Drive w/o half shafts?

M

mliebal

New member
I'm trying to resolve loud engine ticking on my 4wd 3.4 4runner.
I bit the bullet and dropped the front differential, whew.
The rod bearings look good, but who knows. I'm installing new ones, once they get ordered.
I'm wondering if I could drive it some with the front dif pulled.
I'm wondering if the front wheels need the half shafts in to stay assembled?
I may take the outer parts off of some old half shafts and just mount those on the wheel assemblies until I'm certain I have the engine right.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!
 
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Yes.

You HAVE to drive with the CVs.

UNLESS, you're running the manual hub swap.

The ADD hubs have to have the CVs to run, or you'll destroy them.

+1 for the manual hub swap........
 
Thanks Doc
I'm talking about driving with the front differential pulled.
So the ADD are out anyways.
I'm more worried the front hub/wheel assy will come apart w/o the outer section of the cv shaft bolted through the wheel assembly.
Make sense?
 
Doc2012 said:
Yes.

You HAVE to drive with the CVs.

UNLESS, you're running the manual hub swap.
The ADD hubs have to have the CVs to run, or you'll destroy them.

+1 for the manual hub swap........
Click to expand...

mliebal said:
Thanks Doc
I'm talking about driving with the front differential pulled.
So the ADD are out anyways.
I'm more worried the front hub/wheel assy will come apart w/o the outer section of the cv shaft bolted through the wheel assembly.
Make sense?
Click to expand...

I knew that's what you were talking about.

The ADD system is not just the front diff. It's also the hubs. The hubs are part of the ADD system. The only difference between the front diff on the ADD system and the manual hub system is the passenger side of the diff.

There is an actuator that can be "locked" in place, making the front diff a "manual" diff.

As for the HUBS, which is your original question.

If you take the CVs out of the hubs, which you're going to have to do in order to remove the front diff, you WILL destroy the hubs.

Hence why I said +1 for the manual hub swap. With the manual hubs, you CAN take the CV's out and hot have to worry about destroying the hubs.
 
Well dang
I am not quite following. This is a 96 4runner 4wd with the front diff out and I am wanting to leave it out temporarily.
I have replaced the half shafts previously. Which means I removed them from the passenger side of the front diff and unbolted out of the hub (pops out from inside the passenger tube of diff). Which I did to remove the whole front diff. So now I have the half shafts setting on the ground. These have an end that goes into the hub (the support for the wheel/spindle that rotates to turn). The half shafts have three section with cvs in between. I am thinking I should take some old worn out half shafts apart (they are cores anyways) and just stick the thread portion back into the wheel hub and tighten the big nut back on to hold the whole front wheel bearing/spindle/housing assembly together. I would do all of this just so I can leave the whole front diff out of the truck incase I need to drop the pan again or maybe even replace the engine.
So this will cause some add issues? I dont see any activators on the front passenger side wheel spindles.
Really thanks for your taking the time on this. I really really appreciate it. I may just be slow. I even looked up the front end parts on the fsm.

BTW, really work up you did on your 4runner.
How she doing these days?
 
Last edited:
mliebal said:
Well dang
I am not quite following. This is a 96 4runner 4wd with the front diff out and I am wanting to leave it out temporarily.
I have replaced the half shafts previously. Which means I removed them from the passenger side of the front diff and unbolted out of the hub (pops out from inside the passenger tube of diff). Which I did to remove the whole front diff. So now I have the half shafts setting on the ground. These have an end that goes into the hub (the support for the wheel/spindle that rotates to turn). The half shafts have three section with cvs in between. I am thinking I should take some old worn out half shafts apart (they are cores anyways) and just stick the thread portion back into the wheel hub and tighten the big nut back on to hold the whole front wheel bearing/spindle/housing assembly together. I would do all of this just so I can leave the whole front diff out of the truck incase I need to drop the pan again or maybe even replace the engine.
So this will cause some add issues? I dont see any activators on the front passenger side wheel spindles.
Really thanks for your taking the time on this. I really really appreciate it. I may just be slow. I even looked up the front end parts on the fsm.

BTW, really work up you did on your 4runner.
How she doing these days?
Click to expand...

This will work fine, same reason people that break CVs often carry spare inner and outer joints without the intermediate shaft. Running just the inner stub keeps your fluid in your diff, and the outer stub keeps your hub and wheel bearings intact.

Manual hubs are smaller and weaker on our trucks by the way. Not really an upgrade.
 
Thanks NAte
My question was at first whether I needed to put the stub into the wheel hub, but I'm not questioning it, I'm just going to do it.
I think the wheel stub holds the wheel bearing/wheel hub in place.
Now if only this replacement of the rod bearing cures the major engine tick!!!!
 
mliebal said:
Thanks NAte
My question was at first whether I needed to put the stub into the wheel hub, but I'm not questioning it, I'm just going to do it.
I think the wheel stub holds the wheel bearing/wheel hub in place.
Now if only this replacement of the rod bearing cures the major engine tick!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah buddy, and yes you are correct about the outer stub holding everything together once the wheel nut is on and torqued down.

Good luck with the tick!
 
Smaller and weaker? Says who?

Even if they are smaller and weaker, I would rather run them anyway, simply for the reason stated above.

If I need work done on he front diff, I can pull it out, and not have to worry about putting something in its place, something off balance, that will probably ruin the bearings anyway.

Just my .01.
 
Thanks guys!
Yeah Nate its just a matter of time to get rid of the engine noise.

Doc, enjoy that runner! The manual axles have a turned down section that the non-manual's dont (going through the wheel/bearings), so may be somewhat weaker. Spinning the half shafts with lift has cost me a few sets, probably would have been cheaper in the long run to switch.
 
Wholly crapola!
I just finished doing the whole bottom end, as in new rod journals.
Gaps were looking good, only cylinder 5 had about .003" gap. But was still in spec.
So after 300k miles the crank looked really good.
Threw the oil pan on, added oil and fired her up.
Two immediate sounds:
1. Engine ticking and
2. Me wailing!

So as I was standing there, I individually pulled the plug wires, no diference.
I reached in and pulled the number 5 injector----------QUIET!!
So after all this, a pia injector, that I could not tell previously when I pulled it.
My damn mistake. I own it! Guess I wont be after a career as autotech.
Now I need to repull the pan, clean and reseal, put the front diff back in, pull the valve covers and put the new gaskets in. All after I get another injector and try it.
Off to the boneyard in the am to get a cheapie injector.
 
Cant be sure, but when doing the rod journals the rods all felt really tight, I could not detect any up/down play.
I restarted the engine this morning. The engine is quieter then previously, so maybe the journals did do some good. The stethoscope is showing the noise coming from the 5th cylinder injector. Unplugging makes that noise go away, but pulling that spark plug wire does not. So if it was a wrist pin I think both th einjector and the spark plug wire would stop the noise. Correct?
 
I'm talking about driving with the front differential pulled.
hu5b.jpg
 
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