Axle overhaul, Part 4
- Popped top and bottom races out of inner knuckle. Look for the
half-moon indentation behind the race, put your drift their and pop
them out, alternating side to side.
- Pull the axle seal. If you use a seal puller you'll mangle the
seal, but you're replacing it anyway.
- Remove the hub seal at the back of the hub. Note that the
"hub" is the large steel cylinder attached to the rotor,
which contains the inner and outer wheel bearings. What most folks
call the "hub" - the part that sticks out with a dial that
can be set the axle to free or lock - is an add-on to the hub.
- Remove the inner wheel bearing. It will just fall out, unless the
grease holds it in place.
- Using a bunch of rags, pull out as much of the old grease as you can
from the hub.
- Inspect inner & outer wheel bearings, races, claw washer and replace
if necessary. Both sets of bearings were badly worn, had some
rust, some pitting, and were loose. The claw washer had a deep (~1mm)
groove cut in it by the outer wheel bearing.
- If you'll be replacing them, drive the old races out of the
hub. There are two notches opposite each other on the flange behind
each race. Set a brass drift on the back of the race, approaching
from the opposite side of the hub. Whack it with a 3lb hammer,
alternating sides.
- Measure the width of the rotor. Toyota states that the standard
thickness is 20mm (0.79") and the thickness limit is 19mm
(0.75"). Mine measured 0.78", so I didn't replace
it.
- Degrease all the parts. I used diesel for some parts, but it just
wasn't strong enough and it stank. So I picked a big rubbermaid tub
and five gallons of STP Grease Eater, which had the same basic active
ingredients as the next thing like it on the shelf. The first
two ingredients listed are butoxylethanol and sodium metasilicate. It
smells like POR's Marine Clean, which I've used before. Make sure you
wash this stuff off with cold water when you're done, and give
it a good chance to dry off before continuing. It goes after
paint as well as grease and dirt. It completely stripped some
parts, like the backing plates. It removed some but not all
paint on other parts, like the knuckles. This stuff and some
wire brushes worked great. Remember to wear thick rubber gloves
and to use this stuff out doors or in a location with good
ventilation. Parts cleaned with this stuff rust quickly, so dry
them off right away and repaint them if you're going to. I only
repainted the backing plates.
The workbench in this case is the hood of a beater mustang.
- I chose to paint the knuckles. Used POR-15, masked the two main faces
of the knuckle and the fill plug.
- Install inner race.
- Install the upper and lower knuckle races. I used an old race as a
driver with a 3lb hammer and gently tapped it partially in. Once the
race was 1/3 in, I switched to a fat brass drift and hammered them
in. The tone of the strike increases sharply in pitch when the race
is seated.
- Install the axle seal at the inboard part of the inner knuckle. I
tapped these in very gently with a fat brass drift and a 3lb
hammer. Use the drift at an oblique an angle as possible, starting
from the perimeter of the knuckle opening. This will cause the rolled
outer edge of the seal to be struck, not the rubber/metal junction
that's more fragile. I stopped driving it in when the seal was flush
with the metal on the inside of the inner knuckle. I don't know if
this is when I was supposed to stop.
- I measured the distance between the top and bottom knuckle races with
a caliper. They're both 4.60". This is fairly useless information,
since the proper method for determining shim thickness involves
comparing that measurement with the distance between the flats on the
bottom and top of the knuckle, and my caliper isn't big enough to
gauge that distance.
Back to Part 3
Ahead to Part 5
Up to Index
