mooremedia
Junior Member
Firstly, If you want my bearing removal kit, skip to the bottom of This post.
- - - -
Being a novice mechanic, I should have done things differently:
1- I should have started the entire project by draining the front diff fluid.
Since I did not, there was a consistent weep of fluid dribbling out while working to remove the dust ring and the old bearing.
I had a small catch container that always seemed to be in the way. Of course it accidentally got nudged out of position many times - which created a mess.
At one point while I had my little pry bar under the lip of the dust ring to pry it out - it took so much force that when it finally gave-way the dust ring hit me in the face and the prybar knocked over my fluid container. What a fail.
2- Most of the online tutorials I studied entail removing everything connected to the CV axle, then remove the axle from the diff by itself.
But over on the East Coast Gear Supply website I watched a mechanic remove the 4 bolts from the LBJ - then pull everything - the whole she-bang away from the diff - the axle, the hub, rotor, brake caliper - everything at once. Oh, that looks easier!, so I thought. It was not.
After prying the axle away from the diff, I was able to pull the entire thing out. But I was doing this job alone, and OMG, that entire assemblage of parts was way heavy for me to muscle out of the way (I did eventually tether it off ).
Also with my TBU, I had the bigger/heavier rotors, calipers and pads adding even more weight.
When it was time to insert the axle back in, I almost wasn't able to position it straight and perpendicular - it was too heavy. By the time I needed to align the ball joint holes and bolts with the knuckle, I was spent. I should have been brave enough to pull the entire drive line out piece by piece.
---
This is the kit from East Coast Gear Supply that fits the 7.5 clamshell - and worked perfectly for my 02 Runner:
Paypal me the shipping, I will send it to you. OR Local pick up if you're in the Los Angeles area.
- - - -
Being a novice mechanic, I should have done things differently:
1- I should have started the entire project by draining the front diff fluid.
Since I did not, there was a consistent weep of fluid dribbling out while working to remove the dust ring and the old bearing.
I had a small catch container that always seemed to be in the way. Of course it accidentally got nudged out of position many times - which created a mess.
At one point while I had my little pry bar under the lip of the dust ring to pry it out - it took so much force that when it finally gave-way the dust ring hit me in the face and the prybar knocked over my fluid container. What a fail.
2- Most of the online tutorials I studied entail removing everything connected to the CV axle, then remove the axle from the diff by itself.
But over on the East Coast Gear Supply website I watched a mechanic remove the 4 bolts from the LBJ - then pull everything - the whole she-bang away from the diff - the axle, the hub, rotor, brake caliper - everything at once. Oh, that looks easier!, so I thought. It was not.
After prying the axle away from the diff, I was able to pull the entire thing out. But I was doing this job alone, and OMG, that entire assemblage of parts was way heavy for me to muscle out of the way (I did eventually tether it off ).
Also with my TBU, I had the bigger/heavier rotors, calipers and pads adding even more weight.
When it was time to insert the axle back in, I almost wasn't able to position it straight and perpendicular - it was too heavy. By the time I needed to align the ball joint holes and bolts with the knuckle, I was spent. I should have been brave enough to pull the entire drive line out piece by piece.
---
This is the kit from East Coast Gear Supply that fits the 7.5 clamshell - and worked perfectly for my 02 Runner:
Paypal me the shipping, I will send it to you. OR Local pick up if you're in the Los Angeles area.
