X2 on that,dang...if I could got a sponsor,I'd be a sprint car legend!!!lol.

 

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Been busting my butt all weekend long trying to get this axle buttoned up without much success. First I went to put the knuckle on and forgot the bottom bearing so off it came. Put the bearing in, got the knuckle caps torqued down, then low and behold......forgot to put the knuckle ball wipers n stuff on.....off comes the knuckle again. Finally got the knuckles all buttoned up then moved onto the hubs n rotors. Somewhere in my research I got screwed up and thought I had to drill the bolt holes in the tacoma rotors and bolt them onto the ifs hubs like factory so I did that and assembled almost everything. Realized that clearly was not going to work so I went back and reviewed my saved links. Turns out switching to ifs hubs and tacoma rotors turns the rotors into slip-on style. No big deal. Pulled the hubs off and cleaned them up. I'll take them to work on Tues, Chuck them up in the lathe and turn them down so the rotors will slip over them. Would've ground them but why when I have access to a lathe lol. I also installed new trail - gear hub stud kit while was working on the hubs since I had 3 break when I pulled them off my parts truck. So I was kind of at a stand still at that point. Thought it would be a good opportunity to clean up and repaint my lockouts. I only disassembled one lockout cuz I wanted the other one for reference when reassembling. Got that painted and it turned out great in my opinion. I only hand tightened the nuts on my 3rd member when I put it back in to give the silicone a chance to set up before I torqued it down. That was the final thing I did last nite. Was in the process of that and what do u suppose happens?? Snapped a stud off!!! (insert explicit language) Fml. Got up this morning and headed for the in-laws to rob a stud from my spare rearend then to town for more wheel bearing grease and silicone. Got back and started tearing down the axle again. Didn't make it far before I had another hiccup. Tore the gaskets on either side of the spindles. Another setback. Called up the local parts house that IS open today to see if they had them. Of course not. Can't even get them period. Oh well. Looked online. Can't find them at low range, marlin crawler, or trail-gear without ordering a knuckle rebuild kit. I'm not spending $90 just to get a few gaskets. Checked rock auto......nothing. Looked at napas website and they can get them for $35. Guess that will have to do. I'll order them in the morning. Got the 3rd member back out and the broken stud as well. I was getting ready to put it back in with silicone and thought to myself, this is kinda silly. I'm already gonna be waiting on gaskets so I might as well get a gasket for the 3rd member while I'm at it. I also saw on low ranges website where they have a differential stud elimination kit that replaces the studs with button head bolts. The bolts screw from the inside of the housing out and use nuts and lock washers to secure the 3rd member. Just like having studs but if one breaks u can use an Allen wrench inside the housing to get it out instead of drilling and using an easy-out. I will go this route as well, but cheaper. I have access to metric button head bolts at work so this will be a free upgrade for me. Ok, enough with the dialogue. Here's a few pics.

Hub assembled with new studs and rotor in incorrect location lol.

Busted 3rd member stud.


Torn spindle gasket.


And axle as it sits currently


I'll run out and snag a pic of the painted lockout right now cuz it's purty and the only thing I'm not frustrated about with the front axle at the moment haha.

 

One painted lockout as promised.


I should mention that I joined a group on Facebook called midwest toyota 4x4. Got a decal from them and put it on an old style bug shield I've been saving for just such an occasion. Also in the pic u can see the 4' firesticks I purchased a few weeks ago that will be going on the truck at some point. One will be for a cab I will get eventually and the other will be for the radio since my factory power antenna was broken off before I got the truck back.

 

Dang,that sucks!!!I just watched a YouTube video before I rebuilt my straight axle,worked great.

 

Also if your doing Tacoma brakes you have to swap knuckles from side to side.for the fror kit...maybe you already knew that.

 

Not using a kit. Trying to do it with all factory stuff. Prolly bite me in the hind quarter region bit that's par for the course lol.

 

^^^X2, sorry to hear about all the setbacks, but it will be worth it having the peace of mind with the new gaskets. Your Aisin hubs turned out looking sweet!!!


I don't quite understand what the kit provides that is really needed. Does it just provide a new mounting flange (ears) for mounting the calipers, with the correct offset so you don't have to mount the calipers on the opposite side of the knuckle flange? I don't know I'm probably missing something, but looking through rattlewagon's thread I didn't really see the need for the kit




Just curious who's knuckle ball wiper seals did you go with?

 

Thanks Ed. If nothing else I'm getting very familiar with the axle. It's gonna be the best looking part of the truck when I'm done lol. I'm guessing the brake kit just takes some of the guess work out of it. Not 100% sure tho as I haven't looked into it much. This truck's not my dd so I can take my time figuring things out. I went with the trail-gear knuckle rebuild kit. I have a sneaking suspicion the marlin crawler kit is probably better but I think the trail-gear kit is still better than stock so it should be fine.

 

I've been using Trail Gears "trail safe" wiper seals for the past 2 years, so far I love them, no problems, and 100x better design than the factory wiper seals and felts IMHO.

 

I used marlins seals,and for the brake kit...yea its just a steel plate drilled out that mounts the newer style caliper,but it seems stout.

 

I think any seal kit will be one as long as the install goes ok and to spec.

I have had the marlin kit for over a year now , but have yet to find the time to install it.

 

To each his own. I may end up going with the same kit as u if I can't make it work my way lol but I'm too stubborn to give up yet. Took the hubs to work tonight and got them turned down so my rotors will slip over them. Went to napa this morn to order gaskets for the spindles. Was gonna cost $35 for a "wheel seal kit" according to their website. Turns out the only kit was in Colorado and was going to cost an additional $9 for shipping so I passed on that. Then I checked about a diff gasket. It was $9 plus freight straight from fel-pro.....good grief. Passed on that as well. Did some thinking and picked up some gasket material instead. I'll just make my own gaskets lol. That'll teach em!

 

I agree. It's really not that bad of a job to do. I just keep having hiccups along the way. Mainly self inflicted. For some reason I was under the impression I would need to pull the 3rd member to change the pinion seal cuz mine leaks. I learned otherwise so if I hadn't pulled it out I wouldn't have broke the stud. Oh well, such is life. It's been a great learning experience. I'm GONNA get this thing put back together and under the truck thus week if it's the last thing I do lol.

 

Couple small updates. Turned down my hubs on the lathe last nite after work, have the gasket paper marked out for the spindles, and removed all the studs from the housing for the 3rd member. Work doesn't have the correct length button head bolts so I will have to make a trip to fastenal for those. No biggie.

Here's a pic of the gasket material


And a pic of the hubs. You can see the stack of scribed gaskets in the pic as well.


Aaaand a gratuitous shot of my lazy dog watching me work lol.

 

Thats got to be nice to have access to the lathe at work, I bet it made quick work out of the wheel hubs! That gasket material is a good idea, you probably can make 10x as many gaskets as what the other ones would have cost you!

 

Sorry if I sounded like I was knocking the kit, that wasn't my intent! I'm just cheap, lol.

 

No its fine,I really like the idea the hub Will come off as a unit instead of messing with the bearings.

So if you do t have access to a lathe can you grindem down by hand??

 

Ya it is nice. We have 4 lathes at work and 5 mills. Perks of being a tool and die maker lol. I used the shim punch at work to pop the bolt holes in the gaskets. Worked perfect. I was very pleased with the gasket material and the way it punched out. I'll use tin snips to cut out the inside and outside. Should be able to post up pics shortly.

 

I heard that!

 

Pretty sure that's what rattlewagon did. And I would have absolutely done that as well if I didn't have access to a lathe. Should be a lil more balanced this way was my thinking.