[BOGDOG]

I am going to repack the wheel bearings & reseal the steering knuckles on my 85 4Runner. Is there anything I need to know or look out for?

 

[Haggar]

Not per se. If you are repacking the inner bearing, you might want a new seal there, it'll probably get trashed when you pull it out (you need to pull it out to remove the inner race and bearing). Having a 3/8 or 1/2" brass drift is a big help, to knock the races out, and reinstalled them. There's a notch in the knuckle on each side for your punch to go in.

Take a look at your knuckle kingpin bearings when you are in there. Mine were good but I removed one thin shim to tighten the preload, as they were pretty much free-flopping.

Otherwise, just normal stuff. Pull out all the oil grease and make sure to refill the area between the inner and outer bearings pretty full of grease when you are done.


I just finished mine, but I'm going to pull it apart again to put in ARP hub studs, knuckle studs, and longfield hub gears.

 

[Mud'N'Truck]

He covered most the base's. Dont think he missed any thing. This is also in the near future for me.

Who sells arp stuff for a toy 8?

 

[Haggar]

Front Range Off-road has the knuckle studs and hub studs (Brian pioneered both of them).

Trail-Gear also has knucle studs from ARP, slightly different.

Myself, I prefer to buy from Brian, he's a great guy.

 

[BOGDOG]

I finally had the time to do my wheelbearings and replace the seals on the knuckles. Am I crazy or should there be grease in there? I took everything apart and no sign of grease. There was a small amount of gear lube present and that was it. I have driven this 4runner 60,000 miles in the 4 &1/2 years since I bought it and not touched the front end. The 80 p'up axle I have laying around is full of grease. The bearings looked fine but I think I will replace them when I go back in to swap gears. Anybody got an extra 4.56 3rd member they want to sell?

 

[Haggar]

THe knuckles should have grease in them, yeah. 1/2 a tube in each knuckle or so, plus grease in the birf.

The service manual shows filling the space between the bearings with grease, too.

 

[BOGDOG]

Yeah that is what I did. I am just amazed that there was only a little gear lube in there and not having any problems after all the miles I put on it. Hopefully I did not open a can of worms. I m taking off in it for a couple of weeks to the U.P. at least and maybe to Colorado.

 

[incogrhino]

wow, none?In the birfs?Crazy....

 

[artistic_gore]

Quick hijack. What is the best knuckle rebuild kit? I've only looked at two. The one from front range off road and the one from marlin crawler. I don't really want to do my wheel bearings though I probably should, it would just be cheaper and easier to not. On the flip side I'd hate to pull them only to realize that they need to be replaced and I didn't shell out for new ones in the first place.

 

[Haggar]

I've bought from both, and they are both top notch people. Brian is a small oepration, I've talked a lot personally with him on the phone, and on pirate. Marlin is always overworked, it can be hard to get through on the phone, but he's also known as one of the nicest guys in the industry(which seems that he's holding back his business, because his #1 priority is making good parts, not selling lots of them). Hehehe, Marlin sends XMas cards.

EIther is a good buy. You can buy Timken replacement wheel bearings for a good price at your local auto parts store. I just did mine, was about $15-$20 per side for the inner, outer, and cups.

 

[Haggar]

BTW, some nice pics here:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=606846

and here:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459180 (scroll down to front-axle)

 

[artistic_gore]

Thanks haggar. I think I am going to go with the marlin kit. The links are great as well. Especially the axle overhaul website provided via pirate, I think I am going to print the whole thing at work :thumb:

 

[Haggar]

Another good site

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/front_end/

there's one for solid axle rebuild...