Hi guys,
I have an 80 series, and do a lot of remote travel in it. Fantastic vehicle, except for one particular annoying thing: always trickling water into the font bearings. I am fed up of pulling them out and re-packing.
Don't bother read on this will
bore you, unless you've had the same problem.
Every time the wheelbearings go through water - ultimately the bearings need to be taken out and re-packed. If you don't sooner or later it will bite you in the backside as even a few drops will damage them in the long run. Despite maintaining my bearings properly, I have lost count of the number of times I have had to strip it down and re-pack with new seals. Considering all the time and effort I have gone into keeping my bearings dry - I thought I'd share it with others who have also experienced the problem.
I hope I'm not telling more experienced 4WDers how to suck eggs here but I believe I have come up with a way to definitively CURE the problem, and thought I'd share the solution to those interested. Below, I have a guide for minimising water and also what I believe to be a relatively easily permanent solution to the problem. The rear bearings do not nearly as much leak water as the front, and usually require significantly less maintenance.
I have done a lot of research into water and the front bearings on the 80 series, and this includes lengthy chats with Timkin and other experts. The new LC's, I'm sure you are aware, have sealed bearings to combat the problem, but cannot be retro-fitted to the older vehicles.
Water in bearings is bad, end of story; and if left too long can be very expensive and time-consuming to fix. I have seen a number of cases where the wheel bearings were left too long (a few thousand kms) and this has ultimately led to new hubs, rotors, calipers, bearings, seals, and even manual locking hubs. This is because when the bearings fail the entire setup is no longer concentric and ultimately destroys itself.
How to cure water in the front bearings:
1) get it right in the first place.
- new seals
- use MARINE grease, not standard wheel bearing grease
- use genuine toyota seals
- keep the inner seals clean
- ensure the inner axel seal is in good condition
- make sure your swivel hub seals & felts are in good condition all the time, and make sure they have not been CUT by lazy mechanics.
- stick with the genuine toyota manual locking hubs they are better then AVM (I went through 3 sets of AVM's before realising they leak like a sieve)
- use engine oil in the locking hubs, not grease (apart from the fact they are not designed for grease, experience demonstrates the less viscous engine oil retards water better)
2) here's my simple solution. Done properly it solves the problem for good. I run two (joined) positive pressure air lines into a) the swivel hub and b) the outside of the spindle to retard water. If you want to give it a go, this is how I did it:
Water gets in via 3
places only: the locking hubs, the swivel hubs (and through the CV/spindle) and the inner hub seals. By pressurising the system as you travel through water it retards any water trying to get in through all 3.
a) there is a square-headed inspection bolt on the top of the swivel housing. Remove it and drill a vertical hole right through to feed a low-pressure hose (I used 5.5mm hose OD). Use hose (and/or a fitting) that will tolerate a few sticks, and also higher temperatures if things get hot. Once the hose is fitted, cut to about 30cm and replace the bolt into the swivel housing.
b) with the hub/rotor and bearings all removed, locate the bottom drain indentation on the spindle. This is about 15mm wide and leaved a groove under the seal to allow any water to drain out. Unfortunately, it can also let water in. In this groove, I used silicon to seal in a small copper tube allowing air to get into the space between the two inner hub seals. Attach another section of 5.5mm hose to the outer end of the tiny sealed-in copper pipe, and feed it back towards the front diff via a hole you can drill through the thin disc/rotor dust backing plate. Cut the hose at 30cm.
c) reassemble the entire front hub and wheel.
So, now you have two hoses running into the swivel housing and in-between the two inner hub seals. Join them together on both sides of the axel housing and then run a hose up into the engine bay where you can supply a low-pressure air source (and a switch to operate when crossing through water).
When I say low pressure, I mean 2PSI. Too high, and you will start to blow grease and all sorts into the wrong place. Too low, and the pressure of deep water will exceed that of the air you are supplying and water will get in.
So, by supplying air to these two points you will retard any water from getting past the swivel hub seals and into the swivel housing. From there, the water can travel through the spindle around the CV and enter the manual locking hub and ultimately find its way into the bearings. So, the air in the swivel housing also pressurises the inside of the manual locking hub and retards water there also! Secondly, the air you will supply to the space inbetween the two inner hub seals will retard water from entering on the inner-bearing side of the system.
Importantly, because the two lines are joined onto the same line, they will always equalise pressure and ensure your air pressure does not blow grease in the wrong direction. Additionally, when the swivel housing is pressurised, it will retard any diff fluid from the front entering the CV. It is however important to ensure your front diff breather is properly functioning (for other reasons also). If it's all done correctly you should be able to blow on the end of the tubing and NOT loose any pressure at all. If you are, hunt down the leak and fix it.
This is actually a lot easier to do than it sounds, and it works an absolute treat by effectively waterproofing the entire front hub setup.
What I've written might be a bit confusing, if anyone is genuinely interested I will take the time to get a few clear photographs so you can see how it is done.
Sorry this is a long post, but this really is a neat, simple solution to the problem we all experience (even if you don't realise it!).
Cheers, Husky