Knuckle Wipers binding (1 Viewer)

[kjkruer]

Hey again everyone.... I'm really having struggles with this truck today. What I thought would be a pretty straight forward job has been one problem after another. So I'm putting my knuckle back together and securing the wipers on the back side of the knuckle. However, once I tighten the metal backing plates down, when I rotated the knuckle the rubber seal is getting pinched between the housing and the metal ring... see pic. Once again I'm at a loss.... any thoughts or suggestions? The axle housing part of the knuckle is a little pitted but I've seen worse..

Thanks for your help.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Dry as a nuns hoohah!

Lube it man!

 

[Fj80oregon]

More lube!!!!!!

 

[SNLC]

Knuckle balls badly pitted as well which doesn’t help.

Cheers

 

[kjkruer]

Thanks, I'll try lubing them. I guess I just didn't think I should have to since I haven't seen anyone doing it in the videos I've watched.. Also, does anyone know the bolt size that holds this all together? I had two of them break off while reinstalling. Now I know better... so I'm going to replace them all with new.

 

[b16]

They probably don’t cover lubing your balls since they should already/always be lubed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any that dry. Lol

For the bolts bring a good one with you to the hw store to match

 

[BILT4ME]

Did you even pack any grease in that knuckle?

If that was mine, I'd smear epoxy on the outside and sand it smooth to fill in those pits. As soon as you start running this, those pits are going to allow huge amounts of grease to come out of the knuckle and he very messy.

Was this thing parked next to the ocean and not driven for years?

I've never seen pitting like that on a surface that was supposed to be covered in grease.

 

[Broski]

Rust expands as it grows, JMHO you need to take the knuckles back off and sand the rust off the balls,then like @BILT4ME said fill any holes/pits with epoxy or similar.

 

[kjkruer]

Did you even pack any grease in that knuckle?

If that was mine, I'd smear epoxy on the outside and sand it smooth to fill in those pits. As soon as you start running this, those pits are going to allow huge amounts of grease to come out of the knuckle and he very messy.

Was this thing parked next to the ocean and not driven for years?

I've never seen pitting like that on a surface that was supposed to be covered in grease.

Haha. I don't think it was parked by the ocean. As far as I know it's a KY truck. But it has 315,000 miles on the clock. I've only had it for about 6 months and I'm doing the knuckles now. This pic was after I had cleaned everything up and putting things back together. I haven't packed the grease yet. When I took it apart there was quite a bit of grease in there and didn't seem to be leaking. This project started with a broken birf on the passenger side. Since it was all coming apart I'm doing the whole shabang... Birfs, Knuckle rebuild, Brakes, Rotors....

 

[-Spike-]

The retaining ring bolt torque should be low, don't deform the ring when you tighten them.

It might be a trick of the light, but it sure looks like the edge of the bell is visible. I don't think it should be, which could mean the steering stops aren't adjusted correctly.

You definitely need to at least sand the roughness off. Don't let the dust and debris get into the grease. I'd pull everything off and clean out the grease if it were mine.

 

[kjkruer]

Ok thanks. I guess I'll remove it and do some sanding to smooth it out. Hate to back track, but I'd rather go back one step than have to start over after getting the whole thing put together....
Two questions:
1) Any specific type of sandpaper or grit I should consider?
2) Since I'm taking the knuckle back off is it ok to still use the new bearings I just installed?

 

[-Spike-]

2) Since I'm taking the knuckle back off is it ok to still use the new bearings I just installed?

Except for the grease, you can re-use everything as long as you don't damage it. You could even re-use the grease if you get it out clean.