 FJ40 Land Cruiser Front Axle Knuckle Grease ChangeThis is a typical preventative maintanence repair that all Land Cruiser owners need to do especially if their LC is used offroad in mud and water. Disassembly of the front axle, removal and replacing of the contaminated grease and reassembly of the axle components is an easy but messy job.
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First of all you will need to break the lugnuts loose on both front wheels then jack the front
end of your vehicle up and place it on jack stands. Remove both front wheels and place under
the frame rails of your vehicle in case it happens to fall these will keep it from falling on YOU.
Next you will need to remove your front axle "lockout". In my case I have the OEM Selectro "lockouts" which have two external parts to them. The large knob looking end which you turn to either lock in or unlock the axle and the base part which is bolted to the axle hub with 6 bolts or studs. To remove the Selectro hub you will need to use a small phillips screwdriver and remove the 3 small set screws that are spaced around the circumference of the "knob". Pull out on the "knob" and it will come right off. Now you can see the end of the outer axle where it comes through the base of the "lockout". A snap ring probably should be on the end of this axle but in some cases the previous owner has not reinstalled it. Remove this snap ring. The base of the "lockout" is held on by 6 bolts or studs, most have the bolts but I prefer the studs. Remove all 6 of these fasteners. You can now pull out on the "lockout" and it will come off. That is all there is to removing the "lockout". You will notice there are two smooth dowels that extend out from the hub. These dowels help align the lockout to the hub and also help bear the torque transfer from the axle to the hub. In lots of cases these dowels will be broken, you will need to try and remove the broken pieces and replace with new ones. If they do not come out with a little work you may have to take the hub to a machine shop and have them milled out. The next item you will want to remove is the brake drum. The drum is typically held on with 2 large phillips head screws. You may want to apply lots of lubricate such as Kroil or WD-40 to help with removal of these 2 screws. An even better way to remove these is a Impact Driver. Remove these screws. If your brakes haven't been adjusted in a long time and you are real lucky you might be able to pull the brake drum off of the hub now BUT most likely you will need to "persuade" it. Where the brake drum slides over the hub is a very very close fit, so close that rust and crud will hold it in place even after lots of lubricant. You will need another ST called a BFH, in laymans terms a Big Freaking Hammer. While rotating the drum you smack the outside circumference of the drum as you keep your fingers out of the way. It may take a LOT of persuasion tho. I also use a large flathead screwdriver or small prybar that I slide in from the rear between the drum and the backing plate. Prying out on the drum in various places helps break the tight fit of the drum. It is also possible that you might have to back your brake shoes off to get the required clearance to remove the drum. Looking at the back side of the backing plate you will find 4 oval slots that should be filled with rubber plugs. Two of these oval slots will cover the "star" adjusters that increase or decrease the mechanical preset of the individual brake cylinders. Remove the plugs and looking inside you will see the "star" adjusters. You will have to use a small flathead screwdriver or the ST that is made for this adjustment. If you turn the adjuster one way it will lengthen, the other way will shorten the cylinder. Pay attention to which way you turn the "star", if the drum stops turning or gets hard to turn you are lengthening the cylinder, turn it the other way, this will pull the brake shoes away from the inside diameter of the brake drum. You will have to do both cylinders on the wheel. After removing the brake drum and lockout you will need to remove the hub. Removal of the hub is fairly simple. Looking inside of the hub you will see a couple of large nuts sandwiching a "claw" lockwasher. Toyota and other LC vendors sell a large socket that can be used in the removal of these nuts. The "claw" lockwasher has tabs that are bent over the "flats" of the nuts holding both of them from backing off. Bend the tabs out and remove the first (jam) nut. Pull the lock washer out and then remove the second large nut and the flat washer that is under it. You can now grab the hub and pull it off of the spindle. Be careful because the outer hub bearing can fall out of the hub if your not watching. You are now left with the spindle sticking out of the brake backing plate and the plate that holds the hub inner seal. The hub inner seal plate and backing plate is held on with 8 bolts. Typically these bolts will have safety wire threaded through the holes in their heads to keep them from backing out. Remove this safety wire. Remove the 8 bolts and the hub inner seal plate. Next to be removed is the brake backing plate. You can either remove all of the springs and shoes before removing the backing plate or leave them in place. You will also need to go to the backside of the backing plate and remove the brake line from where it is attached to the brake cylinder. A 10mm wrench and patience will help. Pull the backing plate off of the "knuckle" and over the spindle. You now have a spindle with the outer axle sticking out of it. With a soft blow or brass hammer you will have to remove the spindle. This is a very tight machine fit so be patient and careful with how you remove it. After removal of the spindle you will have an open knuckle. Grab the end of the axle and pull it out gently. My LC is a '65 so it has a Ball Joint axle instead of a Birfield axle. The only difference is that the Ball Joint axle will come apart into 3 pieces, the outer axle, the "ball" and the inner axle. The Birfield axle will come out in one long piece. You can now remove all of the old grease that is inside of the knuckle. Refill the knuckle with suitable grease. Reinsert the axle or axle pieces and pack more grease around it. You will want as much grease in the knuckle that you can get. Replace the spindle onto the knuckle while lining up the bolt holes. Make sure the drain cutout is on the bottom. Replace the brake backing plate and inner hub seal plate. Install bolts and torque to the correct of 13.5 ft lbs. Reinstall the safety wire that holds the backing plate bolts. Reinstall the brake line to the brake cylinder. Reinstall the hub and torque the inner nut to 21.7 ft lbs. Install the claw washer and outer jam nut. Torque then bend over the tabs that line up with the flats on the nuts. Reinstall the lockout. Don't forget the snap ring. You can now replace the brake drum. Adjust the brake shoes out till they barely rub the drum as it is rotated. Bleed the brakes. There is also a square headed plug in the backside of the knuckle. You can remove this plug and using a grease gun you can "top" off the grease in the knuckle. Please understand that this is MY version of how you can do this job. There may be faster, cleaner and safer ways of doing this. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to submit them to me. |
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 Front Brake Drum & Lockout  "Hub" with Lock Nut, Lock Washer & Jam Nut  Outer Axle Shaft, Spindle & Drum, Brake Backing Plate with Shoes & Cylinders  "Hub Seal"  Outer Axle Shaft, Spindle & Outer Knuckle  Knuckle "open" after removal of Spindle, showing Outer Axle Shaft Deano Kothe ourtlc@aol.com |
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