Yet Another Knuckle Service - Questions

Well Guys,

You can see what I have been doing this weekend. I found that my upper king pin bearings on both sides were shot. The driver's side upper bearing just fell apart, and the passenger side upper bearing was completely siezed. I also found some pitting on the driver's side wheel bearings, so I am replacing all of the wheel bearings while I am in there. (Decent prices on the bearings were found at Rock Auto, btw).

Two questions:

1. On the spindle, notice the shim/spacer. Do I need to apply any sealant to these surfaces upon reasembly?

2. I'm using the John Deere Corn Head Grease. How much should I pump into each knuckle?

Any other tips or things to look out for would be appreciated. I have all new seals from Walcks. I do have the shims to adjust the preload on the king pins if needed.

I look forward to getting this all back together. It should steer alot better with the new king pin bearings.

Thanks!

 

The spindle spacer/shim is throwing up a red flag to me....
Usually used on a bent axle housing to correct for out-of-alignment situation.
Is that shim tapered ?

 

Yea. I've never seen a shim behind the spindle.

I used 1 tube of corn head grease in each knuckle. I also added a little gear oil. Not much. Just a few squirts out of the bottle. 85W-140. I will check the level after I put some miles on the JEEP and add lubricant if needed.

I smeared a very very thin layer of, Permatex I think, gear lube sealant on the knuckle face before attaching the spindle. It's in a green and gray tube. Figured it couldn't hurt.

 

Yikes, yes it is and there is one on both sides. Now how do I figure out which way it was oriented for re-assembly.

Hmmm....

 

Well I lined up the grease marks etc. and it looks like the shims were oriented on both sides with the thicker part of the shim down. I'm going to just re-assemble that way and hope for the best. I guess someone did an alignment on it at some point like this: Installing Camber Adjustment Shims Dana 30 and Dana 44 Front Axle Camber Adjustment | jeepfan.com

Thanks for noticing that!

 

That is exactly how to adjust the camber on these axles. No red flag. Did it a bunch mostly on dana44 on full size trucks. They work well as long as you mark the shim the way it was removed. Whoops, from your post that wasn't done. Assemble it without the shim and take it to an alignment shop. If it s out, install the shims going by their measurements.

 

Good to know Oldriginal86. I was able to figure out how they were oriented by looking at the "witness marks" on the shims, knuckles and the spindles. Learn something new every day!