I'm rebuilding my entire front suspension and just assembled the front hubs on the knuckle, on the bench.

Question: can you set the preload on the bench or should I wait until everything is reassembled on the truck?

 

but I don't see why you couldn't

It'll make installing the assembly a little harder because of the weight, but otherwise why not?

 

Thanks. I've gone through the 43 ft. pound cycles and am going to just torque down the spindle nut to 21 ft. pounds and be done with it.

Should be quite heavy, but my plan is to bolt on the new calipers, new lines and top and bottom ball joints and then just drop the bottom joint into the lower A-arm (mounted on truck), tilt forward, locate new axle, then with a small jack match up the upper joint with the A-arm.

my only concern is the difficulty of matching up the 4 ball joint studs on the upper arm, but if those 3 bolts going into the rails are loose, that might help.

Thoughts?

 

You might want to have an extra pair of hands handy when you get to that point.

It sucks when you're standing there holding an assembly like that in place and just can't quite get things aligned to get it together.

 

Good idea, but getting a friend to help out is probably not an option. I'll have blankets down and a couple of jacks on hand.

yesterday was a horrendous day getting the upper A-arms and torsion bars out. PB blaster, mix of ATF fluid and acetone, even a MAPP torch wouldn't budge the torsion bar adjusting bolt locknut. Ended up having to snap the bolts. Lot's of swearing. I can't imagine my Sharpie marks on the bar and A-arm connector survived.

Pics of parts ready to go back in. New A-arms out of CA with 2 good coats of POR15...they'll last longer than any part on the truck.

 

your shop looks like mine after working on my truck. tools and parts everywhere.

 

LOL! And I was trying to take a picture at an angle that showed my mess the least! Yup, after tearing this thing apart and getting it back together, my workshop is the worst shape it's ever been. And everything you see in the background is actually random early Porsche 911 stuff I've laid out to photograph and sell on Porsche version of Yotatech, Pelican Parts.

It will take an honest day to clean everything up after I get the truck on the ground again.

 

Make sure your last step isn't setting the torque but rather checking your bearing preload.

 

I used this method here:

http://toyota.off-road.com/toyota/ar....jsp?id=186138

the bearing preload was snug, that is after a few 43 ft lb. torquings, it would spin about 1 revolution with a good twist of the rotor. finishing with a 21 ft lb. has snugged it up just a little more.

 

But now you never actually check the preload. You do that after your last torque using one of the wheel lugs.