Rubicon steering knuckle and front ball joints

[Elsifer]

Just to clarify, to test the ball joints for play:

Lift jeep
use a prybar to check for up/down play on the knuckle (have someone else watch, cause wheel bearing if gone will mask ball joint badness).
replace balljoints


So, I suppose I need some sort of press or c-clamp to press out the balljoints.
What type of joints should go in, and can the bottom joint be made greaseable, or will the nipple interfere with the u-joint on the shaft?

And since I'm going in there, is there some sort of axle seal that can go on the shaft to keep crud out of the diff? What, where and how much?

Will I need one of them "forks" to do any prying to get the knuckle off?

Any thoughts, tips, and suggestions are welcome.

Cheers
Chris

[calltrex]

Get the Alloy axle seals to keep the mud out of the diff tube.  They work good.  they are like $100 a pair

[fug]

Knuckle is removed using a BFH.  It came off for me fairly easily with a couple of good whacks.

2 levels of ball joints from what I understand... the generic ones should run about $30-40 a piece and the Moog ones will run about double that.  From what I understand the Moog ones will last longer... but not by orders of magnitude.  So if you run 35's and you own a ball joint puller ($89 on sale at PA)... and don't mind replacing them as part of yearly maintenance you can use the cheaper ones.  The Moog ones do have a greasable lower but according to those in the know... its pretty useless cause the axles in the way.

[BlackYJ]

Chris, I just had mine done.  Bill, Dom and I tackled it last week.  The whole process is pretty simple, but you do need a ball joint press.  With the press they pop out pretty easily once you got it in the right direction, right bill   .  Putting the upper joint back in can be tough because it may not want to go straight, just pay attention

Bill got me the generic joints because as Robin stated the moogs don't last that much more to justify the cost.  Also a greasable lower joint will be ground off by the axle shaft.

As for the knuckle, there is a tab cast into the knuckle just below the upper joint, BFH that sucker with some hits to the stub of the lower ball joint and it will come off pretty easily.  

Other than that it is not overall difficult if you have the right tools.  Both Bill and Dom are good references because they have done a few

[yjcanibul]

Chris,  I got a set of new in the box ox (the locker guys) tube seals d30/44 - their rebuildable and have triple orings (most have 2) , let 'em go reasonable ... pm me ...

[Elsifer]

Thanks guys.
That sorted out my questions.

[Elsifer]

Wow! Changing the ball joints (with the required press and cups) was a breeze.

She handles like a sloppy sports car again.

Now for an alignment and wheel balance. Death wobble is gone!

Thanks all for the help.