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Well, what a job that was. I started stripping it on Saturday, and finally got the brakes bled yesterday. In that time I had to wait for a box spanner I ordered to tighten the hub nuts and some metal shims that go in between the pistons on the brake caliper and the brake pads.
I would say it was a three day job if I had everything to hand, but most of that time was spent cleaning EVERYTHING, down to wire brushing all the bolts, cleaning all components etc. The only things I didn't clean with kerosene were the tripod joints and CV joints on the driveshafts. I cleaned what grease I could with paper towel before reassembly and re-grease, kero in these would spell trouble.
Things to note:
The drive shafts are a bit*h to get out, especially the nearside one for some reason. The best thing to do is get a big bottle jack (12 ton in my case) under the lower ball joint arm and jack the wishbone right up, this allows just enough room to remove it.
The dust seals that tap on the driveshafts are a nightmare to get on. I haven't got a vice so it was doubly hard. It says in the Toyota work instruction use a hammer and screwdriver to tap them on, but this just doesn't work. The old seals I removed were made of stronger metal than the new ones. I got the offside seal on OK, but bent the nearside seal, so had to re-use the old one. An improvised tool here would be ideal. OR just leave the old ones on.
Get plenty of latex gloves. I must have used 3/4's of a box of 100 as they just disintegrate with all the grease you have to remove and the kero destroys them in minutes.
When removing the hub nuts I couldn't believe how loose they were. The lock nuts were hand tight, just touched them with a screwdriver and they span right off. No wonder there was lots of play in my bearings. Luckily they were OK. In contrast, the cone washers were a fu**ing bas*ard to get off. I must have spent nearly 2 hours trying to remove the nearside ones as they were well and truly stuck in there. On re-fitting, copious amounts of copper grease was used to hopefully prevent this happening in the future.
Use a Spring Tension Gauge to preload the wheel bearings. I bought one from a fishing shop, it's a portable scales that you can weigh fish with and is perfect for the job. The preload is 2.9-5.7 KGS, 6.4-12.6 LBS, 28-56 N. Tighten the 1st hub nut as tight as it will go, give the hub plenty of turns, back the nut off until loose, then re-tighten a bit at a time until the desired preload is reached. Tighten the outer lock nut and re-check the preload, if OK bend the locking tabs over the inner and outer hub nuts.
When bleeding the brakes, do the farthest from the master cylinder first. So, N/S Rear - O/S Rear - Load sensing valve - N/S Front - O/S Front. I bled the truck twice to make sure it was bled thoroughly and to also make sure all the old fluid was flushed out. I have used Toyota Dot 5.1 brake fluid, as I got a good deal, 3lts for £13. This is compatible with ALL Toyota brake systems and is the best fluid available.
When I went for the test drive I noticed that the brake light was on. This was probably due to the fact I ran the reservoir very low the first time to get most of the old fluid out. But, when it was all bled and flushed and topped up the light was still on. I decided to take it out in any case to see how she was. The brakes were OK, and as they need to bed in I thought that this was the reason they were just "OK", but they didn't seem right, and with the light on I was thinking I would have to bleed the system again. THEN after about 10 minutes the light decided to go out. After the light went out, WOW, what a change. The brakes are now pin sharp and the truck sits on it's nose with the slightest touch of the pedal. I just can't tell you how good the brakes are now, they are awesome and I haven't even touched the backs yet. And they have yet to bed in properly. Anyone suffering from OK brakes, get some new discs and pads on and bleed the system and replace with 5.1 fluid. What a change. Also the brake shudder I have had since owning the truck has now gone. With the amount of play in the bearings, I'm thinking this was the probable cause of the shudder as the old discs looked OK and weren't that worn. So anyone with brake shudder, consider this first.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing the job for the first time.
Box Spanner = MELCO TIM11 55X60mm X 8inch Box Spanner or use a 54mm socket
This is the tool I used for the preload. I bought the 30LB version at a local fishing shop. Comes in a cloth Velcro pouch that can attach to a belt.
http://www.reubenheaton.co.uk/disprod1.asp?prod_id=48
I would say it was a three day job if I had everything to hand, but most of that time was spent cleaning EVERYTHING, down to wire brushing all the bolts, cleaning all components etc. The only things I didn't clean with kerosene were the tripod joints and CV joints on the driveshafts. I cleaned what grease I could with paper towel before reassembly and re-grease, kero in these would spell trouble.
Things to note:
The drive shafts are a bit*h to get out, especially the nearside one for some reason. The best thing to do is get a big bottle jack (12 ton in my case) under the lower ball joint arm and jack the wishbone right up, this allows just enough room to remove it.
The dust seals that tap on the driveshafts are a nightmare to get on. I haven't got a vice so it was doubly hard. It says in the Toyota work instruction use a hammer and screwdriver to tap them on, but this just doesn't work. The old seals I removed were made of stronger metal than the new ones. I got the offside seal on OK, but bent the nearside seal, so had to re-use the old one. An improvised tool here would be ideal. OR just leave the old ones on.
Get plenty of latex gloves. I must have used 3/4's of a box of 100 as they just disintegrate with all the grease you have to remove and the kero destroys them in minutes.
When removing the hub nuts I couldn't believe how loose they were. The lock nuts were hand tight, just touched them with a screwdriver and they span right off. No wonder there was lots of play in my bearings. Luckily they were OK. In contrast, the cone washers were a fu**ing bas*ard to get off. I must have spent nearly 2 hours trying to remove the nearside ones as they were well and truly stuck in there. On re-fitting, copious amounts of copper grease was used to hopefully prevent this happening in the future.
Use a Spring Tension Gauge to preload the wheel bearings. I bought one from a fishing shop, it's a portable scales that you can weigh fish with and is perfect for the job. The preload is 2.9-5.7 KGS, 6.4-12.6 LBS, 28-56 N. Tighten the 1st hub nut as tight as it will go, give the hub plenty of turns, back the nut off until loose, then re-tighten a bit at a time until the desired preload is reached. Tighten the outer lock nut and re-check the preload, if OK bend the locking tabs over the inner and outer hub nuts.
When bleeding the brakes, do the farthest from the master cylinder first. So, N/S Rear - O/S Rear - Load sensing valve - N/S Front - O/S Front. I bled the truck twice to make sure it was bled thoroughly and to also make sure all the old fluid was flushed out. I have used Toyota Dot 5.1 brake fluid, as I got a good deal, 3lts for £13. This is compatible with ALL Toyota brake systems and is the best fluid available.
When I went for the test drive I noticed that the brake light was on. This was probably due to the fact I ran the reservoir very low the first time to get most of the old fluid out. But, when it was all bled and flushed and topped up the light was still on. I decided to take it out in any case to see how she was. The brakes were OK, and as they need to bed in I thought that this was the reason they were just "OK", but they didn't seem right, and with the light on I was thinking I would have to bleed the system again. THEN after about 10 minutes the light decided to go out. After the light went out, WOW, what a change. The brakes are now pin sharp and the truck sits on it's nose with the slightest touch of the pedal. I just can't tell you how good the brakes are now, they are awesome and I haven't even touched the backs yet. And they have yet to bed in properly. Anyone suffering from OK brakes, get some new discs and pads on and bleed the system and replace with 5.1 fluid. What a change. Also the brake shudder I have had since owning the truck has now gone. With the amount of play in the bearings, I'm thinking this was the probable cause of the shudder as the old discs looked OK and weren't that worn. So anyone with brake shudder, consider this first.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing the job for the first time.
Box Spanner = MELCO TIM11 55X60mm X 8inch Box Spanner or use a 54mm socket
This is the tool I used for the preload. I bought the 30LB version at a local fishing shop. Comes in a cloth Velcro pouch that can attach to a belt.
http://www.reubenheaton.co.uk/disprod1.asp?prod_id=48
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