williemon

I just repacked the wheel bearings in the Runner. No real issues there. I used moble 1 red synthetic grease. All went well. Got grease all over everything so I used mineral spirits to clean the grease off the rotors.

I did my first flush also yesterday with the motive power bleeder . All went good I think. I had to figure out how to attach the adapter to the resovoir on the MC.

That fluid was DIRTY. I started pulling the fluid from the MC with a turkey baster. (Stole it from the kitchen) Got paranoid because the fluid was so black that I pulled the resovior off the MC and cleaned it with a strong water spray and dried it with compressed air. Put it back on and filled it up to the top.

Attaching the adapter was pretty straight forward but I had the J hooks on upside down and could not get a tight enough seal. Once I realized my mistake I got it tight with no problem. I added fluid to the tank in small amounts since I did not know how much to use. I ended up using 2 32oz bottles of Dot3.


Using the bleeder was cool. I pumped about 15 pounds of air in it and went to work on the bleeders. I went out of order but only because I was so excited at being able to finally use this. I went DR, PR, proportioning valve, DF, PF. Once I did that, I went back and did PR, DR, PF, DF to finish off.

Once done I did a test drive. Got worried because at first the brake pedal would hit the stop (the end of the MC I guess. Its always done that...)but the 4 runner was still rolling but slowing down. I tried several times in the driveway but it still acted this way. In reverse it would stop it seemed like. I test drove it around the neighborhood and as I hit the brakes more and more, the pedal got better and braking increased. Then it started pulling hard to the left while braking. Ive felt it do this from time to time over the years. Finally it got more even and today it seems to be pretty even and stops ok. Its no real improvement from before I flushed, but at least its flushed.

What could have caused the bad braking at first? Im sure I got all grease off the rotors and none were on the pads. Maybe the mineral spirits I used to clean the rotors left a film on them and it burnt off when the rotors got hot. Maybe there was air at the MC and it finally moved elsewhere in the system. Any ideas? I think the MC needs replacement anyway. It never has stopped very well but thats another story.

I have some pics of the brake fluid flush if I can figure out how to post them.

YotaJunky

How did you find repacking the bearings. I'm thinking about doing them in the near future.

williemon

For me its pretty straight forward. Been doing it on 2 toyotas for the past 10 years so I can do that in my sleep. The brake fluid flush was a new one to me though.

If your going to do the bearings on a 2nd gen and need a good write up, look at Jim Rockfords wright up about replacing steering spindle bushings in the wright up section. He covers the removal of the hub there. The only areas where I differ in my techneque are steps 3, 6, 8.

To remove the cone washers, I spray with oil and place a drift (a 6" 3/8 drive extension is what I use) squarely on the stud and whack it with a hammer several times. the shock will pop the cones loose and they can be pulled with pliars. Coat with anti sieze upon replacement.

To remove the hub plate, I just use the hammer and screwdriver, but it comes off easy anyway since ive got grease between that seal. There is a gaskit there that can be easy to tear when using the screwdriver so be careful.

When I remove the caliper, I first remove the c clip and keeper from the rubber brake hose to steel line connection so it will move with the caliper and not bend the steel lines.

His wright up does not cover packing the wheel bearings or reinstallation. You just pull the seal from the rear of the hub, have a replacement on hand of course. Dump the bearings out. I clean them with mineral spirits real good, inspect them and then use a pack tool hooked up to the grease gun. now THATS a nifty tool. I use moble 1 red synthetic grease.

I lather grease on the hub races real thick and on the spindle surface.
I then install the rear bearing, tap the seal in place and put the hub/rotor on the spindle, slip on the front bearing, washer and nut to hold it on.

Torque the hub nut easy to 43 ft/lbs while turning the rotor to dispell any air bubbles. Once seated, spin it about 5 times in both directions. Then back off the nut a bit and retorque to about 20 ft/lbs. Spin it 5 more times. Then install the lock washer, jam nut , torque to about 25 ft/lbs and bend the tabs. Then reinstall the rest of the stuff.

Have fun.

YotaJunky

Hey, thanks for the writeup. You started a thread to ask a question and you wound up answering one for me!!

Thanks,

Troy

YotaJunky

Hi again williemon,

Could you put together a list of all the essential tools required for the wheel bearing job and the parts that I should order ahead of time? I've seen the pack tool you mentioned and the next time I see it, I'll get one.

TIA,

Troy