txbonds 97 4runner limited project

[txbonds]

Started on front end. Had to stop midstream because I have some wrong parts.

Bought another hub nut and replaced the one I couldn't get tightened down to 203 ftlbs and then staked the nut on both new knuckle assemblies

Started putting the studs for the manual hubs in. I tightened them in place using a couple of nuts and I used a little blue Loctite on each stud.

Jacked up one side and placed on jack stand. Left jack in place as well.

Dropped the sway bar and then unbolted the steering rack. You have to remove bolts and nuts from these 3 locations. This is necessary to allow room to get LCA bolts out but also I have new steering rack bushings to put in.

Ready to start pulling parts on the passenger side

Pulled the ABS sensor wire and unbolted its cable clamps

Unbolt swaybar link

Next unbolt the caliper and it's line clamp and pull it to the side and tie it up

 

[txbonds]

Laid the tundra rotor aside as it goes back on new assembly

Popped cap off hub and removed cotter pin and nut lock. Then used a 36mm socket to remove the axle nut. One tip is to consider this before removing tire as I had to remount tire to provide friction to break nut free.

Removed upper ball joint from the UCA and freed the knuckle

Missed a few pictures but next I unbolted the 4 bolts holding LBJ to the knuckle which freed the knuckle assembly to be pulled free and set aside. Then separated LBJ from LCA and OTR. The LBJ and OTR are both discard items so I used a pickle fork to break them free. Also unbolted the upper and lower shock bolts to drop the shock/spring assembly out of the way.


Next up I unbolted the factory UCA and bolted in the light racing UCA.

Used a paint pen to mark the cam bolt plates/dials

Tied brake caliper and cv axle up to the light racing uca to get them out of way of LCA. Used some pieces of wire this time instead of zip ties.

Missed a few more pictures but next I removed the outer tie rod end, and the boot covering the inner tie rod. Also went ahead and unbolted and dropped the lower control arm.


Pulled the old cv axle with a bowl under the truck to catch the fluid. Was getting ready to replace the seal when I realized I have the wrong seals. I have seals for newer trucks which are slightly smaller. Can't get a new seal till Monday so I'm at a standstill as I want a new seal in there before putting the new manual hub cv axle in

 

[txbonds]

Turns out I had the right seals all along.


So, Picking up from this thread http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/161254-did-i-go-too-far-ifs-axle-seal.html



Just managed to get the axle seal in and replace. See above thread for details.

Also managed to get the new toyota lower LCA mounted and the reman toyota tacoma manual hub cv axle inserted into diff.

Showing gap between diff extension tube on passenger side and new cv axle

More to come!

 

[txbonds]

Not sure if this will work or not but did my best to straighten out the bent dust cover. Looks like a replacement is available but not sure it's needed since this isn't a normal seal.

Got the front shock/coil bolted back in. Service manual pages I found for torque settings look to show 22 ft lbs for top 3 small nuts and 101 ft lbs for large shock eye bolt on the front end. If anyone has different info please point me to it.

Tomorrow night I'll pick up again with the lower ball joint, knuckle and LR upper ball joint.

 

[txbonds]

Got a late start tonight but focused first on the rear seal on the knuckle. Got it tapped into place

Removed the nut on the upper control arm, applied Loctite,and re torqued to 85 ft lbs. then applied a jamb nut with its own Loctite just for security.

Installed the light racing upper ball joint. Torqued the ball joint castle nut down to 47 ft lbs and installed cotter pin as instructions indicated. Haven't torqued top bolt yet as I need a socket

Reinstalled ABS sensor and brackets

See anything wrong with this picture?

That's right, I installed the dust shields backwards. Only option was to cut them off and toss them as the hub is pressed through them. DOH!

Got rotor and caliper remounted and torqued the caliper bolts into place per specs. Also got the aisin hub base installed.

Got tired and called it a night. I'm currently struggling with getting the hub lock faces to go together properly so they lock and unlock easily. Will pick back up with that tomorrow night but I'm close to putting the tire back on this side. Then I only lack torquing the LCA bolts and the UBJ nut and this side is finished and on to the drivers side.

I will say that this whole manual hub conversion has probably been more than I bargained for but I'm close to seeing the finish line.




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[txbonds]

Got the manual hub figured out. They came from Toyota assembled wrong. Took them apart and followed some pictures on the web to reassemble and it works great now.

Here are my pictures following along with this website Toyota Aisin Manual Hub 101 - Disassembly and Reassembly - WabFab Off-Road LLC

Spring set on guide

Spring on guide rides in slot in clutch

Attaching spring to clutch. Start position

Ending spring position

Setting second spring on clutch with flat side down

Dial turned to the FREE position and clutch with spring pressed into back side of dial and turned counter clockwise to the position as shown. There are tabs that line up and allow this to go together

Took an old toothbrush dipped in axle grease and lightly coated all surfaces

 

[txbonds]

Manual hub complete

Shown with wheel back on

And a few shots of new parts installed

Lastly, everything has been torqued to spec and is ready to go except the top nut on the light racing control arm. I don't have a large enough socket to fit it so I'll have to come back to this tomorrow evening. This will be slid all the way to the outside edge then torqued down to 149 ft lbs

Friday night, Saturday and Sunday my plan is to get the drivers side swapped out in the same way, to get the steering rack bushings swapped out, the sway bar links and bushings in place and then the new inner and outer tie rods put on. We will see though as I'm moving pretty slow.





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[sschaefer3]

You have a HUGE mistake on the lower a-arms. Where are the bump stops? If you don't put the stock ones on, the lower ball joint will rip out of it's socket.

Do not use the Daystar ones they are too short, use the stock ones.

Ask SmallFry, user here about missing your lower a-arm bump stops. And what happens......

 

[sschaefer3]

Not sure if this will work or not but did my best to straighten out the bent dust cover. Looks like a replacement is available but not sure it's needed since this isn't a normal seal.

You can replace the seal at the end of the axle, I have done it many times, they are available separate from an axle.

 

[txbonds]

You have a HUGE mistake on the lower a-arms. Where are the bump stops? If you don't put the stock ones on, the lower ball joint will rip out of it's socket.

Do not use the Daystar ones they are too short, use the stock ones.

Ask SmallFry, user here about missing your lower a-arm bump stops. And what happens......

Yeah they are in the old arm still. Thanks for the reminder. I've got to get them out but didn't have a big enough wrench. It's on my list of items to be transferred. I just forgot to point it out.

 

[sschaefer3]

Cool. Just watching out for you. :cheers:

 

[Mr. B]

damn! that looks awesome!
I wanna do manual hubs even more now...

 

[JWaldz]

See anything wrong with this picture?

lol this reminded me of when I replaced my driver side wheel bearing. I forgot to put the dust shield back on all together. Had to take it all apart again haha.

Everything looks shiny and new. Good job on the upgrade!

 

[cdrewferd]

Very nice. Looks awesome. I bet you're even more anxious to drive this thing than we are.

 

[txbonds]

lol this reminded me of when I replaced my driver side wheel bearing. I forgot to put the dust shield back on all together. Had to take it all apart again haha.

Everything looks shiny and new. Good job on the upgrade!

Thanks. I thought for about 2 seconds regarding pressing everything apart and then quickly came to my senses. Not only would I probably ruin the bearing, it would take me months to ever get it back together. Also thought about trying to make the shield a 2 piece setup but couldn't come up with a way to make that work. End result will mean more cleaning and washing I guess. Hopefully brake dust won't become a major issue on any of the suspension components if I miss a wash job or two. Probably no worse than mud.

Very nice. Looks awesome. I bet you're even more anxious to drive this thing than we are.

Thanks. I can't wait to get it finished and the alignment set. I've been driving it a little. Up to 450 miles total before now but always with kid gloves for fear of the old ball joints going out. Will be nice to just get in and go without that worry in the back of my head once everything is all set.

 

[txbonds]

Started out this morning by moving the upper ball joint nut outward and torquing down to 150 ft lbs per instructions

Surprised at how many tools I'm using despite reading repeatedly it only takes a few metric sockets to do anything on a 4runner. :biggrin2:

Then started working on the drivers side by stripping out parts

A little trick my Dad showed me last weekend, which is probably only amusing to me at how simple yet obvious it is, is to make ties and hangers using home wiring.

In case I'm not the only one who never thought of this, and anyone reading this finds it interesting, simply take a piece of 12 gauge romex or similar and cut to length.

Using a knife or your dikes cut a simple small slit between two of the wires and pull the outside sheathing back a little. Then grab a wire with some pliers and pull.

End result is 3 usable wires to tie something up or hang something and only takes about 30 seconds to do. I'm using them to hang my brakes and stuff while I'm working as you can see in my pictures.

 

[txbonds]

Now the fun stuff.............


ABS LIGHT
Found out why my ABS light has been on since I bought the truck. The ABS wire was cut at top of shock/spring perch:

Looking at the wire ends, it has been broken for a while because of the condition of the copper and the rubber end. Looks like I need to order a new sensor for this side.

LEAK
So the fluid I was seeing on the bottom of the block at the oil pan joint just below the fan seems to run all down the drivers side. Can't see this from above the engine but once the tire and parts were removed it's very visible through the wheel well. Not sure if this is fresh or old that might have been cured when I had the upper seals replaced. While it looks bad, I've only driven it 450 miles since buying it last spring, so it's got to be mostly old residue. The oil level is still full since when I had the seals replaced and oil changed so I'm not sure. Will need to clean and degrease all this to find out, but that will have to wait until I get the thing drivable first.

Some pictures:

 

[txbonds]

I'm not sure how the heck to get the drivers side lower control arm bolt out without dropping the entire steering rack.



EDIT: A little more research shows the reason I can't get this to work is the diff drop. The large steering rack bolt wouldn't come out because it's hitting the diff. I was stumped on how to get the LCA bolt out if I couldn't get that bolt out as the rack just doesn't want to move any more. Just did some reading and found the reason it's hitting the diff is my Sonoran Steel diff drop. Will have to take that off and bolt the diff back up with old bolts long enough to get the steering rack squared away and then put the diff drop back on when I'm done. Boy oh boy. I'm tired from just taking stuff off today and I haven't even finished. LOL




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[I'mStock]

Bailing wire for hanging stuff, no modification needed.

 

[txbonds]

Bailing wire for hanging stuff, no modification needed.

Good point.


Love the runner in your link. If that one is yours it looks awesome. I'm sort of wishing I'd just bit the bullet and gone SAS, but I guess that will give me a future project one day or a reason to upgrade.