auto to manual hub, can replace entire knuckle?

[xorph]

Hi guys,

Had a catastrophic event in my cruiser this weekend and now its stuck at a friend's in taupo...
It was running perfectly and then spontaneously started wobbling and swerving! so I stopped and burnt my hand on the left front hub
turns out toyota doesnt use a locknut and tab washer on these cruisers and the whole hub damn near fell off in a space of ten seconds!
On dismantling the left hub it is totally destroyed. the bearings, spindle, brushes and there were sheared off wires dangling out. My opinion is that it is virtually un-repairable.
My cruiser is a hzj70 1996. It has the factory electric difflocks and electric hubs.
My question is whether you can replace the whole knuckles with those from an earlier (86ish model) cruiser?
This would be ideal because I can probably source a pair or an entire front axle and swap bits around.
Has anyone done this?
Cheers, Matt.

[Jerry]

sounds like the same stupid electric hubs that were on my LJ71

I have a used spacer kit in the garage somewhere which allows you to throw some manual hubs on, otherwise you need to replace the wheel hub and possibly the spindle, machining this to allow the 2 washers and locknut to fit, theres a potential issue with the conversion as this is causing my brakes to crap out coz the wheel bearing nut etc are working loose now (was ok previously with the locking ring and 3 hex screws).

Use the factory Aisan hubs if you can

Another option is to PM OLDBLUE on here as he can do a conversion to them where you use an allan key to lock/unlock them, the hubs are pretty strong (when they are working)

[Sadam_Husain]

Its always the left hand side, the rotation of the wheels will undo the nuts if they are loose where the rotation will keep the right hand side done up if the nuts are loose

I've lost a couple of LH front wheels over the years but I've been lucky enought to pick all the bits up off the road and put it all back together again

[xorph]

owwwrr! doom! so someone else has had this happen.
Yeah, I was always planning on oldblue's conversion, but now my hub has totally wronged itself it needs complete replacing.
i.e pieces of the threaded part of the spindle are mixed up in a stew with cylindrical rollers from a bearing with bits of carbon and steel and wires thrown in as well.
I am hoping to swap the whole knuckle assemblies from an old 70 series including the discs and bearings and spindle and fw hubs etc.. or possibly just the spindles and hubs. luckily my axle shaft and cv appear perfect, cos ive heard that post 90 models have different cvs and the factory difflock ones have special shafts...
does anyone know any combination of bits I can use to make this work?
anyone have the peices to make it work?

[xorph]

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4900

ah! I have found someone who's done it. Its a 71 series prado but similar idea, used hilux hubs and spindles.
I assume it'll work on mine

[Jerry]

theres pics etc of my hub conversion here FYI

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5651&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=jerrys+new+truck&start=150


Remember that you have the 9" cruiser diffs and the Prado's have the smaller 8" diffs so I'm not sure what the differences would be, it shows the existing hub, what was put on here was the spacer kit and manual hub.

[xorph]

from what ive read the post 90s model 70 and 80 series cruisers all ahve the 9.25 inch on back and 8 inch up front.
god knows why toyota did it cos apparently they have a habit of exploding in reverse gear.
while the cruiser 8 inch front is heavier and stronger than a stock hilux its prob the same as your 71, so id say the axles and hubs are hopefully the same too. in which case I have 2 solutions now

[wjw]

On the prado you have to replace the hubs and stubs...

[xorph]

Ive finally found an old thread that confirms this:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2084&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=electric+hub&start=15

Just gotta go find some cruiser hubs now. Ive found some hilux ones someone told me they have the same hub or spindle or something? anyone know if this is true?

[xorph]

Right, well now the saga is over I'll clarify some things for others that may try this ploy:

Early cruiser (aprox 87 model) spindles (stub axles) do fit on post 90's cruiser knuckles. This allows you to fit the whole hub assembly including free wheel hubs onto the later knuckle. The brake disc is the same too but the caliper is different. later cruisers have two large pistons instead of one large and one small piston. Remember to use the late model backing plates too as they are slightly different and you'll need to cut the old one back to fit the new brakes if you use it.

The later cruisers have a larger cv joint, and to accomodate this toyota made new larger knuckles (swivel housing). hence you cannot replace the whole swivel housing. Also annoying is that the old model swivel housing seal bits dont fit the new one. This is particularly annoying if you have already assembled everything especially because this is the kit listed by repco as being suitable.

Moral of story: to convert auto hubs to manual,
get some old hub assemblies and stub axles and it works fine