[PPFJ60]

What.....Not a beer bottle in site?

[Gabbo]

Thanks! I'm will for sure do that. I just hope our cut-off wheel is still good... I have to swing by the hardware store anyway so I'll pick up some nuts and bolts while I'm there.

What.....Not a beer bottle in site?

Haha, I don't drink. And it's 9 a.m.!

I'm stuck again though: I've been working on this for more than an hour already and I still cannot get the steering arm off the knuckle. I thought I would try removing it from the steering linkage but not only did the pin break off (so I just wrenched the castle nut off anyway) but it's pretty much stuck and I cannot pry it apart.

[Gabbo]

Okay, I got out the handy propane torch and got my steering linkage apart. Then after monkeying around trying to get the arm off the knuckle I had a thought and pushed the bottom bearing up out of the way and the whole thing came off!

The removed knuckle


Tapping out the bearing races:


Races Removed:

[Gabbo]

Removing the inner seal:


The seal removed:


The difference in the Marlin Crawler seal and the factory seal

[Gabbo]

New seal installed:


New top bearing race:


New bottom bearing race:

[slcfj62]

You also have my rapt attention on this. I haven't done it yet, but most likely will sometime. One thing I haven't seen in any pictures (unless I missed it) is the infamous preload shims. Do you have any pictures of those, and how they fit into the picture? Also, how you kept track of where they came from?

[JLH911]

Keep the shims in the order they come off and to their respective side. This is where the plastic baggie and marker come in handy.

[ElliottB]

Whoa those MC seals look great. I should have used those instead of the stockers. This looks painfully familiar, I'm glad mine is reassembled (for the time being).

[Joshua993]

Great write-up so far. The more pics the better!

The crawler seals are going in on my next rebuild too...they are the dogs bollocks.

Everyone always talks about brake lines when rebuilding the knuckles - I just pulled the caliper off of the rotor, and suspended it with a bunch of zip strips. It was out of the way enough to get the job done, and I didn't have to deal with all the headaches that come disconnecting a brake line. Just food for thought...

[Gabbo]

Well, I probably would be a lot farther with this than I am now... but now I have to add the cost of new tires for my car onto this knuckle rebuild. I went to go get grease, degreaser, brake cleaner, etc... and this happened:


I had to sit and wait for my dad to bring me some tools because I don't have a lug wrench for this car (I picked on of those up while I was out today though) But now my car has a gay lookin' collapsible spare on.


I'm finally back to work but I cannot get the birfield joint apart. I'm pounding in the inner race with a brass drift and hammer while the whole thing is held in a vice... but it's not moving. At all. I even moved that lock ring out of the way. Nothing. So while I wait I'll be cleaning stuff and putting as much stuff back together as possible.

[ntsqd]

What worked for me in getting the Birf off the axle was the pipe trick. Use a piece of pipe that the axle shaft just barely fits inside of, and is longer than the inner axle shaft. And a block of wood on the ground. Make it hardwood if possible. I didn't have any such, so a big (BIG!) chunk of lead stood in for the wood after I tore up a piece of pine. Bang the whole pipe & axle shaft assembly on the wood (lead) on the far end of the pipe. You may need to be brutal with the short side.

I did the "Martack" afterwards.

[JLH911]

How the heck did that retaining clip go vertical and into your tire. Dang!

[JLH911]

Originally Posted by Randy88FJ62

Looks clean Jose, nice dust shields. They will never be as good as my FJ62 ones. We got scoops because we go faster...

Yeah, well....we have only two headlights...and they're round!

[Gabbo]

Originally Posted by JLH911

Yeah, well....we have only two headlights...and they're round!

HAHAHA It's true: round is cooler.

How the heck did that retaining clip go vertical and into your tire. Dang!

I don't know, but it sure did a good job of pissing me off.

Well, I never did get my birf's apart. That's part lazyness and part I just plain couldn't do it. So I just cleaned it all up, packed it with grease and put the passenger side knuckle/hub all back together.

The knuckle back on:


The cleaned up birf:


The packed birf back in:

[Gabbo]

Dust cover and spindle back on with new gaskets, and seals:


Hub back on and with new bearings, and seals:


Nuts torqued with new lock washer and gasket ready for the locking hub:

[Gabbo]

Locking hub body back on:


Assembly complete!


The mess I made so far...

[vipergrhd]

pardon me for asking what is the size for the axle nut socket you are using?is it 54 mm or 2 1/8 please let me know coz need to purchase socket this week so i can work on mine before SNT 09.thanks,hijack over BTW awesome job and pics.

John

[Gabbo]

I got a 2 and 1/8th because they didn't have a 54mm

[Brock]

Did my knuckles today...was not fast (6 hours) but with the help of a real mechanice...he led me through it on first side....and then I was on my own for most part on second side..... got done. Everything went together as it should and all is well in the world of knuckles. All I can say is thank goodness for a real shop with a vehicle lift.....parts trays...and a parts cleaner sink for cleaning up the mess of pieces that come off and are reused.

Used 4lbs of Amsoil Syn HD Moly Grease to really pack the birfield joint good until no more would go in and then fill the cavity before sliding it all back together. Topped off diff.. bled brakes. Put tires back on....and life is good.

Hope yours went well too.....one down...and a few more things to go. As is life with a 60 series

[Randy88FJ62]

Originally Posted by vipergrhd

pardon me for asking what is the size for the axle nut socket you are using?is it 54 mm or 2 1/8 please let me know coz need to purchase socket this week so i can work on mine before SNT 09.thanks,hijack over BTW awesome job and pics.

John

Both work. You can buy a cheaper one made out of steel plate that's cheaper from curiser vendors. One is proffitt's cruisers.

[Gabbo]

I finally got the other side rebuilt today. A change of plans last weekend had the re-build on hold until this week and I worked on it a little bit every night after work and finally got it all buttoned up today. It went the same as the other side so it was no biggie. I broke 3 drill bits drilling out the rusty cotter pins in the tie rod end bolts and went through about 8 rolls of paper towels. The only thing left for me to do is bleed the brakes and replace the grease boots on the tie rod ends. The bearings were all pretty much toast, all the seals were gone and the gaskets had long since turned into dust. But holy crap I'm glad to have that out of the way!

and I just wanted to post this diagram that helped me put it all back together right:

[wengejor]

It will drive like a dream when you are finished!

[aus_matt7]

Thats a really good read as im about to go and take out my cv joint (or as i think you amreican guys call it, birfield joint? is that a brand or something) so i can get my truck home
Then ill be doing the same over the next couple of days

[Gabbo]

Seems to me they are the same thing... except a CV joint is covered with a rubber boot on vehicles with an independent suspension... But the same thing.

[fliphkd778]

It's the 944 law, anytime you don't really need its service, it is docile. Then when you come to expect it to perform, something weird happens.

[Gabbo]

Makes me feel so much better to know I'm not the only one, fliphkd778. Last time the cruiser was up on jack stands the 944's battery tried to weld itself to the underside of my hood and melted it's ground terminal.

But in an effort to keep my post on topic in my own thread I want to show you all the wear of the pivot bearing races:

After I separated the knuckle from the steering I could turn it freely until about center where it wanted to snap back into place. This one was the worst, but all of the pivot bearing races had similar wear.

[exrsa1]

Originally Posted by Gabbo

Dust cover and spindle back on with new gaskets, and seals:
Attachment 363999

Hub back on and with new bearings, and seals:
Attachment 364000

Nuts torqued with new lock washer and gasket ready for the locking hub:
Attachment 364001

Good job gabbo. In that last pic, I do not see any of the tabs of the lock washer bent forwards or backwards. You probably did bend them, but thought I would ask.

Ex

[ntsqd]

Originally Posted by aus_matt7

Thats a really good read as im about to go and take out my cv joint (or as i think you amreican guys call it, birfield joint? is that a brand or something) so i can get my truck home
Then ill be doing the same over the next couple of days

To me the distinction between a "Birfield Joint" and a CVJ is the ball grooves. Those CVJ's used with rubber boots always or nearly always have the grooves at an angle and the ball sits in grooves at a cross to each other rather than parallel to each other. A Birfield joint, by contrast, has all of the ball grooves inline with the axle shaft.

They are both constant velocity joints (compared to the typical Cardan joint used in U.S. built steering axles), but I suspect that those with the grooves at an angle will operate smoothly at higher shaft speeds. FWIW the old U.S. closed knuckle steering axles also used a Birfield-like design, but they are referred to as being "Rzeppa Joints".

Originally Posted by Gabbo

Makes me feel so much better to know I'm not the only one, fliphkd778. Last time the cruiser was up on jack stands the 944's battery tried to weld itself to the underside of my hood and melted it's ground terminal.

But in an effort to keep my post on topic in my own thread I want to show you all the wear of the pivot bearing races:
Attachment 366323
After I separated the knuckle from the steering I could turn it freely until about center where it wanted to snap back into place. This one was the worst, but all of the pivot bearing races had similar wear.

Classic Brinnelling of the bearing race. I see that about every 3 years in my Mini that I use to chase desert races Those make it easy to think that there is something wrong with the steering box when there is not..

[wengejor]

My races looked the same when they came out. I almost couldn't turn the knuckle by hand when I unhooked the drag link. I guess after 200k miles of bumps and pot holes, they just wear out.

[Gabbo]

Originally Posted by exrsa1

Good job gabbo. In that last pic, I do not see any of the tabs of the lock washer bent forwards or backwards. You probably did bend them, but thought I would ask.

Ex

Thanks! Yes, I did bend them, thanks for looking out for me though!

It already feels tons better driving around. I think next on my list will be a tie-rod end kit, then to have an alignment done. Looks like I'll be calling Cruiser Outfitters again!