i have an 85 4runner. my front axle on driver side is leaking oil so bad on the inside of the wheel it has soaked my brake pads and makes my truck dog to the right when i brake hard. my passenger side is also leaking on the outer part of the wheel from the hub...

i am looking for a reputable driveline shop in the portland area that knows toyotas and can fix this for a fair price. the shop i used to go to in southern oregon quoted me $500-600 to replace the bearings and rebuild the axle. i plan on driving to so cal in the upcoming months and need this fixed asap. if anybody here could point me towards some good people to talk to, that would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

I just got a quote for the same amount, and you might as well do both sides while you're at it. However, if you think about it, with shops running about $45 an hour for labor, and parts being found cheaper than they can get, it's worth it to give it a shot yourself.

 

i would love to but my plate is completely full... full time work and full time school. i have a couple of extra hours at the end of the night to drink a few beers and thats about my day.

 

tearing apart the whole front end is no small job me and my brother did the front of my 84 and it is a lot of work but realy not hard if your going to replece the axle bearings and not the pinion bearings you should be able with some help of a buddy extra hands are a life saver. but give your self a day or two incase you run into any problems.

 

in that case if you trust the shop just take it to them if you can aford it that is.
unless you know a place cheaper up there marlin crawler sels the front axle service kit for about 100.00 plus shipping but that is not includeing bearings

 

I am smack dab in the middle of an 84 SA rebuild. Tear the thing apart according to the FSM and put it back together according to the FSM. Its not that hard.
The hardest part is cleaning all the damn grease and gear oil.
I will post up a few pics.

 

I could rebuild that front axle in 3 hours tops. Nothing to it with a knuckle service kit, some wheel bearing grease, the right tools and a stool.

For parts and labor $500 to $600 is a fair price IMO.

 

Toyo, that sounds awesome. If we don't have a FSM, where should we get one?

 

Gotta love that search button.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123...-url-s-102344/

 

Here is a start-
thanks wabbit!
Give me till tomorrow night and I will post up a few pics of the rebuild. I didn't take any of the tear down. The tear down is pretty straight forward. Just drain the diff and start wrenching nuts off. The WORST part of this job is the CONE WASHERS on both the hubs and the knuckle arms. I had to taper punch them, torch them, taper punch them, torch, taper punch, torch, BFH, torch, PB Blast, curse, etc.. etc... etc....

 

It really isn't hard to do.

The number one reason why folks don't work on their own junk is simply intimidation.

If you can read, following the FSM is easy.

 

You know Wabbit, I got a copy of 4WD Toyota Owner a while back and they had their Feature "knuckle rebuild and Longfield axle swap." They had a little photo of the rockring, felt, metal split ring and rubber seal and the caption had the order in which these went on. The order was different than the FSM. I will scan a photo of the pic in their mag and post it up. I had to read it 5 times to make sure I was reading it right.
It is clearly a different order than both of my FSM's.

 

Really. It is hard to remember sometimes without it in front of you but it is:

From the knuckle installed: split metal ring, rubber ring, felt, outer rock ring

 

I will tell you... BE PREPARED FOR WHATEVER!
A few headaches I encountered while dealing with this 84 SA:
The brake calipers were BOTH frozen to the rotor and I had to buy new calipers and pads for both sides.
One of the knuckle cone washers would not break free. I had to double nut the stud and back the whole thing off. I mangled most of the cone washers as well as one stud using the old "FSM tapered punch routine." As a result I had to buy a set of new Marlin cone washers for BOTH sides as well as one knuckle stud.
The rotors were in need of a SERIOUS turning. $15 bucks a rotor at Napa.
A thorough wire wheeling to clean the rust off almost everything!
Solvent "mineral spirits" gave me a literal a headache which I am trying to relieve with a sixer.
Tomorrow may have a few more headaches in store...
Other than this it is easy squeezy

 

Here's an online one.
http://www.functionalfab.com/resourc...%204runner.pdf
It takes a little while to open it up so be patient. It's also a PITA to scroll through so you may just want to print out the whole FA section so you can have it in the garage with you. Good luck.

 

Here is a pretty straight forward picture tutorial for those of us who have trouble reading..

http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/tech/axle/part1.html

 

Nice. I forgot about that one. Although, doesn't it seem he lost interest or got impatient at the end?

Here is another, but less pictures and more reading.
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...nd/solid_axle/

 

AHHAHAHHAHAH
I agree!
It's like he or she stopped almost toward the end with the description and started posting pictures in a totally random order. I would liken this kind of randomness to someone with a bong close to the computer!
You are like "dude, I was all excited with being almost done with this and then the pictures drag on throughout the page in a totally random order with some of the pictures totally different from what the end of this job should look like." WTF

 

I can't really help you, but I'm in Portland too, and I'm about ready to tackle the front axle on my truck. I'm in the process of installing a 4" Marlin Trail Flex kit now. You might want to try Rob's Offroad in Clackamas. One of the techs is a Toyota guy. It'll be spendy to have them rebuild an axle though.

 

Im down in Bend OR, i have a shop here, and ive done several toyota front rebuilds, if you bring the parts ill do it for cheap, PM me if your interested, thanks