New to the forum.
I am the original owner of a 94 80 series LC. It is a basic CA truck without factory lockers. After a few months of ownership I knew that I would never sell the truck.
The truck has been a part of the family ever since. Everyone in the family has driven it at some time including my daughters. We provided regular maintenance and never had a problem with it. It has 155,000 miles.
Over the years I have used the truck off-road. It’s a little big for some mountain action in SoCal but never let me down, even without lockers. Since it came with the runners the truck took its fair share of hits.
This summer I found this site and elected to restore the truck. This included some body work for dents, replaced some of the interior, new paint (kept the original green color), and added a new sound system including Nav system. I added the OME replacement suspension recommended by Slee, stepped up the tire size and added new wheels, and added an ARB front bumper with winch and ARB air lockers. I used the local ARB dealer (ORW) to do the air locker and suspension work. Also I installed new wiring harness for the lights, added the CDL switch and pin 7 fix. Awesome results (pics to follow).
Recently I began to feel an occasional rubbing/grinding in the front end. At first it appeared that the front drive was rubbing against the front sway bar…so I added the drop blocks Slee offers and fixed the rear as well. The noise continued and with the scarring on the front drive I decided to replace it using a local Toyota dealer. Again the intermittent rubbing/grinding noise… but the problem was increasing in regularity and the truck’s steering was affected. Finally whenever the occasional grinding appeared the brakes began to fail as the ABS was releasing.
The local dealer was mystified by this problem; even the head mechanic (who is an off-roader himself) was puzzled. It was intermittent.
I searched this site and found the references to the front spindle bushings and the failure to lube properly problem after rebuilt. I pointed the head mechanic at this site and the references and sure enough…they tore the front end apart and found the problem. The old spindle bushings were not lubricated properly and ate themselves…almost to the point of some axle damage. Replaced the spindles with the new finger bearings (the old ones were metal on metal) and with proper lube the truck is back to its old reliable self again.
Thanks for help to those of you who have added the experience with this venerable off-road vehicle. This site is invaluable.
Rich
I am the original owner of a 94 80 series LC. It is a basic CA truck without factory lockers. After a few months of ownership I knew that I would never sell the truck.
The truck has been a part of the family ever since. Everyone in the family has driven it at some time including my daughters. We provided regular maintenance and never had a problem with it. It has 155,000 miles.
Over the years I have used the truck off-road. It’s a little big for some mountain action in SoCal but never let me down, even without lockers. Since it came with the runners the truck took its fair share of hits.
This summer I found this site and elected to restore the truck. This included some body work for dents, replaced some of the interior, new paint (kept the original green color), and added a new sound system including Nav system. I added the OME replacement suspension recommended by Slee, stepped up the tire size and added new wheels, and added an ARB front bumper with winch and ARB air lockers. I used the local ARB dealer (ORW) to do the air locker and suspension work. Also I installed new wiring harness for the lights, added the CDL switch and pin 7 fix. Awesome results (pics to follow).
Recently I began to feel an occasional rubbing/grinding in the front end. At first it appeared that the front drive was rubbing against the front sway bar…so I added the drop blocks Slee offers and fixed the rear as well. The noise continued and with the scarring on the front drive I decided to replace it using a local Toyota dealer. Again the intermittent rubbing/grinding noise… but the problem was increasing in regularity and the truck’s steering was affected. Finally whenever the occasional grinding appeared the brakes began to fail as the ABS was releasing.
The local dealer was mystified by this problem; even the head mechanic (who is an off-roader himself) was puzzled. It was intermittent.
I searched this site and found the references to the front spindle bushings and the failure to lube properly problem after rebuilt. I pointed the head mechanic at this site and the references and sure enough…they tore the front end apart and found the problem. The old spindle bushings were not lubricated properly and ate themselves…almost to the point of some axle damage. Replaced the spindles with the new finger bearings (the old ones were metal on metal) and with proper lube the truck is back to its old reliable self again.
Thanks for help to those of you who have added the experience with this venerable off-road vehicle. This site is invaluable.
Rich
