Stuck birfield joint bj74

[deepseacruiser]

I am in the middle of rebuilding my steering knuckles on my bj74 and I cant seem to remove the left side birfield joint. The right came out fairly easy. Is there anything that would be causing this to happen. Yes I lined up the flat spots and nothing. HELP

 

[Behemoth60]

Your axle housing is bent.

 

[deepseacruiser]

Well that sucks.

 

[Behemoth60]

Yup. Been there myself.
You can grind the knuckle opening a bit to get the axle shaft out.

There is no good fix to the problem once it's bent. no one makes axle alignment bars or jigs for Cruiser axles. You can probably get it eyeball straight with a big press.

There are some knuckle gusset which can help prevent this in the future. Maybe it's time to upgrade to avoid this in the future? I am advocating 14 bolt front axles or AAM9.25`s these days.

 

[oldblue]

Before you removed the road wheels did you notice if the wheels were leaning inwards at the top. specially the left one ?

 

[deepseacruiser]

It did appear that way slightly If I remember correctly. So do I need a new axle housing? I don't get crazy wheeling. This must have happened from the po. So I wood prefer to just replace with stock. I am pretty inexperienced in this realm

Anyone now where I would get one? This started as just a knuckle rebuild and grew into a full front end job :/

 

[joekatana]

Where are you located,I have a few 70 series axles in Texas.

Joe

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi all,

Is there any way to measure an axle housing to determine whether it is "true" or bent?

What specs would we want to look for??

Thanks,

Alan

 

[deepseacruiser]

I am in San Diego. Need to update my profile.

 

[Behemoth60]

Hi all,
Is there any way to measure an axle housing to determine whether it is "true" or bent?

The gold standard is to use an axle alignment bar. I recently purchased a kit for building Dana 60/Corporate 14 bolt axles (as I have just suffered another bent Land Cruiser Axle)

An Axle Alignment Bar is a long piece of steel with machined 'Pucks' to align the bar, and threaded end caps which thread onto the spindle. It keeps your axle housing straight while welding/fabrication. The pucks replaced the carrier bearing in your differential. But... with the front axle of a Land Cruiser being a 'drop out' style, with no removable cover, it becomes near impossible to install or use an Alignment bar in a front Cruiser axle, which is likely why we are unfamiliar with this technology. I only became aware of these when I started looking at alternative axles to Land Cruiser...

I think your best bet is an eyeball measurement on Cruiser axles... Two things to watch for have already been mentioned... Camber of the wheel should match side to side, and the birfield should smoothly slide into/out of the housing, through the seal.

If your front axle seal chronically leaks, that's a sign of a bent housing... if it is not straight, the birfield is not centered in the knuckle, and the seal will not seal. Marlin Seals mask small variances in perfect alignment, but don't solve badly bent housings.
The 2nd best option is to weld in knuckle gussets BEFORE your housing is bent.

 

[deepseacruiser]

What yall think

 

[too tall]

Could be the camera angle but it looks as if it is bent just outside of where the vent comes out of the top of the axle . That is a very weird spot for it to bend . I have had numerous bent housings over the years . Knuckle ball gussets help out a bit but I find housings usually bend at the spring perch . When I build a housing now I use a piece of 1/4" wall 2x4 or 2x6 rectangular tubing and and cut it to fit the entire length of the diff from bump stop to bump stop in front of the housing rather than on top . With the brace most guys use , it only goes to the inside of the perch (would have maybe saved your diff if you had one) but if you ever end up with your front end in the air for some reason it can still bend . This is for an SOA setup but you could do it to a spring under rig if you decided to beef up your diff a bit . I have straightened housings in the truck but it is tricky . You need to chain down either end of housing by the balls then use a hydraulic bottle jack to bend it back into straightness . It is tricky to say the least to try to get it back within allowable spec. but it can be done . Afterward , adding a brace is a good idea . Good luck

 

[cruiserdan]

 

[deepseacruiser]

So the way I see it my options are to
1. try and bend the housing back
2. A used stock housing (what else should i replace if I go this route
3. An upgrade to??? If I do an upgrade I would like something that is semi plug and play, maybe go ahead and add lockers at this point? Any suggestions.?

 

[Malahki]

You could get a RuffStuff housing:
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/LC95HOS.html

 

[oldblue]

Is there a chassis straightening guy in your town, truck or auto, straighten then remove the axle.

 

[deepseacruiser]

I will prolly go ahead and remove the axle anyways. And try to take it some here to get straightened while I weigh out my options. What might the cost for something like that run?

 

[cruiserdan]

How long is a piece of string?

You will need to contact the most viable local suspects and ask them how much they want to do the job. I think I would start with body shops that have frame tables.

 

[deepseacruiser]

How long is a piece of string?.

I guess I expected something like that.

Jus trying to weight the options as I have a line on an axle housing in Texas.

Besides the housing. What else most likely needs replacing?

 

[deepseacruiser]

I managed to free the birf from the axle shaft with a slide hammer. But the axle shaft is still there and you can clearly see now that the housing is bent. I'm going to try the method with some chains and a bottle jack. To straighten while I look for another axle housing