New to the land cruiser world, recently bought a ‘96 that seems well cared for by the prior owner. I got a pre purchase inspection which informed me that I need a knuckle rebuild. I looked at the knuckles and sure enough, they’re leaking and look like all the pictures I’ve seen on here of knuckles that need to be rebuilt. Here’s the rub- the prior owner reportedly did a knuckle rebuild about 7 years ago. However, the vehicle has sat, mostly in storage since that time. He estimated it’s been driven about 5k miles since then. My question is this- assuming what I’ve been told is true- why is it leaking after so few miles? It doesn’t seem like the kind of seal that would fail from disuse. Did the prior owner not perform the job correctly, or is there another answer?
Also, I’m gearing up to do the rebuild now and given that not many miles have been put on it since the last rebuild it seems like it would be overkill to swap all the bearings for new- I was considering reusing the wheel bearings and not removing the trunnion bearing races, assuming there’s no obvious damage/wear. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance
Also, I’m gearing up to do the rebuild now and given that not many miles have been put on it since the last rebuild it seems like it would be overkill to swap all the bearings for new- I was considering reusing the wheel bearings and not removing the trunnion bearing races, assuming there’s no obvious damage/wear. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance