Stronger trunnion bearings for HZJ75, where in north america?!

[Diesel Cruiserman]

25 years???
My IP on my 1HZ failed after only 150'000km on the engine in Canada (thanks to the great Diesel in North america...)
Should I also carry a whole IP next time?
What about a 6th rim, failed after 30'000km. Or a complete axle as it failed on a friends HZJ78 right now in Mexico. (very few offroading with that car!)
Come on guys... you can't carry half a car with you. EVERYTHING can fail! Either you travel VERY different to us or you never traveled for 2-3 years in such a car. But we are carrying
just some filters, belts etc. Stuff that is stupid to have to wait for a few weeks if it fails. But axles, birfs, IP is for me way too much and if you ask ANY european LC driver that did trans-africa, trans-asia etc. at the big expedition car shows I NEVER heard of any carrying such stuff around.
The only ones that I know that carry have the car are the Land Rover drivers and they really also use it!
I chose the J7 as an expedition-travel car. We did so far only about 20% of offroading yeah, surely will increase now more the more south we drive. But still, it's our home, it's our
life-safer under circunstances. I hopefully won't be driving the hell out of it.
And if something fails, most parts you can get in many places... even Mexico that doesn't have a J7 you can order ANY part for my car except the 24V stuff, that they seem not too have...
but otherwise you get for example headgaskets for a 1HZ, head bolts, brake shoes, gaskets, filter, axles, what you want...
Takes 2-3 weeks, no extra cost for shipping. You can order it at any Toyota dealer.
Farther south it should get better I heard since they know the J7!
I guess everyone has his own opinion to this... I wouldn't change it so far... but ask me in 2-3 years again after my trip is done if I was wrong...

Hmm, good points, build it yourself, maintain your rig, know your vehicle and trust it...

Overal, do not abuse it and it will get you in and out in one piece...

Had a cruiser for 20 years and very light wheeling, only broke a leaf spring in all that time... Guess my tires were not big enough or I did not have lockers to help brake things.

Rob Lassman

 

[Blade]

RaddCruisers - I think you wrote the wrong years on your #22 post. It's AFTER 1999 production year were the J7 changed to the 8series bigger bearings. My 1993 has still the smaller bearings as I posted on the pictures before...

 

[Radd Cruisers]

RaddCruisers - I think you wrote the wrong years on your #22 post. It's AFTER 1999 production year were the J7 changed to the 8series bigger bearings. My 1993 has still the smaller bearings as I posted on the pictures before...

Ah, you're correct! I just checked and they do use the smaller bearing but the later inner axle seals.

I'll go back and edit my previous post for accuracy.

~John

 

[crushers]

Toyota made a decent vehicle, it is the owners, in their great wisdom, that modify these vehicles.
we are not happy with the 29"-31" tires the trucks come with. we want 34s, 36s, 39s, 44s, 53s tall tires. we load them down with 1500 lbs of crap inside and on top. then we head for the deepest mud, the fastest flowing river, the steepest hill and bounce our way along.
we fill the cavities with water, mud and sand. we drag the drivetrain through the slop with our winches. we drive them hard and put them away wet. maintenance to some is fixing once broken.
the we bitch cause they let us down. it gets to the point that we can't trust the truck so we pack up a second trucks worth of parts, thus loading the truck down even more.
when i wheel or head off on a long trip i go over my truck. i take a good look over for leaks or obvious issues and i fix them. i don't count on the questionable part getting me through one more run before i have to change it.
i also build a truck that will do the type of road or trail i am going on. good torque and proper tires for the job at hand and a winch that can save my ass instead of the skinny pedal.
i challenge anyone that has a well maintained stock truck on 31s to break anything while driving in a controlled manner.
you can run 35s on a mildly lifted Cruiser and not break parts. i run 36" tractor tires off road and 35" streets when DD on my PZ, i have not broken a birf, worn out the kingpin bearings, torn out a clutch, toasted the brakes going on the 5th year.
if the kingpin bearings are installed properly then you should not be going through a set for years to come. if installed improperly then you could go through a set in months. the shims are there for a reason. you should never have to "re-shim" the front knuckle. that is set for cast on cast measurements. the cast doesn't change so why would the shims need modifying?
i would have no issue jumping into any one of my cruisers and heading for Duncan BC with nothing more than a set of boosters, a spare tire and a jack. ... and they all are over 20 years old.

proper maintenance and keeping the mods light and you will have a reliable cruiser.

 

[Blade]

Raddcruisers - exactly! 8series Marlin inner axle seal I installed! 50mm it was...

crushers - well said I got now the thing shimmed right within Toyota spec...

 

[bbpjunk]

I just installed a set of kingpin bearings today in my LJ78 that I got from Marlin Crawler. They said "Fits 79-85 Pickup/4Runner, FJ40, FJ55, FJ60 & FJ-62 60 series." They say they are Koyo made Yukon trunion bearings and indeed they did have Yukon branded on them. They were quite different looking as the taper was more like a 30-45 degree angle compared to the steeper taper of the Koyo ones I removed. They fit fine, preloaded great and have lasted about 45 minutes so far with no problems!