Rebuild Knuckles...

[donkeykong]

After I sheared all 4 studs off the top of the passenger side knuckle at Coyote trail last week I am going to rebuild both knuckles be cuase the both need it.  I am also getting some Bellfields SO I will be changing those out this weekend also.  Any thing that I should look out for while doing the work?  I am fairly competent with work on my truck but I am always looking for warnings, hints, and just encouragment from those more knowledgable than me.  I have a manual and also the Chilton cd on the truck..I know that is not as good as the Factory manual but they havent let me down yet.

[To The Floor]

Just keep track of all the hardware, and separate the left side from right side, most importantly the wheel bearings, because they should go back on the same side they came from.  When you put the knuckles back on, placing the lower bearing cap and upper steering arm it is nice to have another person help you to hold the upper and lower knuckle bearing into the ball on the housing and to align the steering arm and bearing cap into those bearings.  other than that, it is a lot easier than i thought it would be, and there are some things that i would do when doing a rebuild... i would shave at least the drain plug off the bottom for a nice smooth surface on the bottom of the housing and replace the lower two 3rd member studs with bolts for future draining; also when you go to get the inner axle seals out, a long brass rod with about a 45* bend on one end was very helpful to hit them out from the inside going in from the other side of the housing.  if you have any questions post back up and i can post up some pictures of tricks to make it easier, because i am almost done with mine.

[donkeykong]

I am going to do one side at a time that way I dot get anything mixed up.  My dad said he is going to give me a hand...I know what you mean about the bearing on top and bottom of the knuckle being hard to line up.  Try doing it in the dark on a trail. Also I got all new bearing including the wheel bearings.   I am trying to do it all right the first time so hopefully I wont have to get back into anytime soon