I have a 1986 turbo regular cab 5spd 4x4

It has 308xxx miles on the chassis, with a fresh engine. Ive only had the truck since February and Im trying to make it as reliable as I can.

Among other things I've changed the tranny and tcase to redline fluid and Im installing a fresh elocker in the next month or two. The rear end is starting to howl...

However I haven't touched the front end yet... I know that one cv boot is torn and there is some weird vibrations when the hubs are locked or the tcase is in 4hi...doesnt have to be both.

Is there a good how to thread on the front ends? and what should I look for beside changing the fluid in the front diff?

Im mechanically inclined however I have no experience on 4 wheel drive systems or fwd systems for that matter...


Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated

 

When I bought my '87 4Runner with 178k miles last April, I went through this same exercise. It had all the original rubber parts on the front end and I replaced almost all of the steering / alignment parts. I just wanted a fresh start.

Upper and lower control arm bushings
Upper and lower ball joints
Idler arm (before I knew about the bronze bushing rebuild)
Pitman arm was OK
Tie rod ends were not original and OK
This was followed by an alignment

Next step was a couple maintenance items.

Checked and repacked the hub inner and outer bearings (I'm pretty sure this will require the purchase of a set of seals though if you remove the inner bearings)
This also had me checking the bearing pre-load which was wayyyy too loose. The spindle lock nut was finger tight
Went to synthetic on all of the gear oils - diffs an trans. In doing this I found that my t-case rubber mount was completely separated from the metal so I went with a TG bomb proof mount.

That work tightened up my rig a helluva lot and about $250 overall including fluids.

I used only the FSM to do all the work.

 

subscribed

 

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

 

Thanks for the link. Good information and pictures!

I should add that I have replaced the idler arm and had the ball joints etc. inspected to get it insured in Canada...everything seems to be tight in that department.


Im more specifically looking at CV and differential information, including the possible cause of the weird vibration.

The previous owner apparently replaced Warn hubs with the factory Aisin hubs.(For peace of mind he wanted everything OEM) So Im assuming they are relatively fresh.