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Car Forum / Jeep / February 2007Steering Knuckle installed and functioning!
On a cold and blistery Michigan night, I spent last night putting my TJ's front right steering knuckle back together, after having to drill out a broken caliper bolt. . and I just had to ask, how many others have forgot to install the spash-guard after bolting down the 3 hub- bolts. . . .oops. . . then after using a floor-jack to wedge the knuckle into the tapers on the upper & lower ball studs, and FINALLY getting the upper nut to lock, and not turn the ball-joint, and getting it nice and tight and getting the cotter-pin in, ... I realize I forgot to put the ABS sensor wire bracket on it first.. So off comes the nut again and we start again! :) Cold weather + no sleep = sloppy mechanic. Thanks to all you guys who helped me by answering all my newbie questions. It's the great people on this newsgroup that I always think about when I do the jeep-wave.. Jeeps just seem to attract nice people. (for the most part..) I had an aircooled vw before the Jeep, and their newsgroup is equally active and friendly. (and they wave too!) One strange thing happened when I went to take it for a test-drive. It was in the garage for a week, in cold weather, with me playing the radio quite a bit.. so the battery was all but dead. I jumped it, let it run for about 5-6 minutes, then put it into gear and crawled out of the garage. I stopped after I cleared the door, and then it kept acting like it was going to stall if I didn't feather the gas-pedal.. it would idle at around 250 rpms if I didn't hit the gas. I had never seen this before. It did this for my entire test drive of about 10 minutes. After I parked it in the garage, I turned it off, then back on, and idle was fine. Is there something about low voltage and idle speed? Once the alternator was turning and the engine running, my voltage should have been fine for running normal I would have thought.. Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it? To hold the hub, I have a 4' piece of bar stock with two holes drilled in the end that slide over any two bolt holes in the hub. Actually, I think that piece of bar stock disappeared into the winch mount so I'll need a new one next time I do a hub. :) > On a cold and blistery Michigan night, I spent last night putting my > TJ's front right steering knuckle back together, after having to drill [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... > Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it? Or you could get the bolt as tight as you can on the lift, install the wheel, lower it down on the ground, and torque away... > To hold the hub, I have a 4' piece of bar stock with two holes drilled in > the end that slide over any two bolt holes in the hub. Actually, I think [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] >> Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... >> Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it? I held the brake pedal down on the last TJ axle nut I helped fix. It still makes me wonder 'why' people undo that bolt unless they are changing the hub out. The whole works pulls out as one piece and you can change u-joints or drill without having it all apart. As far as the caliper goes.... I don't remember you asking about the fix for it. Doesn't the caliper bracket just unbolt from the back of the hub so you can just lay it on the ground and drill it out or put it in a drill press and do it? The caliper bracket slider was dinged on our 88, and I just removed that one part to weld up the notch and grind it smooth. It has 2 bolts holding it... Oh, I also forgot the splash guard once... Felt about as pissed as you did... Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) > On a cold and blistery Michigan night, I spent last night putting my > TJ's front right steering knuckle back together, after having to drill [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... > Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it? > I held the brake pedal down on the last TJ axle nut I helped fix. It > still makes me wonder 'why' people undo that bolt unless they are > changing the hub out. The whole works pulls out as one piece and you > can change u-joints or drill without having it all apart. Yes, I am now asking myself that same question Mike.. After the fact, to maintain my sanity after all that work, I am going to lie and say that it was worth the learning experience :) > As far as the caliper goes.... I don't remember you asking about the fix > for it. Doesn't the caliper bracket just unbolt from the back of the > hub so you can just lay it on the ground and drill it out or put it in a > drill press and do it? On my TJ, the caliper bolts go through the caliper, and thread into 2 holes on the steering knuckle. The lower bolt broke off some time ago apparently, and in the process, put an interesting wear pattern on the rotor and pads, in addition to wearing a nice groove in the steering knuckle where the whole thing was rocking back and forth each time I used the brakes. I have a few machinist friends here at work, and I didn't want to try and drill it out myself, and chance ruining the thing, so off it had to come. > The caliper bracket slider was dinged on our 88, and I just removed that > one part to weld up the notch and grind it smooth. It has 2 bolts > holding it... I'm assuming there are some big differences between the brakes on your 88 Cherokee and my 98 TJ? I don't have a caliper bracket that I know of... > Oh, I also forgot the splash guard once... Felt about as pissed as you > did... [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... > > Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it? >> As far as the caliper goes.... I don't remember you asking about the fix >> for it. Doesn't the caliper bracket just unbolt from the back of the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > knuckle where the whole thing was rocking back and forth each time I > used the brakes. The part I am talking about has the upper and lower slide bars that the brake pads move along as they get used and wear. This slide bar can get notches worn in it from a loose caliper. These notches 'will ' hang up the pads and cause uneven braking/pulling and a brake pedal that 'jumps'. It can cause one pad to wear out and the other to be left new which also stresses the crap out of the wheel bearings.... This part also is the part that the caliper bolts go into. It is a detachable piece, not a cast part of the steering knuckle so it can just come off to fill weld and grind flat any notches that that loose caliper cause you. It is worth about $125.00 for a new one which is why mine got 'fixed' instead of replaced. Your new TJ 'might' be different, but I can't see them being so sleazy as to now include a 'wear' part as part of the knuckle core. Oh, as far as the idle goes, that is normal. The computer forgot how to idle and had to learn it again. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) > >> As far as the caliper goes.... I don't remember you asking about the fix > >> for it. Doesn't the caliper bracket just unbolt from the back of the [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Jan/06http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590 > (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) Mike, .. This is a 90-00 XJ knuckle, which looks similar to the one I've got on my TJ.. http://www.jeep4x4center.com/prodinfo.asp?number=52067576 It appears this is the knuckle from 84-89, that I assume you have? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jeep-Steering-Knuckle-for-Drivers-Left-Side-XJ-YJ -84-89_W0QQitemZ330046533925QQcmdZViewItem > Mike, .. This is a 90-00 XJ knuckle, which looks similar to the one > I've got on my TJ.. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jeep-Steering-Knuckle-for-Drivers-Left-Side-XJ-YJ -84-89_W0QQitemZ330046533925QQcmdZViewItem Thanks. Yup they made it all one piece, figures. Mike > > Mike, .. This is a 90-00 XJ knuckle, which looks similar to the one > > I've got on my TJ.. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Mike And this now pisses me off too, because I didn't even think about the possibility of my brake pads getting hung up on those grooves. . . .Something tells me I'm going to be repeating this same damned job soon, so I can weld and grind those grooves flat. Damn. >>> Mike, .. This is a 90-00 XJ knuckle, which looks similar to the one >>> I've got on my TJ.. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Damn. The notch in ours somehow managed to heat one pad or do something to it because it literally exploded on a highway corner as we are heading off into the bush for 2 weeks. The pad had shattered. Here is a photo: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4290636987 Another Jeeper we didn't know stopped and took us home to see if he had a spare pad and when he didn't took me to a town about 30 miles away so we could get a set, then he drove me back to the Cherokee so I could put them on. Got the slide fixed soon after. Mike > >>> Mike, .. This is a 90-00 XJ knuckle, which looks similar to the one > >>> I've got on my TJ.. [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Mike Thats awesome. Its great to hear stories of people who are genuinely nice. I've heard similar stories of brand-camaraderie when I used to peruse the Aircooled VW newsgroup, rec.autos.makers.vw.aircooled (RAMVA as they call it) .. my favorite was a guy who drove a Type I (beetle) and he saw another beetle pulled over on the highway, so he stopped. It was 3 young college girls whom he was more than willing to give a ride to :) |
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