D25 early vs late knuckles

Thanks for the feedback, I agree with and understand what you both have said. It seems odd to me that the passenger side had no shims and only 3 pounds 7 ounces of resistance with a pull gauge. It must have left the factory that way ( lord only knows whats really been done ) as adding a shim under the bearing cap would only make it less.

The only option besides machining some material off the knuckle bearing cap mating surface or the bearing cap itself would be to place a small custom shim washer between the inner bearing race and bearing cap shoulder or drive out the outer bearing race and install a shim washer under it.

For general reference I have not had any steering problems to date, Handles great but that does not mean problems could not surface soon, That 3 pounds 7 ounces could be right on the edge.

 

Other than new kingpin bearings? I wonder if you replace the existing bearings with a new set, then you'll have enough distance to adjust the preload. Just a thought...

 

Good point, I also thought of that. I have some new bearings and races on hand, As an assembly the new Brazilian made Timken bearings and races were actually about .005 smaller than the old US made Timken.

The old bearings and races are in good condition so I made 2 small shim washers, 5/8" id * 1" od * .019 thick. Put them between the inner bearing race and bearing cap shoulder on the top.

The average of three pulls with an electronic stress gauge is now 11 pounds 14 ounces.

 

There was a casting difference at one time between steering knuckles. For the knuckles that needed shims on top and bottom they were on older jeeps. Then they changed the casting so you only needed to shim the top. The change in casting was on the bottom where the lower kingpin bearing goes. I watched a video on it and it made sense.