Diff back in

So as mentioned in an earlier post I had to take the diff to a specialist to have the front seal done. Axles were not coming out either, even with a slide hammer or levers, so I asked him to remove them, replace the bearings and reassemble it, which he did. Total cost was around $350, which I guess wasn't too bad I guess, given he had to heat the housing to get the rusted bearings out. Boy am I glad he changed them! So a mild freshen up (well, he tested the clearances and stuff and replaced the seals, front bearing and the axle bearings) and away we go. Re-installed it with no hassles.

Wheel cylinders were somewhat hard to come by, I found two very dusty ones on the shelf at Sprint Parafield Gardens. I had a score with the rear shockers too, new ones normally retail for around $130 a pair, but I found some on Ebay that a surplus parts place was getting rid of for $50! Snapped them up. They had them listed as Commodore Vacationer with some particular suspension option which is uncommon, and thus they sat around for years. Fortunately I looked up the part number cross reference. 


So, the back end is almost complete, wire brushed and repainted the wheels, which came up a treat, almost a shame to cover them with hubcaps :/

Diff and springs

With the brakes removed it was time to take the axles out. New bearings are a must as I have no idea how old they are and from experience most cars I get the rear bearings seem to still be the originals! Well after several hours using different tools, including the obligatory slide hammer and the 'axle removing levers' (well levers with fulcrums that work when a slide hammer fails), I still can't get them out! I think the original bearings have seized to the inside of the axle tube or something. No amount of work is getting them out so I decided to take the whole back axle out as one piece. 


The rest wasn't too bad, plenty of RP7, and the U bolts came out, but getting the handbrake cables out of the backing plates was a nightmare. I ended up taking the brake cable off at the junction under the body and then fiddling around getting them off the backing plates when the whole axle was out of the car. Even then one side still took about an hour. I got a good look at the axle though, and it's been leaking from the front seal. You can see that in the photo. Alas this means a trip to a diff specialist as I can't remove and reset the yoke to change the seal myself.

Whilst I was a it, I decided to remove the leaf springs to give them a clean up and to change the shackle rubbers. Well once again, either Toyota ones are remarkably well made, or they have been replaced at some stage as they are pretty good. Except the one here in the photo which is started to perish. I'll put new ones in just to be safe.