

I could not do anything about a small tear in rubber of seal at this time. It should be okay as is part of a multiple layered sealing system and it did not catch and rip further in past. Will see at next 30K miles service when I grease the axle bearing & bushing. Also the front drive shaft itself, had a little remarkable play and axle teeth a little wear. So it's day may been numbered. But it's good enough we'll just wait and see. It could last 30K miles or 300K miles without issue.

Wear not bad at all. But will have a little more hub flange to axle play than new.

Left side button up.

 

[2001LC]

One thing I did not mention, was wheel bearing races where a bit scored and discolored. I can't say why. Could have been form bearing improperly serviced at some point. It could also be from sloppy work, where bearings and races were mixed up. That is; It's important to always keep the same bearings with same race, as they are matched/seated together. Mixing them up, can cause issues. In this case I sanded the races to clean up and aid in seating. The wheel bearings themselves are in good condition. These bearing & races rarely need replacing, as they are so incredible tough. Again will see at next service, they tend to get better when properly serviced.

The RH breakaway preload (BPL) was very touchy to set. At 49ft-LBF it had BPL of ~9.5LB, to reach 13LB BPL it took only 1ft-lbf (50FT-LBF) more to get there. After torquing the locking nut in, it jump to 15lb BPL. This may indicate races and bearings had been mixed up. I'm not concerned and will see next service how they're doing.

I sand at RH 45 degree angle than LH. First with 150 grit than with 600 to knock down.

Oh, here is that old castle nut from RH side upper ball joint. Strange damage!

Oh, I also replaced all 12 cone washer during assemble of hub flanges as they were scored. But used old hub flanges as the are good enough. As the matting surface were good. But RH hub flange did have a some funny marks, no big deal. Again will see on next service how they're doing!

 

[2001LC]

Sorry for jumping around in posting, as I did R&R the rotors before pack in bearing and button up each side. Just getting cough up on postings.