What to do first?

[Dawnpatrol]

Yes, I am a newbie - I did do a search before posting this but I do have a few questions....thanks all!

I have a '97 LX450 I bought about 2 months ago, with 141K. I have some maintenance records but most are not recent. I did have a prepurchase inspection at the (st)ealer. The truck is in good shape overall.

If you were me, what items would you do/ replace first? I am planning on a tranny fluid change, oil change, and other fluid changes, and brakes will soon follow. I was told something about my scrub seals leaking, and even after searching here I can't find info on scrub seals....do they have another more common name?

I see a lot here about changing birfields (birfs)....thoughts on that? Is there a way to check if they are bad?

Lastly, we are already driving it often on the beach here in NC. Any thoughts on preventative maintenance re: lots of sand driving, other than washing/ hosing off the bottom frequently?

Thanks again, sorry for the newb questions......

 

[RavenTai]

I think you are hearing aobut several things that you think are diffrent when infact they are related.

I have not heard the phrase "scrub seals" but just by the name I think they may mean the wiper seals on the knuckle, IE you have gear oil coming out of your knuckles, this is common on most used 80's,

if you do have gear oil coming out there then it is not the seals you see leaking that are the problem but actually the inner axle seal leaking oil into the knuckle cavity (where the birfield lives) the wiper seal is where it makes it way out of the knuckle.

If you let this oil flow go on too long then the oil will carry away all the grease in the knuckle cavity and the birfield and things get expensive.

Do a birf repack. basically you take apart the knuckles clean everything and put it together with new bearings, seals and grease, It will take a couple hundred in parts, the FSM in paper or electronic form (Factory service manual, AKA repair manual, ) a few special tools and about a weekend of your time,

Look at you front brakes before you order parts, a birf repack is the time to do the rotors if you need them. With new rotors use 100 series pads.

There are many threads about a birf repack available via search and in the FAQ at the top of the 80 series forum.

After that baseline all fluids,
oil
transmission
T-case & both diffs (delete the flapper valves, extend the breathers wile you are at it)
power steering
coolant flush, with thermostat, and the infamous PHH "pesky heater hose" set aside some time for this one, you will gain some contortionist skills.
Brake fluid
Rear bearing repack/replace with seals (special tool needed, buy or make)

Get to know CruiserDan, he is our source for OEM parts and knowledge, he is on vacation this week

 

[Dawnpatrol]

Thanks, RavenTai - great advice. Question - is there a way to pump some grease into the knuckle cavity to buy a bit of time until I can do a full birf repack job?

 

[RavenTai]

there is a fill port on the knuckle, it has a square head, 1/2" IIRC, the spec for grease level is 3/4 full, do nto ovefill, weather that will be effective in getting grease into the birfiled in the presence of flowing oil is debatable.


search for "birf soup" to get a better diea on how to evaluate your knuckles

 

[Romer]

Baseline all fluids;
1) Change the oil and use a Toyota or equivalent filter (See FAQ for oil suggestions)
2) Flush and fill the radiator. Be careful to use what is currently in your system. If you have Toyota Red now, keep it. See threads below from cary to RavenTai on what anti-freeze not to use.
3) Change the gear oil in the front diff, rear diff and Transfercase. A lot of us use synthetics. NOTE: if your going to do a Front or Rear Axle service as recommended below, do this as part of that step.
4) Take a look at your tranny fluid and either do a fluid exchange or multiple fills as just draining will only get a portion out
5) Change the Brake and Power Steering fluid. Vacuum brake booster from Harbor freight does a great job helping with both. Do a search on my name and you will see two recent threads.

Do a Front Axle Rebuild - See FAQ maintenance section and as said before, great time to do the Rotors. Not hard but time consuming.

Do A rear axle service. Much much easier than front axle and a quick and easy job.

Replace Fuel Filter, Starter Contacts and PHH (Pesky Heater Hose). They are all in the same place and cheap and easy items to catch at one time.

You might think about Spark Plugs, Spark Plugs Wires, Distributor Cap and new Rotor.

The above is a big list, and some items may not be required based on a visual inspection. This will help baseline your vehicle so you know the condition, that along with normal preventitive maintenance will help your vehicle last a long time. The cost is not too bad if you do it yourself and hugely expensive if you pay to have it done. I would buy a Factory Service Manual to assist you along with the FAQ for the 80?LX450 which is a sticky at the top.

If you still have a question, click search in the masthead above, select advanced, select 80's forum and type in your key word. If searching doesn't answer your question, come back here and ask.

I would not concerned about the Headgasket issues unless you have some telltail signs of a problem.

Welcome

 

[Dawnpatrol]

Thanks Romer - great advice! Also glad to see there is someone out there defending us newbs Your truck is the same year as mine, it looks great and I bet it handled Moab well...

One last question - I have a strange rattling/ sort of grinding noise.....seemed to have isolated it today to when the truck is in drive and the A/C is on. Put it in park, leave the A/C on and it goes away. I know it's a bit of a long shot, but any thoughts?

 

[RavenTai]

check out the heat shields on the exhaust behind the passenger side front tire and arroung the cats, might help to have an assistant here to help reproduce the noise

 

[Beowulf]

One last question - I have a strange rattling/ sort of grinding noise.....seemed to have isolated it today to when the truck is in drive and the A/C is on.

Might be the A/C tensioner. It's not actually a tensioner but more of a guide. There is a tensioner on the alt belts. Both have been known to start making racket and replacing will stop the noise. Most of the time there is no urgency to replacing these... they just get louder with time. Schedule the replacement whenever you want to do new belts. Always buy OEM belts and never used cogged belts on the 1FZ-FE as they create excessive noise.

If you add grease via the square plug before you can do a proper repack, be sure to use moly grease.

-B-

 

[OGBeno]

Find some local LC guys/or a club and wheel your beast....

Break things and then realize how expensive these are to have in your household...

Then do all of the PM stuff everyone recommended.

Also, muffler bearings and antenna mast bearings....



-o-