Knuckle seals

They were leaking.
Decided to check the king pin bearings too.

Works a bit better now.
Not like power steering but not getting a bit stiff at times.

 

Oops

 

On to brake lines and front U joints tomorrow if it isn't raining again.

 

I have seen king pin bearings like that many times before which is unfortunate. If one keeps the shim pack adjusted properly and maintains the seals, the bearings can last the entire life of the vehicle. Seems like most of the oldtimers just put grease in the knuckles when they started to leak and forgot about them until they fell apart. I suspect this is the case for well over half of the closed knuckle vehicles you will find for sale and should be one of the items everyone should look at when buying.

 

to check them.
dont you have to take them apart?

 

Yep. Well more than half. I think that, unless the Jeep was owned by an enthusiast, you have to assume that the knuckles need rebuilding.

To Bill - you have to take the seals off to check the preload. That would give you an indication of the condition - bearings like above would let the knuckles flop back and forth freely. But if you have the seals off, you may as well take the bearing caps off and look at the bearings.

 

Actually, there was no play in the bearings, there were also no shims under the caps.
Yes, I should have checked them earlier.
You also have to remove the tie rod end to do the preload adjustment.

 

I suspect somebody's been in there to fix up the slop in a Q&D manner.

 

Sort of like the 4 different colors of wire I found spliced together going from the light switch to the tail light wire?

 

thats what i meant.
to protect myself.
i would need to tell the current owner i was going to tear apart his front end before buying?

 

Not really sure about some of this thread,but i don't believe the condition of the front axle on a classic CJ is going to be a "deal breaker" in a purchase.to rebuild the whole thing is a saturday job for most DIYers.And the cost is low compared to alot of other things that might be wrong.Just my 2 cents.

mike s.

 

Yeah, you couldn't take the axle apart. You could, however, make a guess about the knuckle conditions from the owner - a hobbyist who does his own work has probably fixed and/or serviced the knuckles. Otherwise not.

Mike's right though, it shouldn't be a deal breaker. The only special tools needed are a fish scale and a pickle fork. Most of the time it's a simple job if you have the parts.

 

You can at least check for looseness by jacking up the vehicle and trying to move the tire/wheel up and down and looking for movement. Can check the wheel bearings for looseness at the same time. Something I do any time I look at a used vehicle.