Offroad-Express

I am assuming I have a stuffed axle shaft seal but was wanting the opinion of others. The symptons are oil and greasy mixture weeping from the rear of one of the swivel hubs. Oil leaking from rear pinion seal and diff breather. Also the truck hasn't been in any water so I've ruled out water in the diff that has caused the level to increase.

could be a blocked breather, that will cause oil to get pushed out past all the seals

wjw wrote:could be a blocked breather, that will cause oil to get pushed out past all the seals

Not blocked breather is leaking as well.

time to get your hands dirty , just doing mine now , swivel hub kit is $150 i did bearings as well $138 some grease and a bag of rags good luck .

As above mate its past its useby and needs pulling down for a bit of maintenance and rebuild

lexlux wrote:time to get your hands dirty , just doing mine now , swivel hub kit is $150 i did bearings as well $138 some grease and a bag of rags good luck .

Where's best place to get kit. I'm in Hamilton. Also what comes in the kit.

Is it likely to do any damage using it. I'm away on holiday next weekend and was going to strip it down after that.

Do not be surprised if the axle is worn where the seal runs
This is common on the vx this can be fixed with a speedy sleeve
Or the sharft can be built up

rodeorunach wrote:Do not be surprised if the axle is worn where the seal runs
This is common on the vx this can be fixed with a speedy sleeve
Or the sharft can be built up

What's a speedy sleeve and where do I get one.

Hi Phil,
No harm in using while leaking a little bit but I would check the oil level before your trip.

Speedi sleeves are from bearing places, Farrells in Hamilton, did mine a while ago, bit awkward to fit as the fitting tool that they come with is not long enough so i made one out of a bit of tube, can borrow mine if you like, but before you buy the sleeves i would pull the axles as some people are finding they are having to replace their axles due to the splines being worn. Sleeves are not cheap.
Cheers
Tim

4wdstuff wrote:Hi Phil,
No harm in using while leaking a little bit but I would check the oil level before your trip.

Speedi sleeves are from bearing places, Farrells in Hamilton, did mine a while ago, bit awkward to fit as the fitting tool that they come with is not long enough so i made one out of a bit of tube, can borrow mine if you like, but before you buy the sleeves i would pull the axles as some people are finding they are having to replace their axles due to the splines being worn. Sleeves are not cheap.
Cheers
Tim

Just had to do mine, found worn splines. Dont bother trying to get axles in nz if you need some, way to pricy go straight to aussie.

Saeco do speedy sleeves too. $48 each

Don Kyatts do a pretty good swivel hub kit from Terrain Tamer.
Includes everything you'll need for both sides.

If the spindle is too worn where the seal runs, the bronze bush in the back will probably be worn excessively as well so you're better to replace the whole spindle.

doddzee wrote:

4wdstuff wrote:Hi Phil,
No harm in using while leaking a little bit but I would check the oil level before your trip.

Speedi sleeves are from bearing places, Farrells in Hamilton, did mine a while ago, bit awkward to fit as the fitting tool that they come with is not long enough so i made one out of a bit of tube, can borrow mine if you like, but before you buy the sleeves i would pull the axles as some people are finding they are having to replace their axles due to the splines being worn. Sleeves are not cheap.
Cheers
Tim

Just had to do mine, found worn splines. Dont bother trying to get axles in nz if you need some, way to pricy go straight to aussie.

Are you able to give me a place to purchase in Aussie. Just trying to get a list together of parts that may be needed and where to purchase before I strip it down so its not off the road for too long.

4wdstuff wrote:Hi Phil,
No harm in using while leaking a little bit but I would check the oil level before your trip.

Speedi sleeves are from bearing places, Farrells in Hamilton, did mine a while ago, bit awkward to fit as the fitting tool that they come with is not long enough so i made one out of a bit of tube, can borrow mine if you like, but before you buy the sleeves i would pull the axles as some people are finding they are having to replace their axles due to the splines being worn. Sleeves are not cheap.
Cheers
Tim

Hi Tim
Might take you up on your offer if needed.
When you talk about worn splines do you mean where the axle slides into the diff head or is there something else. Reason I ask is I had it all apart a few years ago (so many bits in there I can't remember what else there is that has splines that could be worn)when I did the diff ratios and the axles where they slide into the diff looked good then.

Might look at doing an upgrade while I have it stripped down. As I am running 35" tyres I might look at putting in stronger CV's and axles. What would people consider the best and the best place to purchase.

Still need answers on best place to get the parts I need.

Don Kyatts, Terrain Tamer kits.
http://www.donkyatt.com.au/
http://yellow.co.nz/y/don-kyatt-spare

Diorama wrote:Still need answers on best place to get the parts I need.

watch out for the cheap hub rebuild kits some of them have real nasty Chinese bearings in them make sure you get a kit with Jap bearings

Surely at this point you would do front diff bearings/crush sleeve delete too

lax2wlg wrote:Surely at this point you would do front diff bearings/crush sleeve delete too

They were done not that long ago when I changed the diff ratios. The diff heads were fully rebuilt with new bearings.
At this stage I'm looking at putting a higher grade set of axles in if they need replacing as well as all new seals. Probably just need to know the best place to purchase the axles.

there's nothing wrong with the strength of 80 series axles and cv's mate but if you want to go to cromoly I'm pretty sure longfield do 80 series stuff now

derk wrote:there's nothing wrong with the strength of 80 series axles and cv's mate but if you want to go to cromoly I'm pretty sure longfield do 80 series stuff now

What about when running large tyres

The next thing I'm going to need to determine is basically what axles I will need. The cruiser is an HDJ81 but I'm not sue that its the original diff/axle housing that's in the vehicle. As far as I can gather the 1990 80 series came out with the smaller brakes. Mine has the larger brakes. I know these can be converted but there is a plug in by the brake calipers that I suspect is for ABS. My cruiser never had ABS. So I'm wondering whether its had a complete diff/axle change. The thing I don't know is if they all used the same axles.

Diorama wrote:What about when running large tyres

how many CV's have you busted?

derk wrote:

Diorama wrote:What about when running large tyres

how many CV's have you busted?

None!!! I guess that answers my own question. When ever I tend to do any maintainance I do any upgrades at the same time if I think necessary. Just been doing some reading and it appears the chrome molley axles are only really good for off road as they are softer and flex. As they are softer they wear more so aren't as good for a daily driver. Mine is mainly used as a daily driver as a tow wagon.

Diorama wrote: The thing I don't know is if they all used the same axles.

If its anything like FJ80/FZJ80, there was an earlier and later birfield. They made the hub flanges thicker in around (1995??)

lax2wlg wrote:

Diorama wrote: The thing I don't know is if they all used the same axles.

If its anything like FJ80/FZJ80, there was an earlier and later birfield. They made the hub flanges thicker in around (1995??)

Is there anyway I can determine what housing I have under my truck so I can determine what axles to order. If not what about when I strip it down can I determine from the axles I pull out i.e. are there different lengths or different spline counts etc. If importing from Aus I need to get it right otherwise it becomes expensive sending things back.

Things may have changed in the last few years, but...

If its anything like the US FJ80/FJZ80, aftermarket birfields were all based on the earlier (shorter design).

If you have the later drive plates, you will know about it when you go to install the retaining clip and it won't seat. I know this based on an embarrassing experience replacing a birfield on one of these. So in this case you'd need to buy the older style, thinner drive plates too.

The drive plates/flanges are a common wear item and a big source of the characteristic driveline clunks that these particular vehicles have.

Hopefully this information is not outdated... best to check w Suzolla or one of the 80 pros on here, as the Aus aftermarket may have different options available.

Whether or not you upgrade the axles is seperate discussion. Alls I know is that if you do break one, it will generally create carnage and take other stuff out with it, and being a full time 4x4 vehicle, you dont really have any method of decoupling the front end in the event of failure.

edit: I looked it up, April 94 was the changeover date according to Slee

lax2wlg wrote:Things may have changed in the last few years, but...

If its anything like the US FJ80/FJZ80, aftermarket birfields were all based on the earlier (shorter design).

If you have the later drive plates, you will know about it when you go to install the retaining clip and it won't seat. I know this based on an embarrassing experience replacing a birfield on one of these. So in this case you'd need to buy the older style, thinner drive plates too.

The drive plates/flanges are a common wear item and a big source of the characteristic driveline clunks that these particular vehicles have.

Hopefully this information is not outdated... best to check w Suzolla or one of the 80 pros on here, as the Aus aftermarket may have different options available.

Whether or not you upgrade the axles is seperate discussion. Alls I know is that if you do break one, it will generally create carnage and take other stuff out with it, and being a full time 4x4 vehicle, you dont really have any method of decoupling the front end in the event of failure.

edit: I looked it up, April 94 was the changeover date according to Slee

Is there any way of knowing which hub flanges I have. Obviously that's one of the first things to be removed. Is there any measurements I can do to determine which ones I have.

Now the question has been asked how many axles have I broken. The answer was none. It has now got me thinking. I may even have chromolly axles installed. From what I have read they are great in off road use but because they are softer they wear more when on road. This could possibly be why my axle seal is leaking. The truck is mainly used on road. Now the real question how can I tell what I have installed. The next question is what I replace them with. I run 35' tyres mainly on road towing a 3.5t boat. The truck was bought in from ausi with a lot of mods already done so I'm still trying to determine what parts are original and what parts are modified. What do you all recommend. Also if I decide to go to standard axles where to get them. All my searches bring up chromolly ones. The only standard ones I can find are for the CV's only and no inner axle.