My 60 mods thread
- Thread starter ntsqd
- Start date
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
So do I!
So far everything is stiff. I'm not sure where the problem lays. I'm blaming the short springs, but that may be unfair. Valve stacks are currently 80/40 front and 60/30 rear. These are what Mirage suggested as a starting place.
Last edited:
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Ironic that at the moment the trailer is on 33's and the FJ is on 31's!
Some bad news though. I have "blind spots" in my hearing though that's old news. Some freqs I can't hear at all. Others seem to come from everywhere and I can't locate their source. I've been hearing something fairly faint that I couldn't quite separate out from the rest of the noises, mostly normal sounding trans and t/c noises. So I asked a friend with a tuned ear (owns a 4X repair shop) to listen to/for it and we went for a drive. It even took him a little while to sort out where and what, but the LR wheel bearing has significant slop in it.
He used to tease me about always hearing failing wheel bearings....
Being a C-clip axle design I'm thinking that the shaft is toast. Normally c-clip wheel bearings ride directly on the axle shaft with no inner bearing race, so I'm assuming that these do too. If that is the case, then I don't think that the outer race and rollers can wear enough to produce that amount of movement without also wearing the shaft. Though economical for the mfg, c-clip axles are such poor idea that is boggles my mind that it was popular with or considerable by anyone except Accounting.
So I guess SOR has another floater axle customer!!!
Some bad news though. I have "blind spots" in my hearing though that's old news. Some freqs I can't hear at all. Others seem to come from everywhere and I can't locate their source. I've been hearing something fairly faint that I couldn't quite separate out from the rest of the noises, mostly normal sounding trans and t/c noises. So I asked a friend with a tuned ear (owns a 4X repair shop) to listen to/for it and we went for a drive. It even took him a little while to sort out where and what, but the LR wheel bearing has significant slop in it.
He used to tease me about always hearing failing wheel bearings....Being a C-clip axle design I'm thinking that the shaft is toast. Normally c-clip wheel bearings ride directly on the axle shaft with no inner bearing race, so I'm assuming that these do too. If that is the case, then I don't think that the outer race and rollers can wear enough to produce that amount of movement without also wearing the shaft. Though economical for the mfg, c-clip axles are such poor idea that is boggles my mind that it was popular with or considerable by anyone except Accounting.
So I guess SOR has another floater axle customer!!!
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Not true with GM C-clip axles. They do not have an inner race, the rollers ride directly on a surface hardened part of the axle shaft itself.
I've not had an LC SF axle opened up, so I don't know what I'll find there. Time to search 'Mud.
EDIT:
As best as I can tell from the FSM the bearings do ride directly on the axle shaft. The bearing R&R section shows the bearings being installed into the housing (and illustrates the bearings with no inner races), and then axle is installed into the housing.
Oh well, I want a floater anyway - this just pushes that purchase further up the schedule.
I've not had an LC SF axle opened up, so I don't know what I'll find there. Time to search 'Mud.
EDIT:
As best as I can tell from the FSM the bearings do ride directly on the axle shaft. The bearing R&R section shows the bearings being installed into the housing (and illustrates the bearings with no inner races), and then axle is installed into the housing.
Oh well, I want a floater anyway - this just pushes that purchase further up the schedule.
Last edited:
FurthurOnTheFly
Glamping Society
Great truck I <3 the 60's!
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Short term fix for the bearing and presumably the destroyed axle would be easy. Spectre, MAF, and even TLC are inside of an hour from house. One of them is likely to have a replacement axle shaft. Bearing from a particluar Expo & Mud supporting vendor and off I go.
Except that semi-flanged axles irritate me. Obviously they work, but they really are asking for trouble. And the C-clipped axles and inner raceless wheel bearings are a crime!
So I opted to go with a import FJ60 floater rear axle. With Patch apart getting a totally rebuilt front axle and turbo twuk with the infamous 22RTE's blow head gasket that left me going after it by either pulling the C.U.T. with the Sub or just using my 53 HP roachy DD.
I chose the latter. A bit like the Clampett's, but it was secured to the load bars with H-D ratchet straps and did not move during the whole trip home. The fellow running Spectre's fork lift really wasn't too sure about this plan, but he was game to try it.
Now to disassemble it and haul it over to Coast Driveline for cleaning. Eventually I'll need to pull it to center the diff for the centered output transfer case that I will eventually use. At that time I'll paint it ect.
Except that semi-flanged axles irritate me. Obviously they work, but they really are asking for trouble. And the C-clipped axles and inner raceless wheel bearings are a crime!
So I opted to go with a import FJ60 floater rear axle. With Patch apart getting a totally rebuilt front axle and turbo twuk with the infamous 22RTE's blow head gasket that left me going after it by either pulling the C.U.T. with the Sub or just using my 53 HP roachy DD.
I chose the latter. A bit like the Clampett's, but it was secured to the load bars with H-D ratchet straps and did not move during the whole trip home. The fellow running Spectre's fork lift really wasn't too sure about this plan, but he was game to try it.
Now to disassemble it and haul it over to Coast Driveline for cleaning. Eventually I'll need to pull it to center the diff for the centered output transfer case that I will eventually use. At that time I'll paint it ect.
Last edited:
cruiseroutfit
Well-known member
Congrats on the FF. After snapping 3 rear SF shafts in my 40 (running 60 axles) I had enough and off to Cali I went. I came home with 8 HJ60 FF's in the bed of my old Tacoma. All of those FF's are in service here in the west, most of them replacing the axles of customers that hads broken shafts themseves. To this date five years later (knock on wood), none of them have had a single issue. We just did another batch of them from Marv too, I don't even have a project that needs one right now but I scored two for myself
The cool thing is the parts interchange. They run the same wheel bearings and hub seal as a front axle, and if/when you ever had a shaft fail, you could put a Aisin hub or drive flange on the rear just to keep debris out as the pattern there is the same too!
Can't wait to see it under your rig!
The cool thing is the parts interchange. They run the same wheel bearings and hub seal as a front axle, and if/when you ever had a shaft fail, you could put a Aisin hub or drive flange on the rear just to keep debris out as the pattern there is the same too!
Can't wait to see it under your rig!
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
End of an Era
I made a friend of mine an offer. He has been wanting my dune buggy for his son to use. I told him that I'd trade him the buggy for a running, but not necessarily drivable GM 350 TPI/700R4 donor car. I need/want the whole car for emissions reasons, I'll send the hulk off to the JY after I've pulled everything of value to me off of it.
I learned off highway driving in this vehicle. I've had it the longest of any vehicle that I've ever owned - about 25 years, but it has sat for the last 6+ years and rarely even been started. Time for it to move to the next owner.
I made a friend of mine an offer. He has been wanting my dune buggy for his son to use. I told him that I'd trade him the buggy for a running, but not necessarily drivable GM 350 TPI/700R4 donor car. I need/want the whole car for emissions reasons, I'll send the hulk off to the JY after I've pulled everything of value to me off of it.
I learned off highway driving in this vehicle. I've had it the longest of any vehicle that I've ever owned - about 25 years, but it has sat for the last 6+ years and rarely even been started. Time for it to move to the next owner.
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Well the wheel bearing in question didn't look too bad. I wouldn't try to use it again, but it wasn't so torn up that it could have been the source of the relative motion. It sure had a hand in the noise.
The axle though, that's a different story. Can't easily see it in the picture, but there is a ~3/32" deep groove worn into the axle by the bearing orollers.
Some good news at of this is that someone recently did the rear brakes including all new hardware.
The Full Float axle install went pretty smoothly. The only real trouble spot was aligning the housing on the spring center pins. I had to use this trick when I first installed the OME springs, not sure why but they're off by about 1/8" No big deal, OE Toyota mechanical bottle jack to the rescue!
And, Success!!!!
The axle though, that's a different story. Can't easily see it in the picture, but there is a ~3/32" deep groove worn into the axle by the bearing orollers.
Some good news at of this is that someone recently did the rear brakes including all new hardware.
The Full Float axle install went pretty smoothly. The only real trouble spot was aligning the housing on the spring center pins. I had to use this trick when I first installed the OME springs, not sure why but they're off by about 1/8" No big deal, OE Toyota mechanical bottle jack to the rescue!
And, Success!!!!
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Well, we used "Wallace" to go to the 2nd Annual Central Coast Meet-n-Greet. Towed the TrailBlazer up to the event. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. All of the reading that I've done lead me to think that we might be really struggling going up any hills or grades. Granted, the TB is not a 30' Airstream, but it is not light either. Loaded the way we were I'd guess that it was over 1000 lbs. Rolling on 33-12.50's didn't help either.
Gaviota Pass had me in 3rd holding about 47-48 MPH. All in all not that bad. First fuel-up came out almost exactly 10 MPG. I'm really hoping that by emphasizing efficient power train components and gearing to operate the engine at it's peak torque rpm while at our expected cruise speed that the V8 swap will double that. I do not think that this is an unreasonable goal with a TPI engine.
I also had the first opportunity to engage 4WD where it was needed. Seth took us out onto the sand at Oceano Dunes. I've never been there before. While "Wallace" was far from being able to frolic and cavort on the sand, it did surprisingly well for a heavy machine with a low HP engine.
Gaviota Pass had me in 3rd holding about 47-48 MPH. All in all not that bad. First fuel-up came out almost exactly 10 MPG. I'm really hoping that by emphasizing efficient power train components and gearing to operate the engine at it's peak torque rpm while at our expected cruise speed that the V8 swap will double that. I do not think that this is an unreasonable goal with a TPI engine.
I also had the first opportunity to engage 4WD where it was needed. Seth took us out onto the sand at Oceano Dunes. I've never been there before. While "Wallace" was far from being able to frolic and cavort on the sand, it did surprisingly well for a heavy machine with a low HP engine.
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
Got the local tire shop to do a bunch of switching tires around this morning. 33-10.50 A/T's came off Patch's wheels and went on to Wallace's wheels. The 33-10.50 M/T's that the A/T's replaced before a high pavement miles trip were pulled off steel "Rock Crawlers" and out on Patch's newer aluminum wheels. The rock crawlers went up on CL, Mud, and a local forum. The 31's that came on Wallace turned out to have a lot of sidewall cracks that were not all that noticeable until they were being dismounted, and were discarded. I had hoped to put them on the TrailBlazer, but using them was out of the question.
I still don't like the unladen 'stinkbug' look, but at least the tires look more appropriate for the lift.
I still don't like the unladen 'stinkbug' look, but at least the tires look more appropriate for the lift.