low oil press, valve tap '99 4X4

[muddog321]

Hub nut is 36mm and to get 99up CV axles off/out of the center diff they have an internal snap ring so you hit the inner CV metal can with a block wood and hammer as you gently use a pry bar to apply outward pressure to the CV between it and the diff (otherwise the snap ring won't unclip) then the CV axle comes right out after you pulled the hubs and knuckles!

[NINFan]

Originally Posted by muddog321

you hit the inner CV metal can with a block wood and hammer

from the wheel side or the diff side? i'm guessing wheel side, since there's really no room to get a block of wood in there from the diff side.
are there needle bearings inside the spider or anywhere else inside the boot? when i dropped the steering knuckle, the axle pulled outward quite a bit and i thought i heard something drop.

[muddog321]

Diff side - you are trying to remove that CV and at 45 degrees there is room. Look up a pic of a CV and it is a 4 + design inside with caps on each end that ride in the metal can.

[NINFan]

now that i have things half taken apart, i discovered 2 things:
1) as i was taking out the rt axle, i found really heavy grease on the brake caliper. turns out two of the ribs on the boot are split.
2) i went to put the oil that i had drained out and was sitting in the pan into a jug to recycle it. it had been in the pan for a few days, so enough time for things to settle. there was about 50 lbs of metal in the pan.

now i don't know whether i should just put things back together and get rid of it or continue. the car's not really worth more than $1K at most, so i don't really feel like putting mains or any other serious engine components in it. yuck.

thanks for all the guidance, though. couldn't have done it without your help.

[NINFan]

i decided to go ahead and repair the thing. so i ended up doing

main bearings
rod bearings
oil pump
front timing cover
pitman arm
boot kit on rt front axle
serpentine belt
lower ball joints
brake pads

fired it up tonight and had 60# pressure. i'll post all the lessons learned when it's all done.

[blazes9395]

you did the bearing job/lower end while the engine was in the truck? If you did, post on here what/how you did it....that must have been some serious back braking work. Don't forget to change your oil and filter at a couple hundred miles or so. Hopefully all goes well!

[NINFan]

^^
i did. i'll post pics if i can. put the car up on jack stands behind the front wheels (on the frame under the front door posts). gave me plenty of room to work under there.

[NINFan]

Just realized I never put the whole story on here.

So yeah, you need to get the car up on jack stands. I put them on the frame rails just at the front door posts. Remove the wheels, steering knuckle, (break the ball joints, strap up the calipers, etc. The nut on the hub is 36mm). Remove the front drive shaft and mark the u-joints to go back where they were. Remove the front axles - that wasn't as bad as I thought. Just bang on the cans and when the internal snap ring lets loose, you’ll see them starting to move out of the front diff. Then you can just yank them out from the outboard sides. You need to drop the entire steering linkage. Don’t bother trying to work around it – it’s easier to just drop the whole thing (leave the tie rod ends on and you can just wiggle the whole thing down) and put it back later. At that point, there are only 3 bolts on the front diff. take them out (leave the top one in for last) and you can get that last bolt out and the bushings will hold it in place until you can wiggle it out. It’s kinda heavy, so be careful. Also be careful because it’s full of gear lube (I drained it first cuz I knew I was gonna replace it, but I guess you don’t need to if the car is lo miles). Oh, you need to take the shift cable out first. That was kinda a pain cuz there’s a metal collar nut on a plastic housing and it’s easy to crack. I ended up taking the whole assembly off, which is probably better in the end. You can unbolt the 3 bolts that hold the plate against the diff and pull the whole thing back (it’s on a spring) and work a needle nose in there and pull the Jesus clip out. Reverse to install, but you need to snap the cable end back into the actuator (easy). Also, there’s a vent tube on the top of the front diff that’s a pain to get to. Anyway, with all that out of the way, you can finally get to the oil pan. You need to remove the oil filter adapter first (replace the o-ring and gasket when you re-install) and I just pushed them out of the way. BTW, make sure you have pans all over, cuz everything will be leaking (I’m assuming you’ve already drained the pan ). Now pull the two rubber plugs out that are in the holes between the bell housing and the back of the pan. There are 2 pan bolts up in there (that one took me a while to figure out ). You’re home free. Drop the pan, replace the pump (get a new plastic collar that keeps the 2 shafts together), any other inspections, and put everything back. Getting the front diff back in was a treat. You really need to work the top bushing back into it’s fitting, and that’s tough. I had the neighbor help, but it took a lot of grunting and groaning. Don’t start without re-connecting all the electrical connections or you’ll get the annoying “check gauges” light. (you can eliminate it by disconnecting the battery for a while. I think about 5 mins does it.)