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Land Cruiser Front Disc Brake
Conversion 1971 FJ40
 Remove everything from
the knuckle out, including the birfield and inner axle. You will not use the inner axle,
but you must separate it from the birfield. To do this, you can put the inner axle in a
large vise, and with a block of wood and a large hammer or mallet, drive the birfield off
the axle. (wear safety goggles!) Since you won't
be using the Cruiser parts anymore, an easy way to remove the knuckle assembly is to
remove the locking clip on the outer birfield, just inside the locking hub, then remove
the bolts on the back of the steering knuckle. These bolts hold the gasket seal on the
knuckle. Now remove the steering arm from the knuckle. You may need to pound the sides of
the steering arms to get the acorn nuts to pop out. Now the whole assembly will slide
right off, and you don't have a mess of greasy parts to deal with!
Now pull the Cruiser birfield and inner axle out, and perform the
same procedure as separating the pickup axles. Take the the donor birfields from a 79-85
toyota 4x4 truck and attach them to the cruiser axles. They will just slide right
together. If you happen to get the Cruiser and mini truck inner axles mixed up, don't
worry. The mini truck ones are about one inch longer than the Cruiser inners that you will
be using. |
 Before you put the 79-85
toyota 4x4 truck birfield into the Cruiser axle housing, you must do a little bit of
grinding on the lower inside of the knuckle ball for the birfield to fit. Approximately
1/16" should be shaved off in order to squeeze the bigger, stronger mini truck
'fields in. You should not have to grind the top part of the housing. |
| Once you get the birfield
and inner axle to slide into the housing, you can start putting the mini truck parts onto
the housing. This should be done part by part, so that you can inspect and repack
bearings, and properly torque every bolt. Don't forget to refill the knuckle chock full of
grease! If your Cruiser is a '68 or newer, then
the brake lines will fit right up. If it is older, then the threads are different, and you
will need to change them. Also, if it is older than 71, then you won't have a brake
booster and more than likely want one. I recommend the booster and master cylinder from
the mini truck you got the front end parts from. The booster and master cylinder from a
later model Cruiser will work as well. Some firewall modifications will most likely be
necessary for the new hardware.
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 Before you put the driver
side steering arm on the knuckle, you will need to cut it. Cut approximately where the
white line is marked in the picture. |
 Once both sides are
complete, you can put the tie rod on. You must use the mini truck tie rod because the ends
are larger than the Cruiser ends. Now bleed the
brake system, and check everything over. Make sure you fill your front diff back up with
gear oil! |
This story was written and compiled by Jeff Fretwell
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