Finishing up my pile of little PITA maintenance tasks that all got bundled together with the new steering rack and front diff.
- Passenger side motor mount. I broke the driver side mount a few years ago, bought both, but only replaced the driver side at that time. It's probably easier to do with the 1" body lift giving a bit more access through the passenger side wheel well. But still, not fun. Old mount was slightly separated around the edges, slightly sagged, but not too bad.
- New steering column lower rubber rag joint. Mine was really, really stuck on the old rack, I damaged it a bit getting it off there. And the rubber was a bit cracked. So I got a new one. It's finicky work on the other side of the frame, out of sight. The upper splined section only fits on one way, the lower (onto the rack itself) fits in ay direction. So I got it all neatly lined up and installed, and only then looked at the steering wheel and realized it was turned about 2/3rds of the way. Ahhh... I thought I'd left it straight ahead when I removed the rack, but that was then, this is now. So I got to redo that steering joint to get the steering wheel and front wheels more in sync (at least close enough that the tie rod ends aren't cranked way over to get everything straight).
And a new driver side lower ball joint. The LBJ's aren't that old, but this one had a split boot, and might as well swap it while it's half off already.
Then I stuck the CV stub shafts back into the diff. I'd left them attached to the hubs (since it's a fiddly bit of messing around to take them out of the manual hubs), and just unbolted the lower ball joints (the 4 smaller bolts) on both sides, and the tie rod ends, and swung the whole hub out to remove them. And this worked well going back in.
Where I discovered something that I sincerely hope is NOT a problem - the brand new Eaton/Harrop e-locker diff seems to be LOCKED. Both CV shafts are def linked to each other and turn together when turning the CV shafts or front driveshaft by hand. The Eaton e-locker is't like the Toyota e-lockers - there's no shifting mechanism that can hold it locked or unlocked, from my understanding it's just an electromagnet that energizes when the locker switch is on and pulls a pin back that allows the mechanism to lock itself after the front wheels have rotated relative to each other (in either direction). No 12V - no electromagnet, and when the wheels rotate again it will lock into the center 'unlocked' position.
Well, certainly no 12V going to it currently (I haven't connected the wiring yet) and it's locked. I'm hoping it's just new, a bit stiff, and was locked from ECGS testing it after assembly, and I just wasn't putting enough torque between the front wheels to get the locker to move. I'll try again when I put the wheels back on.
- Passenger side motor mount. I broke the driver side mount a few years ago, bought both, but only replaced the driver side at that time. It's probably easier to do with the 1" body lift giving a bit more access through the passenger side wheel well. But still, not fun. Old mount was slightly separated around the edges, slightly sagged, but not too bad.
- New steering column lower rubber rag joint. Mine was really, really stuck on the old rack, I damaged it a bit getting it off there. And the rubber was a bit cracked. So I got a new one. It's finicky work on the other side of the frame, out of sight. The upper splined section only fits on one way, the lower (onto the rack itself) fits in ay direction. So I got it all neatly lined up and installed, and only then looked at the steering wheel and realized it was turned about 2/3rds of the way. Ahhh... I thought I'd left it straight ahead when I removed the rack, but that was then, this is now. So I got to redo that steering joint to get the steering wheel and front wheels more in sync (at least close enough that the tie rod ends aren't cranked way over to get everything straight).
And a new driver side lower ball joint. The LBJ's aren't that old, but this one had a split boot, and might as well swap it while it's half off already.
Then I stuck the CV stub shafts back into the diff. I'd left them attached to the hubs (since it's a fiddly bit of messing around to take them out of the manual hubs), and just unbolted the lower ball joints (the 4 smaller bolts) on both sides, and the tie rod ends, and swung the whole hub out to remove them. And this worked well going back in.
Where I discovered something that I sincerely hope is NOT a problem - the brand new Eaton/Harrop e-locker diff seems to be LOCKED. Both CV shafts are def linked to each other and turn together when turning the CV shafts or front driveshaft by hand. The Eaton e-locker is't like the Toyota e-lockers - there's no shifting mechanism that can hold it locked or unlocked, from my understanding it's just an electromagnet that energizes when the locker switch is on and pulls a pin back that allows the mechanism to lock itself after the front wheels have rotated relative to each other (in either direction). No 12V - no electromagnet, and when the wheels rotate again it will lock into the center 'unlocked' position.
Well, certainly no 12V going to it currently (I haven't connected the wiring yet) and it's locked. I'm hoping it's just new, a bit stiff, and was locked from ECGS testing it after assembly, and I just wasn't putting enough torque between the front wheels to get the locker to move. I'll try again when I put the wheels back on.
