Well, I was until today. I am trying to press the wheel bearings out with my press and old rotors. Well the rotor shattered from the press (wheel bearing not budging.) So I'm thinking of what to do...

They can be a real pain is the a**. Were you able to get the tone ring off? If it's only the bearing, did you remove the snap ring?

This, and if using the 2WD knuckles, is the lock ring removed?

-Charlie

Many independent shops will do presswork for a nominal fee (like $40 a side or something).

-Charlie

I'm a big idiot. I didn't realize that was a threaded lock but in the 2wd hub as I was using my 4wd diagrams.....well 100 dollars later and several hours later I've ordered the 4 pt socket and new rotors for the 4runner .

Now I've got a beat to hell lock nut that I tried to hammer out without the tool ( no luck) that il be hopefully removing Saturday when the socket arrives.

If it strips out of the OEM holes il drill some more.

Luckily only one side is so beat up.

Either way, today was a waste of time ...goes to show how using the right manuals saves you time and money.

Tomorrow I'd like to do the things I planned on doing today, as none of it was accomplished (with the exception of the hubs, have to wait for the tool now).

As referenced in post above, I'm an idiot. I did NOT remove the 2wd lock nut.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be allowed to work on anything.

A good productive day.

Cut off the Frame crossmember horns from the donor 4runner and cleaned em up nicely to get ready to weld.

Made a template for the shift boot cutout and cut out the hole in the 2wd 4runner

Trimmed the rusty add metal lines and ran new vacuum hose

Installed front differential and front driveshaft

Removed clutch and reinstalled new exedy clutch, throwout bearing, pilot bearing.

Trickiest of all of these jobs was the grinding of the horns as the angle was difficult with the grinder.

I also had to use a mixture of a sawzall, Dremel, tin snips, and a hacksaw to make the cut for the shift hole.

The second trickiest was getting the pilot bearing out. I used the toilet paper soaked in water trick and packed the hole full and hit it with a clutch alignment tool, repeatedly packing with more toilet paper until it was moving bit by bit. THEN... I added more! And repeated. Got it out in less than 10 min.

Sad thing is the clutch was also exedy, and looked fairly new. I saved it so il probably try and get a few bucks for it if anyone wants one on the cheap. I compared thicknesses and it was damn near the same. I figured I may as well change it anyways, but hopefully my loss is someone's gain.

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Busy day..got to work on the 4runner for about 7 hours on and off. Fit a quick two hour mountain bike ride and a beer mid day which slowed me down, but was well deserved.

Today I started by replacing the slave cylinder. Was going to reuse the hose until i found it was so rusted it wouldnt even rotate in the fitting-so a quick trip to summit racing and I was able to get the exact stainless hose I wanted in the length I wanted...for super cheap!

While I was there I picked up aisin antifreeze, a new oil filter, and some 8.8 bolts for the driveshaft.

also picked up two new upper strut mounts (front) a loaner spring compressor, and some oil.

I replaced the line with stainless line and will not be using any hard lines if I can. I do need to get one 90 degree fitting and some clamps to drill into the body to keep the line from flopping around, but napa had these for pretty cheap.

Once the slave cyl and lines were in place I moved on to the motor mounts...after several slow wrench turns due to the rusty mounts, I got them both free and replaced with new beck arnley rubbers.

Started removing the suspension so I could change the shocks out and add the spacer. Removed all shocks/struts and installed rear shocks. Going to finish that tomorrow-with the spacer the spring compressors are definitely needed to make it a one man job.

went on my mountain bike ride, had some beers and some bbq...then arrived to two packages at the door.

One was my new flowmeter/gauge for my weld tank, and the other was the 4 pin socket for the retaining ring in the hub.

I figured why not take it on before calling it a night-which I quickly regretted. It took me over 3 hours to get both threaded rings removed (EVEN WITH THE TOOL). they were so snug due to years and miles of use that i was using a 2 foot breaker bar and SLAMMING it with my rubber hammer which was giving me 1/2 an inch of rotation each hit. After 45 minutes I got the first one off which was a relief.

The second one however, this one took over two hours. Not only was I having to beat my breaker bar into submission, but the great force from my might hammer (or not so mighty) caused my hammer to split in half in the middle of the wood handle. Well this wasnt going to stop me, so i grabbed my hydraulic jack handle and began beating it into submission.

BUT WAIT...the pins now started to fall out of the socket requiring replacement with a hammer every 3-4 strikes with my almighty tube. "OKAY" I said. patience will lead to success. I kept hitting at it and was slowly making ground for at least 1.5 turns...and then nothing. It was frozen. nothing I could hit it with would move the ring. I accepted the fact that this would now be a surgical procedure. Grinder surgery.

I ground out angles that I thought would work well. I couldnt do exactly what I wanted because I didnt want to damage the outer housing too much, even though it isnt necessarily important (structurally, sure). After grinding away and hitting away, and grinding some more, I still couldnt do it.

So I decided to split the ring. I got my drill and bored out one of the holes until the ring broke in half. I then forced it open with a hammer and old screwdriver. Slowly but surely, and about 15 minutes later...IT WAS FREE.

So now I can sleep well. Il take more pictures tomorrow, but I was just happy to be out of that garage.

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Installing wheel bearings now....do you lightly Grease the outer surface of the wheel bearing? Or is it dry pressed in?? Is assume lubrication, but no mention in manual...

I used grease to lessen the amount of force for insertion.

Awesome!! Love the videos...been watching a bunch of em.

Hard day of work! Started with the wheel bearings and hubs. The hubs pressed out fairly easy, and the wheel bearings were quick to follow. Used the two rotors stacked method to punch out the hubs. Used one hub upside down for the wheel bearings, and it was no problem.

Separated everything and started to rebuild. Pressed the wheel bearings in after a light coating of wheel bearing grease was applied to the inner face of the spindle assembly. Bearings pressed in with ease. Then I mounted the hub on a rotor and pressed the spindle assembly down onto the hub using an adapter that was the circumference of the inner diameter of the wheel bearing, but hollow. Being hollow allows the hub shaft to penetrate through the wheel bearing while pressing.

I then added the ABS ring , and realized something was missing. DAMN.

The 4wd hubs have a wheel bearing spacer instead of a lock nut ..and I didn't have this part. It's pressed into the hub (rear).

So, instead of spending 25 bucks a pop and delaying the project, I went to the parts truck. Equipped with an orielly auto wheel bearing kit I rented (400 dollar deposit!!!) I was able to press the hub out about 1/2 of an inch from the rear and snag the spacer. To say I was pleased about my plan working is an understatement!

An hour later and I had my pieces. I also took the rotors off so I could return the new ones I bought. I hate overpaying at local stores , so this made me happy.

I pressed the spacers onto the backs of the hubs and tapped the oil seal in place with a plastic hammer.

While messing with the rotors I pulled , I realized they were larger than the ones on the 4runner thats being built up.

Turns out they both have 16 inch wheels, but the 4wd runner has the larger brakes from the factory.

So I went back to my parts truck and yanked the calipers-free brake upgrade!

I then decided to knock out the suspension. I rented some coil spring compressers and went to town. My preferred method is to compress enough to take load off top hat, replace shock, place tophat (without rubber bushing) and finger tighten shock hat nut. Then I place the assembly into the vehicle, bolt it in, and jack up the lower control arm.

This method is much easier than trying to wrench down on spring compressors . Once you jack it up to the point where the vehicles weight is on the jack, the spring should be compressed and the top hat nut can be removed, rubber bushing installed, and then tightened up!

The rear was more of a pain. I disconnected the sway bar to assist in flex, but adding the 2 inch spacer made things pretty difficult . I decided to do a similar tactic in the rear, and compressed the springs slightly with the coil compressors. I then inserted the coils with the spacers and literally sat on the axle in the wheel well looking like golem from Lord of the rings. After so effort and grunting, I got the left side in.

The right side was much easier. Not sure why, but it was. I didn't even detach the sway bar!

Last thing left was to attach the lower shock mount. I couldn't get the bolt to thread with the new bushings, so I called it for the night. Any neat tips or tricks from the gallery?

Anyways...not much left now. I foresee being finished within a week!

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Rad project. You went down the rabbit hole with this one...

Brakes: That means the 2WD 4Runner was a 15" wheel truck and somebody had changed the wheels sometime in its life. Change out the rear wheel cylinders too (the 16" wheel trucks have larger rear wheel cylinders to match the larger front brakes).

Rear suspension: Loosen the pivot bolts on all 5 links (10 locations). Install new suspension parts, re-tighten the links at ride height. Much less fighting of parts, and you will 're set' the bushings to be unloaded at the new ride height. You should do the same on the front for the upper and lower control arm pivot bolts (same deal for easy install).

-Charlie

been there done that lol live and learn. You are not alone. Do not believe everything you read on the internet lol