What did you work on tonight? (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dumpolina
- Start date
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Finished up the front knuckle service.
-Front knuckle kit from CruiserOutfitters with OEM inner seals.
-All new bearings + seals
-Brembo rotors (rock auto)
-Advics pads (rock)
I went with Valvoline Palladium 2% moly grease in the knuckles as it met/exceeded the FSM requirements. The whole job including birfields was (3) 14 oz tubes. Used Sta-Lube SL3111 wheel bearing grease as I had heard several other members mentioned using it.
My knuckle bearing supports were stuck on really well. I ended up just pulling the studs and cone washers all in one shot. This tool from Autozone absolutely rocked. It was special order ($16), OEM tools 25438. Got every single stud in a few seconds when used in front of an impact driver. As a bonus the threads on the studs were not in bad shape at all after using it.
Massive thanks to @Dc75nm for lending me his knuckle alignment tool. Very slick to use. There really is no other way of replicating what the tool can do. Upon disassembly it was 1.3 mm top and 1 mm bottom shims on both sides. With new bearings I measured very close to 1 mm top/bottom for both sides. It is admittedly difficult to maintain ~+/-0.100 mm accuracy on results that use measurements >100 mm. Did my best and checked that the pre-load drag was within specs. I went ahead and painted the knuckles with rustoleum to make cleaning easier. I would have preferred to shoot them in epoxy but the weather and schedule did not permit.
Axle seals aside, a second part of this job was to bring the brakes back up to par after sitting for several years. I've always had warpage, dragging calipers, and a missing lug stud. Time for that to change. New rotors from rock auto. I painted the edges and hats with caliper paint to discourage corrosion. At the same time, I split the calipers and pulled the pistons. If anyone is contemplating this, remove the pistons before splitting. I accidentally shot one across the shop with compressed air and toasted the lip on the floor with a ding. New seals were sourced from the dealer. I also managed to land a tube of "red rubber grease" that the FSM calls for to install the seals. I would not normally have bought it just to do a few seals, but I figure I'll use it on the sway bar bushings too. Definitely makes installing the pistons easier. Sandblasted decades of brake crust off and painted them with the same caliper paint as the rotors.
Bled all the lines and took a test drive tonight. The braking performance was less than expected. It's possible the braking surfaces are still wearing in and I also haven't touched the rear. It takes way too much pedal force to stop. Applying full force it casually slows down, then only after a few seconds does it start to really grab. It's been a while, but I don't remember it being this hard to stop, no way could I lock it up (31" x 10.5"? tires?). It's almost like the brake booster isn't "storing" vacuum and is only able to kick in after that casual first few second delay. I'll try some of the FSM tests this week. Any thoughts?
-Front knuckle kit from CruiserOutfitters with OEM inner seals.
-All new bearings + seals
-Brembo rotors (rock auto)
-Advics pads (rock)
I went with Valvoline Palladium 2% moly grease in the knuckles as it met/exceeded the FSM requirements. The whole job including birfields was (3) 14 oz tubes. Used Sta-Lube SL3111 wheel bearing grease as I had heard several other members mentioned using it.
My knuckle bearing supports were stuck on really well. I ended up just pulling the studs and cone washers all in one shot. This tool from Autozone absolutely rocked. It was special order ($16), OEM tools 25438. Got every single stud in a few seconds when used in front of an impact driver. As a bonus the threads on the studs were not in bad shape at all after using it.
Massive thanks to @Dc75nm for lending me his knuckle alignment tool. Very slick to use. There really is no other way of replicating what the tool can do. Upon disassembly it was 1.3 mm top and 1 mm bottom shims on both sides. With new bearings I measured very close to 1 mm top/bottom for both sides. It is admittedly difficult to maintain ~+/-0.100 mm accuracy on results that use measurements >100 mm. Did my best and checked that the pre-load drag was within specs. I went ahead and painted the knuckles with rustoleum to make cleaning easier. I would have preferred to shoot them in epoxy but the weather and schedule did not permit.
Axle seals aside, a second part of this job was to bring the brakes back up to par after sitting for several years. I've always had warpage, dragging calipers, and a missing lug stud. Time for that to change. New rotors from rock auto. I painted the edges and hats with caliper paint to discourage corrosion. At the same time, I split the calipers and pulled the pistons. If anyone is contemplating this, remove the pistons before splitting. I accidentally shot one across the shop with compressed air and toasted the lip on the floor with a ding. New seals were sourced from the dealer. I also managed to land a tube of "red rubber grease" that the FSM calls for to install the seals. I would not normally have bought it just to do a few seals, but I figure I'll use it on the sway bar bushings too. Definitely makes installing the pistons easier. Sandblasted decades of brake crust off and painted them with the same caliper paint as the rotors.
Bled all the lines and took a test drive tonight. The braking performance was less than expected. It's possible the braking surfaces are still wearing in and I also haven't touched the rear. It takes way too much pedal force to stop. Applying full force it casually slows down, then only after a few seconds does it start to really grab. It's been a while, but I don't remember it being this hard to stop, no way could I lock it up (31" x 10.5"? tires?). It's almost like the brake booster isn't "storing" vacuum and is only able to kick in after that casual first few second delay. I'll try some of the FSM tests this week. Any thoughts?
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Few more photos
alia176
SILVER Star
Hey Mister, that's my kind of porn, right there. Yes sir 
Dc75nm
SILVER Star
Beautiful work. Pro AF!!
Good deal! I was able to lock it up on dry pavement from 20 mph. Maybe the pads/rotors just needed to wear in?
We need after pictures.
Exploded trans and tcase are out, the carnage is a lot worse than I expected.
Not sure what to do with the trans, I think it’s a r150f if anyone has parts or wants it for parts. I found the rear tcase adapter part for sale from Toyota but it’s $900 which is more expensive than getting another used one from a taco or 4runner so probably won’t be doing that and it’s definitely too broken to weld but the rest of the parts are good and I’d hate for it to go to waste.
Not sure what to do with the trans, I think it’s a r150f if anyone has parts or wants it for parts. I found the rear tcase adapter part for sale from Toyota but it’s $900 which is more expensive than getting another used one from a taco or 4runner so probably won’t be doing that and it’s definitely too broken to weld but the rest of the parts are good and I’d hate for it to go to waste.
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Mauser
Supporting Vendor
Congrats! Did you put all those miles on it?
I did 180k of them. USAF owned its whole life. 1st owner worked all the kinks out of it
lol, and hit a deer
4Runner is back on the road finally, finished around 6 last night then hit some dirt first thing this morning to test everything
alia176
SILVER Star
did you do the work at your parent's?
Yeah it broke closer to their house so that’s where I got it towed and where it sat until I had the replacement stuff and some warm weather to work on it
Slapped this thing into the 4Runner today. Might eventually bypass the relay that makes the outlets only powered when the key is on for camping but for now this is just powered when the key is in the ignition
alia176
SILVER Star
Nice, but can you pan out and show us some more pls? Isabelle wants the same thing in her ride.
