As far as I know, there is no gasket on the face of that axle flange where it meets the brake drum...but if there was one there, I really don't see how it has anything to do with gear oil.

 

Hey Cory, thanks for the reply. It's not where it meets the brake drum, but between the lug plate and the axle plate. A picture below for reference. Not my truck.


Between those two plates?




It's extremely possible that the gear oil is from something else, or I somehow left a dab on there before assembling.. I would just hate to start driving it and saturate a brand new set of shoes. I may be over thinking things! I blame it on never having done axle work before!

 

I think you're right cory, I don't think gear oil could get anywhere near that gasket... not sure what I was thinking earlier.

I'll do some decent shake down runs this weekend and keep an eye on everything.

 

Interesting that gasket is called a brake oil deflector gasket, and the plate is I guess the brake oil deflector....so it what, deflects gear oil from the brakes...and that oil has to leak out of the axle tube. I changed my rear axle bearings several years ago and I did not think twice about this. Obviously the inner axle seal is the real gate keeping gear oil inside the axle tube and away from your brakes, I'm not sure I would worry too much about this oil deflector gasket if I were you, if gear oil is oozing past your axle seal then it isn't because you didn't change this gasket.

 

Thanks cory. I agree, I'm not going to worry too much about it. I'm going to drive it and keep an eye on it. No gear oil oozing past the axle seal so far, so hopefully I did everything right when I replaced everything. Time will tell!

 

A couple short test drives on the weekend, put insurance on it yesterday and drove her to work this morning. So far so good.

A few random shots because I love my 4runner, especially without the saggy butt

 

Looking good man! Keep up the great work

 

Thanks man, I appreciate the encouragement!

 

On my drive home from work today I started to get a slight thump as I came to full stop in traffic, and starting from a dead stop. Not every time, but enough for me not to ignore it.

I think/hope that putting the coils in the rear, as it moved the axle back away from the frame it extended the slip joint in the drive shaft to a spot it hasn't ridden in for many, many years and it needs to be greased up. Any other thoughts would be appreciated!

Tomorrow I'll grab a grease gun and grease. My FSM copy is on the PC at work, I'll read through the procedure first thing tomorrow then grease her up at lunch.

I've gone down a few rabbit holes about what type of grease, moly grease vs non-moly grease etc. Any reccomendations?

Thanks guys!

Hmm, upon further research it could be my drum filling with gear oil and saturating my new shoes apparently? That's rather disheartening... means I screwed up my seal job..

 

First thing I would suspect is those coils, coming to a complete stop or starting from a dead stop is probably loading\unloading those coils and they are shifting around making noise.

 

Ahh, I hadn't thought of that, thanks cory. I wonder if that's a common issue with a ZUK mod. I'll start researching that.

Is that something that will settle over time?

 

well, if you can't remember the last time you greased the rear driveline, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and do it. i just use no.2 nlgi chassis grease, not the stuff toyota calls for. seems to have worked so far at nearly 100k miles put on my red '87. procedure? just attach the grease gun tip to the grease nipple, pump several strokes. done. for the u-joints, i pump until clean fresh grease is coming out of the seals.

rather than guess about the drums (and a leaking axle seal), just check it. won't be hard to determine whether it's leaking or not.

 

Good advice thanks wally.

I will definitely be greasing the driveline, as I haven't done it in the 25k KM I've driven this thing since I've had it, and judging by the other maintenance things I've come across, I doubt the PO did.

Tomorrow night after work I will pull the drum off again and take a look.

 

For what it's worth, Toyota does call for NLGI No. 2 "Lithium-Based Chassis grease", so you are probably using the right stuff anyway...

 

Not much progress on anything, but I did pickup a 92 Tercel to start commuting to work with. 131k KM on it, paid $1,100. It's in decent shape other than some cosmetic stuff.

Now the 4runner can go back to being my project vehicle, and stay in the nice dry garage all winter!


Plans for work on the 4runner this winter include:
-Kill switch (no I won't tell you where!)
-New exhaust from the Cat back
-Possibly begin fender repair