Mid Knuckle Rebuild/Brake Rotor Replacement, few Q's (1 Viewer)

[lasoundguy]

Hey, been squeezing in my first knuckle rebuild in after work and around family commitments, and it's going "OK."

I'm doing this mainly due to some braking problems--pulsing/vibration when braking hard or from freeway speeds, and a fairly strong pull to the left (just when braking.) I changed out w/ new fluid and bled the lines which firmed up the pedal nicely but the pulsation and pull remained, so onto the next thing...

No records on when the last front end service was but the PO I bought the truck from last month had it for four years and 30K miles and didn't touch it so it seemed prudent to do the knuckle if I'm going in as far as the rotors anyway.

The passenger side looked OK grease wise, the driver side less good (drivers side was also greenish slightly slimy grease vs passenger side grey decent looking.)

Driver side--does this look like oil seal failure or just old grease? I will be replacing the oil seal on both sides, have the Cruiser Outfitters kit w/ new bearings...so I don't think it matters, but just curious.

Next Q--there are some marks on the Birfields that look like burn marks around where the balls are inside. Is this normal? No clicking or other indications of problems.

(Still need to finish getting the old grease off of the joint and those gear teeth.)

Lastly, would you reuse these brake pads? I have new OEM ones plus new rotors so was planning to swap all of it, but the pads look to be in really good shape to me--considering only changing the rotors but not sure if that's foolish. I was thinking I could reuse the pads and if I still have trouble I'll swap pads then, but maybe I'm missing something. Thoughts?

Only major unexpected thing was discovering my brake lines were not in as good shape as I wanted them to be, so stopped by @NLXTACY yesterday and picked up the full stainless steel line kit (this project keeps growing lol.) Thanks for the support Joey!

I'm thinking I should wait and bolt it all back together and then deal with the brake lines individually once the front end is back in place, but if I'm missing anything LMK.
I appreciate any advice--thanks!

 

[Railwelder93]

Mine had inner seals go out and it was a very runny mess much more liquid than that. looks like just grease. Spots on birfs are totally normal, I had to look that up myself when I saw it. (Found it searching old threads). If I was you I would put in all the new parts you have while it’s apart.

 

[shocktower]

That is just old grease . But I would really think about replacing all of your soft brake line's either OEM from @NLXTACY or get the stainless steel one's, but do all at once so you don't have the weakest link fail

 

[lasoundguy]

Thanks for the replies, and yeah, I did get the full kit of 7 stainless brake lines, I'm putting them all in as part of this job. Just saying I'll reassemble the knuckle first so I can bolt up the calipers and then deal w/ the lines and the pads (I think that makes the most sense.) Appreciate the quick feedback!

 

[chap79]

Your pulsing/vibration problem is most likely due to the brake rotors. I would not use old pads with new rotors, install the new pads with the new rotors. The pulling could be due to a stuck piston in the brake caliper. Make sure your front calipers are operating properly.

 

[ZackR]

Replace the pads since you mentioned an issue with pulsation.

FWIW I didn't replace the pads on mine at the time of the knuckle rebuild since they were still in good shape and there were no pulsation issues before or after.