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Well, I know why it was so hard to get the locker actuator off...
Uck. Gonna be spending a little quality time there! It was indeed locked, which it has to be to get the everything out. Easily moves back and forth and all appears good there, whew!
Getting it all out was annoying. Tighter than I imagine skinny jeans would be. A bit of perseverance and it finally came out. Good ol' tranny jack was there to catch it.
I was at Buddys two weeks ago. They do have several 3rd gens there. I got the front seats out of the one on row 184 for $25 apiece in nearly new condition. They are very reasonable on their prices. They do not have any with elocker, I checked every one. It is a little far for you two for parts but if you are ever in the area, they are one of my favorite bone yards and is set up nice.
I was at Buddys two weeks ago. They do have several 3rd gens there. I got the front seats out of the one on row 184 for $25 apiece in nearly new condition. They are very reasonable on their prices. They do not have any with elocker, I checked every one. It is a little far for you two for parts but if you are ever in the area, they are one of my favorite bone yards and is set up nice.
I will have to make a point of checking them out Terry. It's so hard to find one up here and when you do it's been picked clean. I've heard of places where 3rd gens with parts still on them exist.
Thanks for checking on the elocker. Above and beyond! Glad mine is still in great shape!
You'll have it all fixed back up better than ever in a flash. Any indications if was coming apart before the big one?
Terry, I'm saving to get a chamber style vacuum packer along the lines of a VacMaster VP215. A bit expensive up front, but bags are much cheaper as smooth bags are fine. And, the machine will last years with proper care.
Mightymouse found me a 3rd member with 172,000 miles. I haven't had a chance to really stare it down but what peeking I did looks good. Hoping to get it all together this weekend...hopefully less stuff to do and more daylight will help.
Good morning RW!
Indications.....not sure. Been chasing a dry rolling noise that is higher-pitched than say, a typical wheel bearing, but nothing clunky or poppy or anything and I still don't know what that noise is. Other than the tooth damages there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the old 3rd member. Am curious to see if there is any change to it after all is said and done. Don't think so, but still curious.
Both my dif housing and the new 3rd member had the gaskets sticking to them. That doesn't seem fair.
Took a couple of pics of the locker and the part the actuator actually moves...because I can.
Unlocked:
Locked:
The hole can be accessed by removing the dif lock actuator. The locker can be disengaged using something like a screwdriver to push the teeth away from the center of the dif. I'd heard about this but until now hadn't seen it live and in color.
Trail build day so I didn't get as much done as I was hoping. Worked hard today to get the metal shavings and chunks out of the diffs and tubes, made sure the mating surfaces were oil free and used the tranny jack to get the 3rd member positioned. It actually went in a whole lot easier than the old one came out. Toyota said 20 ft lbs for the little nuts that holds it on. I don't have a torque wrench that goes that low so did it by feel, in as close to a star pattern as I could get.
3rd member is in
and locker actuator installed....here it is out. It was in the locked position according to the light in the dash. If it's not in the locked position I may have to take it off and put it that way, then re-install it. Luckily none of that should be too difficult should it be needed.
I'm extending the locker breather while I'm at it. Will probably run it up through one of the holes I made for the OBA, into the cabin. Why not?
Tomorrow are the final touches- axles in, drive shaft bolted up, hydraulic and parking brake lines dealt with and brakes bled...that sort of junk.
Oh yeah, and put 80w90 in there. DON'T forget that part!
Thank goodness the water came back on (they're replacing the system on our street) because today is going to be a two shampoo day.
So I'm ending up with a lot more show and tell than I ever wanted to deal with! Mostly all together now, I thought I'd check the locker actuator because it wouldn't unlock on my way out of the woods and I didn't hear it even trying. Thought it was because of all the noise the dif was making.
Alas, it was not so.
Not even bothering to try. Plugged the actuator in the 99 and again, nothing. Where the motor is did warm up, but that was all.
So I pulled it apart.
Crud. These are magnets. They are supposed to be evenly spaced. They are also not supposed to be broken. One is broken and they are all unglued.
Some reading revealed that they have an order in which they are supposed to be. I made sure to keep them in order and in their original spots in the housing. I was able to figure this out from the glue residue patterns in the housing and on the magnets. I am hoping the broken magnet will not be an issue. Cross fingers!
I've used a thin layer of JB weld to stick them back in, and clamps to keep them both in place and up against the wall so the rotor will still fit. The rotor can't touch the magnets.
You know how I love my clamps.
And lastly something that doesn't make me head-scratchy....
There are only 4 bolts that hold the axle on. Four bolts, the abs sensor, the parking brake cable pin and the brake line. It's nice because it comes out in minutes and a little eeks because it can come out in minutes.
That's not rust. Of course I went through a particularly nasty puddle on the way out of the woods. Ick.
Here's a pic showing the gaps that are supposed to be between the spacer, bearing and abs ring. Weird Toyota does it this way. If a tech doesn't notice or know about it and presses everything on down your axle seals will leak and make you crazy.
And last for now, the locker breather ended up against the muffler and got melted shut so I moved it into the cabin. It goes in through the hole under the left rear seat and over to the trim panels. Behind the trim panel up near the seat belt is where it sits.
So I'm not finished with the repair. Oh wells. Of course it's supposed to rain for at least the next few days, then get cold. On the bright side I don't have much left in outdoors work. Am repairing the locker actuator inside. Or at least, am attempting to repair the locker actuator.
Locker actuator is not in yet, but it is working when plugged in. That's a good sign, right?
So here the silly thing is:
and here's the 'exploded' view:
When you open the part where the rotor is (3 soft little hex nuts with phillips slots in the top) the rotor will most likely try to come out with the cover where the magnets are. It is an auger type deal that's meshed with gear in the larger section that will want to keep it in place. IF it does come out when you lift off the cover you can potentially lose a small metal ball and two tiny springs so beware. There is another small ball at the top of the rotor shaft that may also make a run for it (or simply stick to the magnets.
Here's one of those stinky little balls. There's one on each end of the rotor shaft if you have the same style actuator. This one is the single spring style with finer teeth on the gear. Apparently the only way to tell is to open it up.
A pic of the spring that's behind the brush:
2 brushes and 2 springs
and the brushes together. I used toothpics to hold the brushes
Symptoms: E-locker would not disengage. No sound coming from the actuator. the top of the rotor cover did get warm.
Problem: Magnets came unglued. One broke. Normally these would be evenly spaced.
Well, horse feathers!
Those magnets are only supposed to go in a certain way. The cover is even pinned so it too can only be put on one way (my pins are gone, so much corrosion there).
I used the glue residue on the magnets to match the missing spots in each glue spot on the cover. I could even tell which way was up from where the spots were.
I used JB weld to put a VERY THIN layer on the magnet and stick it to the cover. The first two were a little annoying because they wanted to stick together, but not too bad. It's pretty tight in there and you want room for the rotor to spin without touching. I left the smaller broken piece off. Will see it that's a problem once I get it in the 3rd member.
I opened the big cover too, to allow the rotor shaft to be removed (remember those tiny balls and 2 little springs associated with said rotor). Snap ring holds the gear on. Couple of little screws. The cover won't pop off right away because near each screw is a pin. Be very careful prying the thing off, from all the reading I've done these things crack and get holes in them a lot.
Of course mine was cracked too. At the nose cone as seems to be somewhat common. Luckily only half around, more jb weld will hopefully keep it intact.
The snap ring (e-style or something, I forget) holding the gear on and the JB Weld fix:
Once the cover is off the spring and gears in this style come out as one. The grease in mine was dry gritty and almost like dust. It was in otherwise fine shape so I cleaned it up and regreased with the same plastic safe lithium I used in the antenna motor. Good amount in the spring, some on the gears and auger, thin layer on the contact surface on the bottom of the gear. The assembly needs to be out when putting the rotor together (without losing the 2 balls or 2 springs!) so pay attention to where it's at when it comes out. I put mine in with the metal tab 180 degrees from the center of the raised portion on the inside of the cover.
Anywho, it's all together and waiting to go into the truck tomorrow so cross fingers. I have cycled it several times and it appears to be working fine. Will update.
I found a number of threads valuable (and much better write-ups than my little blurb).
They aren't all the exact type, but the gist is good. These were the two most useful to me... http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyot...r-rebuild.html
11-10-2015, 12:53 PM
