What grease for electric hub slip rings? (1 Viewer)

[GTSSportCoupe]

I'm having lots of fun doing a full swivel hub service and brake service on my LJ78.

One item I'm not clear on is the grease I should be using on the electric hub slip rings. I know others on here have done the same rebuild, so am wondering what you've used?

Toyota FSM says to use "Castle Body Grease W" (Part No. 08887-02007 YM102 No.2).

Surely there is something readily available at regular autoparts stores that will work fine without ordering special Toyota stuff?

 

[oldblue]

You could go to a electric motor rewind shop and get some none mineral type grease.
Some times if you look in the end cap, there can be some yellow spare grease.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

You could go to a electric motor rewind shop and get some none mineral type grease.
Some times if you look in the end cap, there can be some yellow spare grease.

Great thanks.

On a side note, these elec hubs are starting to piss me off, and I'm wondering if I should just scrap them and convert to manual hubs. Someone who last had the hubs apart on my LJ78 damaged the brushes, so I'm going to have to fabricate some new ones. Also, the swivel hub seal/bearing kit I bought seems designed more for the manual hub setup, as there is no hub outer oil seal. I'm stuck until I can source this oil seal...

 

[oldblue]

You could just order seals direct from Japan as I do #90311-62003 only takes 5 days to New Zealand. 1020 JPYen

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

You could just order seals direct from Japan as I do #90311-62003 only takes 5 days to New Zealand. 1020 JPYen

Hi oldblue, thanks a lot for your help. That is what I may end up doing. I'm hoping I can find the seals in Canada...but I'll get them from Japan if I have to.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Hey folks, thought I would update here. For the time being I've decided to keep my electric hubs, and have fabricated new brushes for them. I also did some research on greases, and found an industrial grease that is compatible with the Toyota grease. With a lot of research I had found that the Toyota "Body Grease W" is a Moly Disulfide Lithium Silicone White grease. I found that Dow Corning makes a grease that is the same. It is available through most Dow Corning distributors (Acklands Grainger here in Canada). The grease is called Molykote 44 Light and comes in 150g tubes.

http://www4.dowcorning.com/DataFiles/090007c8802dcd43.pdf

 

[tohox]

Hi @GTSSportCoupe

I'm in a similar situation where the previous owner (or mechanic) probably didn't use a pin to maintain the brushes out of the way while proceeding with reassembly and snapped off the slip ring brushes. So there are no brushes to be found in one of the hubs but the two brass arms which maintain pressure on the carbon brushes are still intact. I'm thinking of machining some used carbon brushes from another motor into a compatible shape and was wondering if you had gone through a similar process and if you had any cues?

Also I'm considering buying the Molykote 44 grease you suggested. Are you still satisfied with it given it has been 9 years...

Thanks!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Hi @GTSSportCoupe

I'm in a similar situation where the previous owner (or mechanic) probably didn't use a pin to maintain the brushes out of the way while proceeding with reassembly and snapped off the slip ring brushes. So there are no brushes to be found in one of the hubs but the two brass arms which maintain pressure on the carbon brushes are still intact. I'm thinking of machining some used carbon brushes from another motor into a compatible shape and was wondering if you had gone through a similar process and if you had any cues?

Also I'm considering buying the Molykote 44 grease you suggested. Are you still satisfied with it given it has been 9 years...

Thanks!

Sorry to hear. My hubs continued to work well. However last year it was rebuild time, and I swapped to manual hub parts. Was a good move. You can use 40/60/70 series parts to do this. 1978+. I highly recommend it. I no longer question whether my hubs will work or not when I push that button. You will need hubs, spindles, freewheel assembly and all hardware.

Anyhow, if you stick with the e-hubs, that grease worked well, and making your own brushes can work well too. Only thing I can recommend, is download RM183E factory service manual, as it gives the brush dimensions in the e-hub section. If you machine/file yours down to the same dimensions, it works well.

 

[tohox]

Huh! I have RM183E and have been following it so far but didn't notice the section about the e-hub brush dimensions.

May I ask what pushed you to finally make the electrical to manual leap? I haven't had any trouble with them so far and the only reason why I'm working on the e-hubs now is because I had to remove them in order to get to the knuckles. Obviously there actually was something wrong with them but I didn't notice probably because this hub was in the locked position when its brushes were sheered off and it has remained in that state since.

Thanks for the suggestions and confirmations!

 

[oldblue]

Here it is.

 

[tohox]

Thanks! I just finished fabricating copies based on the dimensions on that same page.

While you are here @oldblue I read on some other thread(s) that you had converted existing e-hubs to manual. I assume this entails machining the existing caps and inserting a knob of some kind to directly engage the gear/spring assembly inside. Correct? Any details on this procedure should my current endeavour fail?

 

[oldblue]

With out going into too much detail, there is a bit of work to do the conversion. ie turn up dummy motors , strip hub end caps, remove motors from hub body, jig up and drill end caps then ream them press in seals, reassemble.

 

[tohox]

Ah! I see. Judging by the sticker and your icon this is a service you are now offering then.

Again thanks to both of you!

 

[oldblue]

I used to convert heaps of these hubs for our NZ guys but it is coming to an end as these trucks are getting old and there are less of them.

 

[EZ73]

I just talked to Chris at Cruiser Outfitters a couple days ago about converting my ehubs to manual. I’ve got a new to me 1994 JDM HZJ73 that I’m presently troubleshooting the ehubs on. He (and a lot of others it looks like) says that eventually most people do the conversion. I’m hoping my ehubs might be an easy fix (yeah right) but if the brushes are toast then I’ll do the conversion while I’m doing a knuckle rebuild. Chris said they have all the parts put together for a full conversion. It is pricy but looks like it’s all new OEM stuff that you shouldn’t have to modify. The other option we talked about would be to get the conversion kit from Radd-Cruisers Manual Locking Hub Adapter Kit to replace Toyota Power Locking Hubs - https://radd-cruisers.shoplightspeed.com/electric-locking-hub-adapters-kit-with-2-plates-ha.html then add the manual locking hubs. That is a cheaper way to go but I don’t know enough about this stuff to say if there are any disadvantages of going this route. Anyway, I’m digging into my ehubs tomorrow to see what kind of trouble I’m looking at. Wish me luck.

 

[shermantank55]

I just talked to Chris at Cruiser Outfitters a couple days ago about converting my ehubs to manual. I’ve got a new to me 1994 JDM HZJ73 that I’m presently troubleshooting the ehubs on. He (and a lot of others it looks like) says that eventually most people do the conversion. I’m hoping my ehubs might be an easy fix (yeah right) but if the brushes are toast then I’ll do the conversion while I’m doing a knuckle rebuild. Chris said they have all the parts put together for a full conversion. It is pricy but looks like it’s all new OEM stuff that you shouldn’t have to modify. The other option we talked about would be to get the conversion kit from Radd-Cruisers Manual Locking Hub Adapter Kit to replace Toyota Power Locking Hubs - https://radd-cruisers.shoplightspeed.com/electric-locking-hub-adapters-kit-with-2-plates-ha.html then add the manual locking hubs. That is a cheaper way to go but I don’t know enough about this stuff to say if there are any disadvantages of going this route. Anyway, I’m digging into my ehubs tomorrow to see what kind of trouble I’m looking at. Wish me luck.

I ordered a set of these to try: AVM Hubs - https://www.terraintamer.com/en/4wd-products/avm/avm-hubs or AVM Hubs | ARB 4x4 Accessories - https://www.arb.com.au/general-accessories/avm-hubs/ They claim to be direct replacements for the electric hubs. Part number 463 for my KZJ71. I found a distributor on eBay for $150 a set. Thought I'd give them a try before doing a complete conversion since I'm currently rebuilding my knuckles. Looks like part number 454 for the HZJ73.

Cheers
Greg

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I ordered a set of these to try: AVM Hubs - https://www.terraintamer.com/en/4wd-products/avm/avm-hubs or AVM Hubs | ARB 4x4 Accessories - https://www.arb.com.au/general-accessories/avm-hubs/ They claim to be direct replacements for the electric hubs. Part number 463 for my KZJ71. I found a distributor on eBay for $150 a set. Thought I'd give them a try before doing a complete conversion since I'm currently rebuilding my knuckles. Looks like part number 454 for the HZJ73.
View attachment 2575235
Cheers
Greg

I thought about buying those at one point too. I've heard they are weaker than Aisin ones. But maybe that is a good thing? Easier to replace a broken hub than birfield or differential.

I ended up grabbing parts off a '76 FJ40 to convert mine. I bought new Aisin hubs from partsouq. Pictures here: LJ78 Elec to Manual Hub - https://photos.app.goo.gl/9GXrrVhEwrsU5wuh7

 

[GreatScot]

Sorry to hear. My hubs continued to work well. However last year it was rebuild time, and I swapped to manual hub parts. Was a good move. You can use 40/60/70 series parts to do this. 1978+. I highly recommend it. I no longer question whether my hubs will work or not when I push that button. You will need hubs, spindles, freewheel assembly and all hardware.

Anyhow, if you stick with the e-hubs, that grease worked well, and making your own brushes can work well too. Only thing I can recommend, is download RM183E factory service manual, as it gives the brush dimensions in the e-hub section. If you machine/file yours down to the same dimensions, it works well.

Hi there, I am looking to repair my brushes (HUB lock light is flashing intermittently) and I have been looking for the Molykote 44 Light but can only find the Molykote 44 Medium. Phoned a few stockists (based in the UK) and the light version isn't available. I am tempted to use the medium one since it's available. Do you think the consistency would make a difference?

If it doesn't then I will be forced to go down the manual route, which I intend to do when I rebuild the knuckles in a year or two, maybe longer... Would be nice to have the luxury of time to gather the parts for the manual conversion in the meantime...

Thanks mate

 

[tohox]

At the time I did my hubs+brushes I was able to get the light version from Amazon but at the moment they don't appear to stock it. There does seem to be some available in the UK on eBay though.

As to whether the medium variant is appropriate or not I'm afraid I can't help you.

Cheers!

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Great thanks.

On a side note, these elec hubs are starting to piss me off, and I'm wondering if I should just scrap them and convert to manual hubs. Someone who last had the hubs apart on my LJ78 damaged the brushes, so I'm going to have to fabricate some new ones. Also, the swivel hub seal/bearing kit I bought seems designed more for the manual hub setup, as there is no hub outer oil seal. I'm stuck until I can source this oil seal...

They will work flawlessly until you REALLY need them. Ask me how I know.