Stub axle thread repair - now axle housing swap

[Bluey]

advice sought please

car is a '95 80 series cruiser. ie stub axle is part of the axle housing

pulled wheel bearings out to repack them and clean the crap load of dried mud in brakes. repack only as temp measure till i get wheel bearing kits and redo

anyway, both sides the stub axle thread are quite badly damaged.

left side looks like striations on the thread (metal almost looks like it is scaled if that make sense) and there was hit on the bottom of the thread pushing it in. this i fixed with thread file (small triangular) and small hacksaw blade. even this has meant the inner oil seal that pushes into the stub axle basically gets farked when installing. some of these "fixes" i did last time but hadn't gotten around to fixing the stub axle. had to replace the wheel bearing nut too

right side the outermost part of the thread looks worn, ie flat topped. now, i made a tool yesterday to tighten up the wheel bearing nuts to the specfified torque of 59Nm. this worked fine for left side, but right side wheel bearing nut i think (ie not 100% certain on this) may have slipped on the thread.


so, what can i do about this? can the stub axle be machined down and new threaded sleeve put on? on vehicle???

cheers
Lance

[bazooked]

we used to repair these at my old work, we would mig up the thread and the inside where the seal pops in and remachine it, but it does have to come of the vehicle regardless, or u can buy sum new ones.

[Shadow]

what did the damage?

I recently pulled my Hj60 front end down (same/similar stub axles) and did not have any damnage to the thread at all.

Did your wheel bearings collapse or something?

I would be looking for a new set if i was you. Try the wreckers, chances are they might have a bent housing somewhere they wont mind pulling parts off.

[Bluey]

thanks guys

Bazooked: what was the company you worked for and/or what type of places do i need to see? any idea on price too

Shadow: don't know what did the damage, as far as i can tell it was like that when i bought from previous owner.right hand side outer section just worn down, prob from cross threading or the like. as for the left, whole threaded section the thread has these tiny glazings/cracks in the actual thread itself, plus it has a hit down low that pushed the threads together. i would guess the damage was from a bad wheel bearing failure ie heat and more heat

i dont believe the stub axle is removable. this is for the rear axle, forgot to say at start, so it might be down to another housing or removing to be repaired. either way sucks bad


Lance

[bazooked]

rear axle the its a piece of cake i did countless number of diffs in my time there, best to find a descent machine shop ur way to get it done. i used to work for a mob called verriers eng in perth.

[ricky1970]

Weld and machine or replace housing are your best bets. We have done a few at work as well, mainly trailer axles (truck trailer), till we found out you could buy them cheap new.

3-4 hrs of your time to remove, strip and clean housing. Buy some new bearing nuts, take all to a compitant machine shop and shouldnt be a problem. 3-4 hrs work from them and its good as new.

You may be able to buy new 'ends' for the housing from toyota, these would not be to hard to fit (still gotta come out)

[bazooked]

You may be able to buy new 'ends' for the housing from toyota, these would not be to hard to fit (still gotta come out)

nope they dont have to come out never taken 1 out to be repaired unless we were extending the housing.

[ricky1970]

Bazooked

How did u machine the housing and check if still true after welding with housing still in vehicle?

[Bluey]

rang 4 engineering places, and arb workshop today and all seem to be on holidays. bugger

did get a price from toyota for new wheel bearing nuts, $113.30 each. they didn't have any advice really other than thread file or go to an engineer

oh well, will keep trying

[J Top]

Don Kyaat do wheel bearing kits, $35nz ea. They also do nut kits with 2 nuts, lock tab and inner washer for arround $12nz
J Top

[Shadow]

Don Kyaat do wheel bearing kits, $35nz ea. They also do nut kits with 2 nuts, lock tab and inner washer for arround $12nz
J Top

its not a nut on the back but a special locking ring thingo. thats why they are so dear from toyota ($113)

[bazooked]

Bazooked

How did u machine the housing and check if still true after welding with housing still in vehicle?

mate its pretty simple, the housing has to come out and be stripped, i lost count of the housings i repaired in 11 years of service.

[ricky1970]

Cool, in your last post thought you ment it didnt have to cum out, just wondering how you went about it in the vehicle.

[Bluey]

ok, i still haven't got any word on repairing the thread yet. will try to find out next week.

but i found a 80 series axle housing today, looks like good condition. links were still on it and they weren't damaged, all brackets look good, both stub axle threads are good and nuts do up on both. they are going to unbolt the suspension linkages for me, clean up in some nasty chemicals and tape up for me. 180 bucks.

so thanks to all the replies guys, when i mentioned i was after a 80 series axle housing and the guy said he had 2, figured this would be easier to swap. hopefully cheaper too

so i gotta start organizing bits and pieces for the big swap.

does anyone know what type of paint i should use on a diff or take it somewhere to get it professionally painted? any other pointers or things i should do while the diff is out


cheers
Bluey

[dumbdunce]

good work Bluey, replacing the housing is by far the cheapest and easiest repair option for that problem. for paint if you are really keen then get some epoxy and give it a few coats, there is no need for any special paint really.

enjoy the swap, it will take most of a day.

cheers
DD

[Bluey]

measured axle housing maybe a week ago with a string line and it is straight. so i primed it today and put one first coat of black (all killrust). first time using spray gun, and i love it. figured i'd practice on this plus maybe bullbar before even trying panel painting

anyway, all going good and then noticed couple large drops of oil next to rear of the car. turns out another rear seal is flogged out with diff oil over everything, hopefully bearings ok but spose it doesn't matter as will be changing it soon


so the axle housing swap is pushed forward cause don't want to waste money and time on a housing that is coming out anyway. what i'd like to know is whether i should put front and rear on chassis stands when i do the swap, or rear only? looks like i'll need to buy taller stands too

never done any suspension work on a coily b4, what i was thinking is:
0. disconnect driveshaft, brake lines, remove axles and diff, loosen all suspension bolts and brake backing plate first
1. jack up car and remove rear wheels
2. lower onto chassis stands
3. remove shocks and lower axle with small jack to take coils out. another set of stands?
4. disconnect suspension links and remove axle housing

5. swap in new housing with brake backing plate already swapped
6. connect suspension links
7. sit coils in and jack up axle housing

this is where i'm worried that i'll take weight off chassis stands and coils not seated properly yet - unstable situation?

8. connect shocks
9. put wheels back on
10. jack up vehicle and remove chassis stands
11. do everything else - diff, axles, brakes, driveshaft

sorry about long post, any feedback would be appreciated. also writing this helps me to work out the steps



Cheers
Bluey

[Superduki]

Let us know when you want to do it lance, ill give you a hand. Should be pretty simple, ive had the front housing out of the gu recently plus the experience from the old zook R.I.P and diffs at work we will be able to knock it over quite quickly!
Superduki.

[chunderlicious]

if you put the stands under the chassis at the beggining by lifting the rear diff high enough to get the tyres off the chassis will be high enough to do everything you need to do. make sure you choc the front wheels as youll need it out of gear when you reattach the rear driveshaft.

use the heaviest duty stands you can get your hands on. my 2500kg stands have bent pins from the hilux body and chassis so be careful

[Bluey]

Let us know when you want to do it lance, ill give you a hand. Should be pretty simple, ive had the front housing out of the gu recently plus the experience from the old zook R.I.P and diffs at work we will be able to knock it over quite quickly!
Superduki.

thanks simon, i'll call you tomorrow. didn't get home from work till 7pm. hoping to do it saturday, and will try to get bits and pieces sorted out before hand on friday if i can get the day off

if you put the stands under the chassis at the beggining by lifting the rear diff high enough to get the tyres off the chassis will be high enough to do everything you need to do. make sure you choc the front wheels as youll need it out of gear when you reattach the rear driveshaft.

use the heaviest duty stands you can get your hands on. my 2500kg stands have bent pins from the hilux body and chassis Rolling Eyes so be careful

thanks for that. i have 2.5T stands and bought 4T stands yesterday. think i need a new jack (trolley jack) cause lifted as high as i could get it with toyota jack (not full height but real hard to turn the handle) sunday, then lowered it on the chassis stands and lowered it. chassis rested on the 4T stands and then wheels lowered all way to ground. couldn't get the toyota jack low enough

another coat of killrust tomorrow, and boy is it SHINY black