I just bought an 86 4x4 with 210,000 miles. It's all stock with small tires. everything sounds and feels good on this truck untill you lock the hubs in then it makes a grinding noise in the front end. Without the hubs locked in I can shift to 4-wheel drive and no noise. I took it out of 4-wheel drive locked in the right side and it made the noise the same noise. I unlocked the right side and locked in the left side and the noise was a lot louder. I pulled the wheels and hubs off and the right side looked pretty good still had a lot of greese and no rust but the left side was dry and rusty the snap ring on the shaft was out of the groove and worn. The shaft had some slack in it ( where I could shake it up and down and side to side) The right side had some slack but not as bad as the left side. ANY HELP WITH THIS ONE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

 

a friend of mine said it could the differential. He called it the front pumpkin.

does that make sense?

 

OK, I'll plan on replaceing bearings, seals, shaft,and hub on left side.

tear into diff and inspect. I'm sure there will be work to do there.

put right side back together.

Any words of wisdom? Cause this is starting to suck.

 

Why don't you start by just replacing the worn out spindle bushings on both sides. That will more than likely make the grinding noise stop.

BTW, this is a very common issue with these trucks. If you search you'll find all the information you need to replace them.

 

^X2, you could also try just lubbing the spindle bushings, there is a thread where someone built a tool that you don't have to tear everything down. Toyota has a TSB about this where they replace the bushings with bearings but some argue that the bushings are better long term than the bearings.

This is what you need.

http://www.marlincrawler.com/axle/fr...s-axle-bushing

 

thanks guys, I'll check that out.

 

They look like those. But those ain't them. As far as I know they're only available directly from Toyota.

The outer bushing is part # 90381-30003, the inner bushing is 90381-30006.

 

thanks again. I got to work the next few days. but I'll keep posting as I progress.

 

where can I find a 54mm hub nut to build a spindle lubricator ?

 

Trailgear. WabFab. Northern Tool. Lots of places.

 

Ah thanks MudHippy I forgot that the solid axle and IFS are probably different sizes.

 

I finally got time to tear into the yota some more. Got the inner and outer spindle bushings out and they looked gummy and dirty. I'm guessing the seals leaked a little. The outer bushing on both sides had a lot of space between them and the axel but a buddy of mine said that was probably normal because the hub suported the end of the axel. Can anyone coment on that? And what is the purpose of the outer bushing if it dosn't suport the axel?

I think I will replace bushings, wheal bearings, seals on the spindle and on the hub. And probably replace the locking hubs. Hopefully this will end the noise that I was worried about.

 

I always took out the hubs and re greased and the noise goes away. Could be a different case though..

 

I had the same thing it was the bushing!

 

I got the bushings and seals ordered from the toyota dealership, priced under $150.00 for inner and outer bushings and hub and spindle seals.

MudHippy, you were right on the part # for the bushings. THANKS

My wife said she will have it put back together this weekend if the parts come in by Friday.

 

Got the bushings and seals put in, cleaned and repacked the bearings, tore hubs apart cleaned and lubed them too. Now the front end sounds and feels like it should. The motor is running like crap, not idling smooth. It needs a tune up I'm sure and I need to replace vaccum hoses. They are old and dry rotted. I'm thinking that could have a lot to do with it.

 

thanks MudHippy, you where right on the bushings being the problem and on the part numbers. The kid at the toyota dealership was impressed with me allready knowing the part#s. It's good to have folks like you for help.

thanks again.

 

so i just ordered the same parts to fix the grinding sound on my 86 4runner, i hope it fixes my problem too, thanks, and keep climbin

 

Not sure about the 86 models but I think they are the same as the later models. There are needle bearings that can also be used in the spindles, would keep the clanking noises down. The inner bearing/thrust bearing is a different part number because it is shorter in length to accommodate the length of the needle bearing. The correct part numbers for the needle bearing mod are included in my second link.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f128...4runner-76360/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116.../#post51561777

 

Have you run a can or 2 of Seafoam through it. You can also run GM top engine clean if sea foam isn't strong enough. I would do a bottle of liquid Seafoam and a can of the aerosol. The spray can put in just before the plenum through intake boot. That way you get all 4 cylinders. Put some liquid in the gas and oil. Drive the crap out of it for about an hour. Then change the oil and keep driving semi aggressively for about 50 miles to get it worked through your fuel lines. Seafoam is awesome for old Toyotas.