Possible knuckle rebuild party?

[Doughboy]

Good questions. Yes, no, I don’t know, and I have full time 4x4.

I’ll post some pictures and see what you guys think.

Thanks.

Honestly Scott, you are probably fine. 20k on the current rebuild is nothing. Did they do bearings and did they replace the birfields? When you turn or do circles, do you hear clicking? I believe toyota says to rebuild them every 100k miles.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Okay this is the kind of info I was looking for. Wasn’t sure what kind of life span the birfs are good for. Obviously lots of variables can change life span.
I don’t know if the birfields were replaced but they were serviced at 175k and the bearings were repacked less than 10k miles ago.
I don’t have any clicking or weird noises in tight corners in both 4high and 4low. I do have some residual grease around the birf joints and axle. I’m not sure how much is normal.
I’ll take some pictures tomorrow so you can see what they look like.

 

[Doughboy]

Okay this is the kind of info I was looking for. Wasn’t sure what kind of life span the birfs are good for. Obviously lots of variables can change life span.
I don’t know if the birfields were replaced but they were serviced at 175k and the bearings were repacked less than 10k miles ago.
I don’t have any clicking or weird noises in tight corners in both 4high and 4low. I do have some residual grease around the birf joints and axle. I’m not sure how much is normal.
I’ll take some pictures tomorrow so you can see what they look like.

Yeah I think you are fine. You can jack up the front end and give them a shake, grab top and bottom, push and pull, shouldn't have any movement. Then grab the sides and do the same thing. Should be solid. If it isn't, probably a bad wheel bearing. But you're fresh off a rebuild and over thinking it. Come on out to the rebuild party and come learn some new things. It'll be fun. We can have a grease fight at the end

 

[Johnny Utah]

Grease fight!!!??? You son of a b. I’m in.

 

[Cruisertrash]

Grease fight!!!??? You son of a b. I’m in.

By grease fight he means aggressive grease leaps out of the knuckle on the attack as soon as you open it.

Also, pedantic point here: the birfield is the type of joint in the axle, it allows the axle to rotate when the front wheels are turned - the joint is what carries the motion around a bend. Sometimes when folks use "birfield" they're referring to the actual axle itself though. It is contained inside the knuckle, which also houses the spindle, wheel bearings, and kingpin bearings, and is sealed on the backside by the felt wiper seals. On the older trucks the manual hub selector is the very most outside piece of this knuckle "stack". When you're saying "birfields were replaced" do you mean the axles were replaced? Did one break on a trail or something?

Here's a video showing how a birfield joint works. It's pretty cool:

 

[Johnny Utah]

Okay cool. Thanks for the video. I don’t know what was replaced vs serviced. I’m going to reach out to Robbie and see if he has any records for the work. I have very few records from the previous owner (I knew that and agreed to purchase anyway) so I’m figuring it out as I go based on what he told me was done.
Based on this and your description of the knuckle, I’m leaning toward a rebuild/service was done, probably not replacement.
Thanks for your patience as I familiarize myself with the 80.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Also here are the pictures of the front axle/knuckles. They are a little crudy.
Driver

Passenger

 

[Telly]

Those pictures don't look like a full knuckle service was done 20k miles ago. The wiper seals need to come off to pull off the hub for cleaning out all the old grease. Is your front diff oil clean? If not, then the birf grease has mixed with the diff oil and the axle seal needs to be replaced.

 

[Inukshuk]

Those pictures don't look like a full knuckle service was done 20k miles ago. The wiper seals need to come off to pull off the hub for cleaning out all the old grease. Is your front diff oil clean? If not, then the birf grease has mixed with the diff oil and the axle seal needs to be replaced.

I'd run em. Looks like an 80 knuckle to me. Now, if it was dripping on the floor ....

 

[fyffer]

If I could make a recommendation to the rebuild kit, I would buy and use Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty Inner Axle ECO Seals vs. the standard.
I did, just my 2 cents.

 

[fjc man]

If you’re not going to rebuild them, put some more moly grease in the through the fill plug on the knuckle housing with a grease gun. You have obviously lost some over time past the ball wiper seal ( which is normal ).

 

[Cruisertrash]

@Telly I’d have to agree with Daniel - yeah they look a little cruddy, but the rebuild could wait. The knuckles on my old 60 looked like that 20k miles after I rebuilt them.

@fyffer how many miles on the Marlin seals?

 

[Telly]

Yikes! My 80 axles did not look anything like that after 2 years of daily driving.

 

[Cruisertrash]

Yikes! My 80 axles did not look anything like that after 2 years of daily driving.

We need your secrets!

 

[fyffer]

@Telly I’d have to agree with Daniel - yeah they look a little cruddy, but the rebuild could wait. The knuckles on my old 60 looked like that 20k miles after I rebuilt them.

@fyffer how many miles on the Marlin seal

I have no idea how long ago the previous ones were installed, but the Seals were also the heavy duty ones. Previous owner did not pinch his pennies with the rig, I know that for a fact.
So, I did this for my own baseline, not necessarily because it was needed. But also to rule out it's problem (the bearings was my concern) to a Wobble at certain speeds.

 

[subzali]

If I could make a recommendation to the rebuild kit, I would buy and use Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty Inner Axle ECO Seals vs. the standard.
I did, just my 2 cents.

Those are ok for part time rigs, but not generally recommended for DD full time rigs (80 series). If you believe IH8MUD.

Grease fight!!!??? You son of a b. I’m in.

Better known as a BackwoodsGoop fight

My two cents is that I always understood the front axle service to be a 60k mile service. I'm with @Inukshuk though I'd probably run it until it starts dripping on the tire or you're at 60k miles from when you last think it was done. Just pump in about 10 pumps of grease into the knuckle at every oil change.

 

[Cruisertrash]

@subzali I have also heard that the Marlin seals aren't the choice for daily driving, but it's been without an support argument. I daily drive mine and ran the regular seals with the Cruiser Outfitters kit last time I rebuilt knuckles. There was noticeable leakage after 20k miles of daily driving and the occasional (6-8x per year) light wheeling/camping trip.

I was going to try the Marlins this time just for experimentation purposes. What have you heard about them with regard to daily driving?

@fyffer I have the same approach - even if something looks ok, I tend to want to "baseline" it anyway. I trust things more when I've done it with my own hands. And it really helps me check off boxes when troubleshooting.

 

[fyffer]

really helps me check off boxes when troubleshooting.

Thats my reasoning as well.

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

If I could make a recommendation to the rebuild kit, I would buy and use Marlin Crawler Heavy Duty Inner Axle ECO Seals vs. the standard.
I did, just my 2 cents.

Cruiser outfitters and OEM toyota seals

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

Also here are the pictures of the front axle/knuckles. They are a little crudy.
Driver
View attachment 107457
Passenger
View attachment 107458

I'd give them a hit w/ a power washer. Get them cleaned up and pay attention to how dirty they might get over a certain time span