What's the deal? Doing the mini disc conversion on my 73 J40...packed the birf and put axle and birf into housing...when putting the spindle back on, I notice that there is about an 1/8" gap between the knuckle and the spindle, so I tighten the spindle bolts and the gap closes, but that makes the whole knuckle bind...I did a search and it seemed to me that I read a post about someone else having the same issue, but I could not find the post...I did a Marlin tack and made sure to leave the specified 1 1/2" of splines...It seems as if the axle-shaft is not going in far enough, thus the outer portion of the Birf is binding on the brass race on the inside of the spindle...what am I missing? Please help!
:confused:

There are a few things to check.

Did you test-fit the inner shaft prior to fitting the birfield to ensure the inner seal rides properly on the seal surface of the axle? Be worth a check to ensure you have the tack at the right spot, the 1.5" rule is generally right, but IS a guideline.

Are you running a LockRite or EZ-Lock in the front axle? The inner cup on my EZ-Lock likes to prevent the inner axle front fully dropping in without some persuasion, usually rotating the driveshaft a bit with NO pressure on the inner shaft will locate things properly for install. DO NOT tap on the end of the birf to get it to drop in...BTDT, and ended up unseating the c-clip that keeps the inner shaft from floating too far INTO the birf bell, and junked the splines.

OH, and you are using the Land Cruiser inner shafts right, and not the minitruck? They are NOT interchangable.

Did you remove the disk brake backing plate?

Woody,
yes I did pre-fit the axle shaft before installing it on the birf...now that I think of it, it was riding on the seal pretty good, but may have been out just a little...perhaps I need to file down my tacs on the inner splines a little...and it is a stock J40 3rd member...how thick is the gasket that goes between the knuckle and the spindle...I'm not using the gasket, I'm using permatex form a gasket...that shouldn't be a problem should it?

Shipwreck...why are you asking if I removed the disc brake backing pad? that bolts to the outside of the spindle not the inside, Correct?

Yes, I am using the J40 shafts...correct me if I'm wrong...the J40 shafts are as follows...the short side is longer than the mini and the long side is shorter than the mini...?

So maybe I just need to file down the tac? What do you think?
Thanks

The backing plate goes between the knuckle and the spindle...

-Brett

Cruiserbrett, are you sure? I did not remove these parts from the mini axle so I am going by the article I read on Ih8mud.com about front axle rebuild by Morgan Fletcher. The pic he posts with his article states otherwise...any one else can verify this?

The backing plate goes between the knuckle and the spindle...
Uh...No.
The backing plate goes on the outside of the spindle as you mentioned BigDave, but when the the hub and lockout is installed without it, it can cause binding issues.
It doesn't sound like you got to that point yet, so I would recheck the position of your Martack. 1.5" from the end is just a guideline. You can usually see a wear mark on the splines of the axleshaft where they meet the side gears. The tack should be to the inner side of the wear marks.

The backing plate gose on after the spindle

Cool...thanks for the info guys...should have the front done tonight...SOA with mini disc conversion.:)

Hey guys...turned out to be the Mar-Tac...Funny thing is, I put the tac exactly where your supposed to...left an 1 1/2" of splines...filed down the tac and no more bindage....;) ;) ;)