Mike,
if you want to take the time I could definitely help you out.
might not be able to this weekend but I plan on doing the wheel bearings and baselineing the fluids next weekend. there is room in my garage for two cruisers if you want it.
Dave
Back on topic, Ryan's voiced exactly my concern. In reading my posts, it sounds like LandCruiser snobbery and I want you to know that I'm simply concerned that you're going to have problems down the road. The LandCruiser knuckle is a very unique assembly more often found on agricultural and mining machinery designed to spend their life in a harsh environment. Reusing a $5 seal because you didn't know it was there beforehand and the customer is already upset about the brake caliper failure issue and now is waiting for the truck back would be an ordinary scenario played out by mechanics every day. Do it on the Cruiser, and then let the birfield get contaminated as a result, and voila' - you're buying an expensive birfield 18 months from now and the Les Schwab manager is new and never heard of you. A little work on your part now, and you'll be assured they'll have all the parts on hand to do this properly. As an example, I bought an axle repack kit before knowing Cdan from a major LandCruiser parts outfit and it came without 4 seals they didn't know about. This list won't let that happen to you if you can get/post the parts Les Schwab orders.
And when their screwup appears 3-4 months down the road, do you think they'll accept blame? If its simply not within your ability or time to do the job yourself, then my recommendation is this if you don't want to take it to a dealer. In every town with a Toyota dealership is an ex-Toyota mechanic working in or running an independent shop. Get the yellow pages and find him and let someone who's done this before do the job.
Somehow, I got dropped from watching this. With my mom passing and my apt almost done, I am going to have a little bit of time on my hands.
This will allow me to do this myself. I will contact Les Schwab and get the cash to buy the parts.
Does anyone know if this Knuckle is the same from 91-97?
Cheers
Mike
by the way found this on Sor.
"Up until 1998 the Land Cruiser used a straight axle (or live axle) closed knuckle. The knuckle pivots left to right, using knuckle bearings, one top and one bottom per side. With the use of larger tires and rims the knuckle bearing (AKA trunnion bearing, king pin bearing) takes a lot of pounding abuse. Most of the wear to the bearing occurs in the straight line position. Rotating knuckle left to right and the knuckle wants to return to center every time is a sign of bearing wear. For 80 Series, the kits do not come with shims, you must reuse your old ones. "
I think 93-97 would be an exact match because of the addition in 93 of ABS sensors. Regarding the trunion (AKA knuckle bearings) there's no concern on shims, which are in fact DESIGNED to be reused.
Maybe I need a trunion seal, I retorqued my lower bearing retainers last night and one was slightly oily, like it's seeping through the shims. I wonder if I got a bit of debris in there, so things don't fit perfectly. A seal or even sealant would probably mess up the bearing play. Small thing to worry about on a truck like this I suppose.
All the parts came in and I'm going to go pick it all up tonight.... Should I pick up any tools as well for this job? any pullers or the sort that I need? Thanks in advance
I found that the following are nice to have for this job:
54 mm socket for the hub nut
brass drifts and hammer for the cone washers and to get the bearing races out with
seal puller to get the oil seals out with
snap ring pliers
Also next time I do this job I'm going to get something better with which to drive the oil seals in with.
The oil seals or the bearing races? On the oil seals I used something... can't remember what. Some sort of hammer, maybe my plastic hammer? At any rate it dented the seals more than I liked. I think I was able to hit the big oil seal on the hub in with a plastic disk, but my disk was too large to drive in the axle oil seal.
The races I drove in with the brass drifts and later switched the aluminum punches later on the inner wheel bearing races. The aluminum was easier on the hub. Since then I learned about the freeze method in which you freeze the bearing races before hand and torch the hub which should allow the races to be dropped in.
Can anyone tell me if the Knuckle from a 93 is compatible with a 97? the one they sent me was a 93. Just want to make sure it is exact before I start ripping crap off. Thanks in advance.
What parts exactly are you talking about here? They'll be exact unless you're talking drive plates or if by unfortunate luck the 93 knuckle has no ABS sensor hole (doubt they were made).
That's no help. The "knuckle" has a LOT of parts. I'm thinking you're fine, but specifying WHAT you're expecting to use off this "knuckle" would be important. There are two bearings, two races, a knuckle housing, a bottom and top cap, shims, untold dozens of gaskets, 4 studs on the bottom, a square plug for filling, an inner 3 part sweep seal set, an ABS sensor and wire harness and harness fastener, etc.
What parts exactly are you talking about here? They'll be exact unless you're talking drive plates or if by unfortunate luck the 93 knuckle has no ABS sensor hole (doubt they were made).
Actually, to make this a shorter typefest, I can only think of those things I noted above in #32 that could be an issue when speaking of the knuckle/spindle assembly.
The knuckle housing. It's the same 93-97. Hope it's coming with the 23, 101-103 parts as well as they are a matched set of shims and the top cap. The shims from your knuckle housing may or may not be correct for the machining and subsequent measurements on the one you get. Also, don't forget to order some of the new style studs that go on the bottom to hold the steering arm on. They have a star type end so they can be kept torqued - some have reported the old style loosening up and these are designed to correct that. Cdan will know.
