yeah, the axle has a MASSIVE groove gouged out where the c clip used to be. you would have to be silly to have driven it after it blew out. the sound was awful.

i finally got to take a good look at the axle i picked up today. it has a GOOD bearing already on it, which just saved me quite a bit of scratch. now i just need to install the inner seal and get the brakes bled. i may be rolling again tomorrow, which will be the first time since the day i purchased it.

 

I noticed you said you pulled the other side out too to compare? How was the bearing on that side?

I would also recommend at least replacing that seal on the other side, while you've got the 3rd out and it's easy to remove that axle shaft

 

dude get a new shaft, your housing is fine.

 

the bearing on the passenger side along with the seal was in great condition. no reason to replace them from what i can tell. they both in fact looked brand new.

the reason the driver side even went out, was due to a leaky wheel cylinder the previous owner neglected to fix. he just kept pumping brake fluid in her until the bearing couldn't take the it any more.

 

also, i started to install the new seal and axle, when i noticed the backing plate was for the passenger side. now i need to get them swapped before i can finish everything up. i'll get it to a shop tomorrow the get the press work done.

 

aw dang, that sucks about being the wrong side backing plate


the only reason I mention the other side seal is because it's just cheap insurance while you're in there... $5 or whatever for a seal now, vs. having to remove the 3rd and axle again later for the same seal, just seems easier to be sure now... but eh, you're doing the work, not me

best of luck; keep us updated on how the seal and new shaft works out!

 

you don't have to remove the third to remove the axle. it is held in by the 4 bolts at the end of the axle housing. the only time consuming part of it is bleeding the brakes.

 

oh nevermind... for some reason I was thinking about it back-asswards... you have to remove the axles to get the 3rd out... I need some sleep, lol

 

well, every shop under the moon in my area wanted anywhere from $50-$80 to swap my drum backing plates, and they couldn't guarantee that the bearing wouldn't get destroyed during the process. i sat and thought about what to do for a little while, when i realized the only major difference between the passenger and driver side plates is the placement of the e-brake armature.

needless to say, i am bending the e-brake cable guide/stay forward, and running the passenger side backing plate on the driver side to skip all the money spending and trouble. it appears everything should still work properly from what i can tell.

last night i got the new inner seal installed without any issues, along with all of the new brake parts. i was short a bottle on gear oil, so i need to top it off along with bleeding the brakes. i should have a ride report after this weekend hopefully with good results.....

 

hey captain awesome, when you get a moment in ur busy schedule, can you look and see if your Yota has any kinda lift. It may have a body kit. It looks tooo good to be true if it is stock and just runnin 33's. I am curious to find out whats under there. I've got an 86 myself, and as soon as I get the frame straight, the gloves are going to come off and she's gonna get serious cuttin and tweakin so we can go play next spring when all the snow melts.

 

it doesn't look to have any body lift from what i can tell. all the body mounts looks stock. i actually have no clue as to what has been done to it. i know the tires rub right before full lock.

i did get everything installed and quick run around the block friday night. i totally forgot i needed to bleed the front brakes as well since the whole system was dry after the wheel cylinder crapped out. needless to say it was a fun test drive. i kept hearing a small scraping noise from the drivers side rear which i suspect to be the backing plate dust ring? gonna check it tonight along with bleeding the front. either way, it ran like crap , so i have other gremlins to tackle now too.

 

DONE!

got a chance last night to bleed the front brakes and bent the dust shield so it wouldn't scrape anymore. drove it quite a few miles with no issues or funky sounds. now i just need to find out what my stutter problem stems from. started checking sensors and the TPS and AFM both read okay. i'm just glad to be able to drive it again.