Anybody use these Trail Safe Knuckle Ball Wiper Seals? (2 Viewers)

[sw00py]

Trail Safe Knuckle Ball Wiper Seals

<h2>Trail Safe Knuckle Ball Wiper Seal</h2> <p>Tired of wiping big clumps of dirty sandy grease off of your knuckle balls after every trip? So are we. We asked our engineering department to look at the problems with the OEM design a

trail-gear.com

Instead of the felt, this one just uses a much thicker rubber seal. I put the normal OEM wiper seals (with the felt) on the passenger side and decided I'd try the Trail Gear ones on drivers side (the rebuild kit I got came with both the trail safe version and the OEM version). Problem is with the Trail Safe wiper seals, I can't get the knuckle preload in spec. It's around 15-18 lb on the spring scale using the same shims that were already on the truck. Is it worth messing with the shims to try and get pre load lower or is it no big deal? Any thoughts on the trail safe wiper seals? I can feel a lot more resistance turning the knuckle with the trail safe seals, even with a liberal amount of grease on the seal. If you used the Trail Safe seals did you end up having to mess with the shims?

 

[aztoyman]

I use them and like them. Had it on my truck since maybe 2011? You should be doing your knuckle bearing settings without the wiper seal. Yes it will be tighter when you put them on.

 

[sw00py]

I use them and like them. Had it on my truck since maybe 2011? You should be doing your knuckle bearing settings without the wiper seal. Yes it will be tighter when you put them on.

Excellent! Thank you so much! Home stretch on getting my truck running again! I have another question if you don't mind. I'm about to put my drivers side axle back in. Once it's all the way in, are you supposed to be able to rotate the axle freely? 6th gear garage's video on this - he says that it shouldn't rotrate if the splines are aligned. However when I did the passenger side axle I couldn't get it to NOT rotate freely.

 

[aztoyman]

If you have a stock open differential, I would think it would turn. Mine is locked so it doesn't.

It should slide in once the splines line up. If you don't get it all the way in you wont be able to finish assembly.

It matters also if you have the other wheel on the ground and hub locked or the T-case in 4WD with the drive shaft attached. But with an open diff.....I'm thinking hard. It's been so long since I had one.

 

[sw00py]

Oh yeah...I'm pretty sure 6th gear garage has a locker.