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Well a couple mixed shakedown runs, but it has finally gotten driven some!  Enough that I know the power kinda sucks.  But I also have had the rear brakes lock up on my twice now.  And the reverse problems have been brakes catching in reverse all along.  So definitely not a transmission issue.  I really don't want to tear down rear brakes, but that's preferable to a transmission for sure.    

 

The disheartening bit is that every time I drive it, the left side rear goes flat shortly after.  I think the inertia is easier loosening up the equalizer setup, or causing the back stem to loose air.  It's fairly minor I guess.   

 

Feeling pretty deflated.  I want to go drive it!  But we took it out Sunday night with the missus and the dog and he had an absolute blast!  Brakes locked up about half a mile from home, still got it back though.  

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Yeah its just dually drum brakes...  Nothing I haven't suffered through before lol.  Problem is, I know there will be suffering involved cause I HAVE done this before ugh.  Jobs like this are simply painful to do down low on the ground.   I could take it to the shop, but then I am down a life while it sits there (II I can eve get it lifted) and under pressure to move it out s quickly as possible. In the driveway I can teardown and inspect, then decide what and where to get parts from.     

 

And at least here at the house I have a hottub.  

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It was very common for the pivot pin on the parking brake lever right at the backing plate to rust up that could give you issues with the brakes locking up because the leading brake shoe could not fully disengage. Toyota pickups of that vintage would do the same thing. I have seen it dozens of times. Most people with automatics never used the parking brake and their trouble started when they did one day.

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I’m sure thats exactly what happened. My trans sometimes doesn’t lock into park. Still gotta open the brakes up and look. Besides, I’m going to do the rear 4.89 gear upgrade. 
 

I will take a look and see if the wheel cylinders are good and inspect everything else. I’m hoping a CLA sorts it all out but if not whatever.  Not the worst job. I would rather do brakes than fix the roof/ac leak. Lol

Edited by thewanderlustking
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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright I have the rear axles out and sorted! And this arrived today!!!  A 4.88 gear set. The diff is draining right now. After dinner I will go ahead and pull the third member so I can take it in tomorrow. Should have it done by the end of the weekend and ready to go back in on Monday or Tuesday. 
 

The kit came with everything except I didn’t see a big case gasket.  I can either use silicone or pick one up.  

248F0C25-B07F-4F66-B8AF-7DDF45528F91.jpeg

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Are you failure with crush tubes? if not go on line and see how they work. It's what sets the pinion depth.

 

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I know the basic concept, but I have almost no idea how to set this up...  It is cool though my coworker does.  I am taking it in tomorrow and he will probably be doing the actual setup on it sometime this weekend.  

 

My tool selection was a little limited.  Three of the four driveshaft bolts came right off with my little M12 impact.  The fourth, not so much.  I had to get a bit creative.  Very glad for quality tools, this would have destroyed cheap wrenches.  Not a scratch on these Snap On wrenches LOL!  14mm bolts and nuts.  I was a bit abusive with my sockets too, using chrome S.O. on my impact gun.  

 E574C0FC-4E61-41BA-B601-9D9E1489269B.jpeg

 

A good sideways whack with a hammer and the driveshaft came right off.  I index marked the driveshaft and pinion flange.  I doubt it matters, but what is 10 more seconds to do so?    

 

12mm nuts for the case.  It took a GOOD bit of work to get the case free of the studs.  And there was minimal room under there.  It was a bit cumbersome to get out.  

 

8A335C5C-5E3E-4F2F-A130-EF458A76C55E.jpeg

 

And when it did come out, dropped it onto the edge of the drain pan flipping it over and dumping gear oil EVERYWHERE.  The worst part is not enough room underneath to toss down kitty litter, and then clean it up.  I will have to live with the mess and have an ugly clean up later.  But that was the worst part of it and the rear is now out, so whatever.    

 

The fluid was dark, but didn't smell burnt.  I am sure it was original.  Oh and draining it via the bottom plug?  Still left a LOT in there.  

 

I have some aerobic gasket sealer I will use when it goes back together.  It feels like a gasket is still on there and intact.  I will inspect that closer, but the case will reseal with good sealer without any issues.  

 

DADEFD6B-14B8-447D-826F-56D1F652013D.jpeg

 

I didn't take any pictures of the 3rd member assembly.  I will get some tomorrow or Sunday when it is on the bench and cleaned up.  Putting it back in, will be FUN.  I have it up on jack stands, but not nearly as high as would make it comfortable to work on.  My back is achy.  It will be worth it though!  

 

Well I have some clean up to do and tools to put away!  I will take pictures of the rebuild and setup process when that goes down!  

 

Edited by thewanderlustking
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BTW, I didn't count gears yet but here is a list I found on Pirate 4x4:

 

no paint on pinion = 3.90 / 3.93
pink = 4.10
orange = 4.11
blue = 4.30
green = 4.38
yellow = 4.56
white = 4.88

 

So as expected, I have 4.10 in there.  

Edited by thewanderlustking
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Ah yes, nothing like the smell of 30 year old rear axle lube.

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Alright some action shots!  Thanks to my awesome coworker the “Goat”!  He made very quick expert work of it! 
 

He is an awesome teacher too.  I could probably do it now with decent confidence of success. It really is pretty simple with the right tools and some experience doing this type of thing. 
 

No write up as it’s a lot of problem solving and I didn’t get the right pictures to be that detailed. 

 

AB99F205-E194-46B8-B8A2-B3D82F3E20D4.jpeg.39797dc78375b1ff73354b0e499acb03.jpegB1540984-72FB-4CAA-95FB-652C50279E21.jpeg.791ac66eaad5e698343e847e50481e20.jpegB1540984-72FB-4CAA-95FB-652C50279E21.jpeg.791ac66eaad5e698343e847e50481e20.jpeg434CF1F2-9044-4781-AE87-1F7FD02836C4.jpeg.8cbd92720d9971da9d41b2a0f4aee08b.jpegA3EE7FD5-2704-4023-9DB6-F34A898C0A0D.jpeg.2b3777a6f00e9629f888b537810082e4.jpegC292C791-26B8-4F21-885C-37C6D4EE2F40.jpeg.5e6a0c110f5029fa15e72ac0c525eb24.jpeg

 

Edited by thewanderlustking
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looks like cutting the race to get at the shim that sets pinion depth. maybe didnt  have a bearing seperator

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Yes he had to cut it to get the shim out. The old gear set wasn’t valuable enough to struggle with a separator and the press for an extra 10-15 minutes. The gear oil wasn’t burnt, but the bearings and gear set definitely were far from ideal.  There had probably been some periods of disuse long enough to let moisture and rust get to the exposed portions. There were dark spots. The bearings and raced were grey, so just shy of being cooked.  I wouldn’t have given them away. 
 

This is another reason why these should be driven gently for a few miles if they have sat for a while. Get the fluids flowing and everything coated in oil. And ideally you shouldn’t let them sit for much more than a month without at least a quick drive around the block. Other people might recommend differently, but I don’t want flat-spotted tires!  
 

I am probably going to run some cheap gear oil and do a dump and refill with something really nice like Redline after 30-50 miles or so. Maybe. The break in process was kinda specific but didn’t specify a break in oil change. I saw a couple  other recommendations to do so. Over cautious is probably better than not.   Definitely not putting in Redline and dumping it in 50 though!  

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i imagine he did, but-- smacked the crush sleeve to make it longer again?

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Probably.  We did the tear down and inspection after hours but he reassembled it during work hours the next day. I didn’t get to see every step.  He is a perfectionist though. Still hand torques wheels when he sets a car down, even though he can custom program his gun to the right setting.  He’s very humble, but if he says he can do something, he can. I have seen his resume. It is impressive, to put it mildly. As a  seasoned tech myself, I don’t easily or normally hand my stuff over to anyone else.     I had no problems or concerns handing this over to him, and walking away to do other things. 
 

 

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I've been contemplating doing this with my camper as well before my confusion and thought it may have already been done. Anyway, thoughts I have that leave me uncertain: I know heat is the destroyer of all things mechanical. I've noticed when running my camper the motor gets cooler (according to my dash temp gauge; not sure how accurate but see it go down) when I use overdrive at high speed 60mph. My overdrive is usable under certain conditions and cruises at 2800-2900 rpm according to my tach at that speed. When conditions are not favorable to overdrive and in 3rd I cruise along at 3500 -3600rpm at that speed and my engine gets hotter according to my temp gauge. I do not know the temp of my automatic transmission but know in discussions people suggest the transmission gets hot when using overdrive. My transmission fluid has always looked good and I did do a flush recently. Here is my wonderment: hot engine or hot transmission. I know changing to 4.88 ratio will result in higher revs in all gears, and will thus make the engine run hotter (my theory). I've already done the head gasket and know that is a common maintenance job on these but don't want to have to do it frequently. I also don't want to burn up my transmission. Other thoughts?

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Jack one rear wheel up and so the rotation count to see what ratio you have. Start there!  
 

If the engine is at the rpm it wants to run at, temps will drop. Higher rpm doesn’t necessarily  mean higher temps.  It means more flow. Get a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. Put that in the cooling system. You will see a further temp drop. 
 

If you want to monitor trans temps, put a gauge on it. I am doing that tomorrow. 
 

But until you verify what you have, I wouldn’t change it out. It sounds like you might already have the 4.88 in there….

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first thing. verify ignition timing at all rpms. if timing is retarded at higher rpm, temps will rise

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One thing I didn't mention is my observations with operating temp were before I did my head gasket job. I will observe this Spring and see whether results are the same. I did also change out my radiator. Was just curios whether others observed something similar and their thoughts if so. 

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More rpm means the fan spins a little faster and the water pump moves more water. So seeing a temp drop with the engine running where it wants to run isn’t surprising. 
 

Every “performance” or “abused” engine can also be if it from a coolant additive like Water Wetter. It changes (lowers) the surface tension of the coolant, so it transfers heat more effectively.  It is “snake oil” that actually does what it says!  
 

 

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On 3/10/2022 at 11:41 AM, extech said:

first thing. verify ignition timing at all rpms. if timing is retarded at higher rpm, temps will rise

 

Yes for sure CHECK YOUR TIMING!  Mine was way WAY off!  

 

Today was a very successful, but bitter sweet day.  For a whole days worth of work, the only project that got mostly finished was putting the 4.88 3rd member back in.  Axles aren't stabbed back in, drain plug is still out, and so obviously no fluid put back in it.  It went pretty easily, but took two of us to comfortable maneuver it up and in due to the limited room underneath.  One of the bottom studs must have gotten the threads slightly tweaked during removal.  Victor finally got it to thread back on with a gentle hammer tap.  

 

While not a smoking gun, it does smell kinda like gunpowder...  I think we found the problem with the rear brakes.  Everything on the back was replaced, new shoes, springs, adjusters, and cross bar even.  Everything was nice and shiny, except for 4 small parts.  The shoe retaining pins were rusty and bent.  New springs and retainer cups, but bent rusty pins.  Odd they would replace everything else.  Of course the hardware kit that in theory should have the right pins, is 1-2 weeks out for me...  I will take them to work tomorrow and see if I have some in my saved junk drawer.  If not, off to the parts house.  I am sure they will have some the right length.  Or I order the kit, what is two more weeks added to this project after two years?  LOL...  

 

That kept the brakes from going back together and putting the axles in.

 

Next was the AC/roof leak repair, ATTEMPT.  Zero success getting the unit off.  I am probably going to go bump that thread up, as it is its own conversation...   Roof HELP! Other than setting this on fire, any other more realistic options? 

 

And currently I am trying to sort out at least ONE thing completely on the truck today and get the transmission temp sensor mounted up.  Installing a Temp sensor on an A43D, hot/pressure line?  Well I am off to go take some pictures and answer questions there.  

 

 

Edited by thewanderlustking
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(I updated the link above.)

 

Alright, going to make another big push on this today!  I am going to be moving to a new shop next week, and really need to get this there before I do to align it.  It drives dead straight, but the steering feels a touch "loose".  I am pretty sure I will find it slightly toed out, super bad for wearing down tires.   

 

Today's goal is to get the brakes back together, I have all the parts I should need now to do so.  And I want to get the transmission temp sensor installed while it is up on the ramps and jack stands.    

 

No clear verification on what line is the feed/hot line though...  I need to pull off one of them and start the truck up.  Ugh, it will be a mess.  I am reasonably sure it is the forward line, but I only want to do this once.  Sure, I could put two sensors on and monitor temps before and after the cooler, but I don't care enough to waste time/effort/money on installing a second adapter and sensor if I can avoid it.  

 

I am going to try to get pictures, but kinda hard to do once my hands are all dirty.  Alright time to get to it!  Wish me luck!!!  

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Pictures, I promised pictures!  I didn’t take many while doing the brakes but here is one I posted in that thread.  Everything was super clean, no wheel cylinder leaks. 
 

76938B35-F850-4B5D-958F-B4BED878771C.jpeg.166a74092527bc83972efeb5ca44f244.jpeg

 

The problem appears to just have been it needed a clean/lube/adjust and it had bent and rusty pad pins.   A whole hardware kit for 4 pins lol…
 

E6A644DB-AB3C-40B4-9719-62EA30AB9058.jpeg.f0ad1917cdc3312a5774561b70b48628.jpeg


Well I couldn’t get axle flange gaskets locally, or quickly online.  The online ones were mostly  showing generic pictures.  This one though should be correct.  The cool thing is with the right picture of the part, I can just make it myself with the Cricut
 

4C91BA60-6C25-435A-B811-5C2C202E423D.jpeg.dd6812be65177e2842066b402615bbc0.jpeg

 

But looking for the above, I found this gem!  Most of these are too pricey to bother with, but this one works out to be just over $30 shipped.  Unfortunately it would come from China. 
 

876C8BE8-81AF-49AF-8A9D-88DCB4FC2517.jpeg.c0056f86a5e748eae2f965e4b5562195.jpeg 

 
In the interest in forward momentum I decided to just make the gaskets. Recycling is good!  Unfortunately Cricut decided to do maintenance and the software is heavily cloud based. When I went to cut, it showed an error. Now Design Space won’t boot past the initial pop up. Oh well it’s ready to go for tomorrow. 
 

8B23013F-A861-4FAD-9829-49CE00615B49.jpeg.a576d7346ab0729997d5bf38d74ffdc3.jpeg

Edited by thewanderlustking
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Thank you!  I am pretty happy with the results!  The Cricut Maker is an interesting tool to find weird and random uses for...  Very versatile!  The design software has a few, quirks...  But overall it is pretty easy to use.  It does need an "expert" mode to allow a few more features.  Especially to be able to edit material cut settings and create custom profiles there.  

 

The gasket took a small struggle to slip it on.  It probably needs to be about 1.5mm bigger in diameter to space the holes out just a hair farther.  Good enough for now though!  It is a free cardboard gasket so I don't really expect it to last another 40yrs haha!  

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Well 1.4mm bigger was WAY too much.  I probably only needed .5mm.  And I am out of cereal box material (for now haha)!  

 

I could get actual gasket material from the parts store, but that's not much fun.  It is amusing utilizing what is on hand and thinking about other materials to try.  I have an inner tube...  I will stick to the first batch I made for now though.   

 

 

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brainstorming here since since you mentioned fun.....

 

thin oil resistant plastic may work too. that way it wont crush as much over time but should still conform and maybe smoosh into an irregularities on the surface. 

 

that aside, i personally keep that Toyota part on hand since they are pretty cheep at $2 a gasket. But like you said, the lead times are not particularly desirable. 

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I mean it works, it is free and pretty darn amusing!  
 

The parts store probably has the plastic impregnated cardboard gasket material.  Or I can make these up and smear a thin coat of silicone on each side.  But these are in theory just holding the grease in and water out. 
 

Honestly, I didn’t clean the flanges on the axles really well, so I needed a bit of smoosh to compensate.  Been in the process of moving my tools to a new shop. Axles aren’t in yet so they may still get cleaned up some more.  If I don’t put it together tonight or tomorrow….  
 

Probably a part I should order and have on hand though. Add it to the list!  I want a full engine gasket set too. 
 

This is amusing though and I will probably find something else in the recycling bin tonight and try adjusting the size a touch bigger. I’m almost there!  

Edited by thewanderlustking
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Well even .5mm seems to be too much.  I did this from an online picture grab and not an actual  flat scan of a gasket.  I could see a few inconsistencies in the hole spacing.  With some effort I could get it better, but it isn't worth it.  As mpanzar mentioned, a gasket isn't that expensive anyways, just long lead times.  My initial run is good enough for what it is!   I will likely order a couple gaskets, and scan them.  LOL!  

 

It would be fun to do the same with any of the engine gaskets that lend themselves to being made this way.  i probably will at least scan those.  But...  As cheap as a full set is, I will likely order a set to have on hand anyways.  The axle flange gaskets would only take a few minutes to replace.  Rapidly diminishing returns on most of the engine ones.  

 

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