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Thread: Front knuckle housing

  1. #11

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    that old grease was probably hard or close to it. military used gaa artillery brown looking grease. and filled the knuckles litterally full.

  2. #12
    Join Date
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    Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056
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    All this talk about packing the knuckles with grease, but yet the manual talks about 1 pint of what I would presume to be 90w gear oil.
    Hard to tell what was left inside. The grease that I took off the plugs was still pretty soft.
    The best I could tell, the knuckle housing was pretty empty. Might be a good idea for everyone to check their's out if they haven't in a while.
    militarypotts Spec/4 Military Police, Vietnam Era, "Does the noise in my head bother you? Welcome to the Twilight Zone!"

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
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    Wichita Falls, TX
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    Ugh... thanks for giving me something else to worry about.

    Actually last week when I was working on mine I noticed the plugs on the housings. When I lubed it after I bought the truck I didn't know the knuckles were lubed separate from the diff... thought they were lubed by the gear oil in the pumpkin and didn't even think about it till I saw the plugs last week.

    Backs of the knuckles look awful dry... bet they're empty and the seals are shot.

    I need to change the oil in the axles and transfer case anyway while it's down... I'll get those too.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Palestine TEXAS
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    I have been biting my lip in this thread....
    Reading and thinking.

    After reading what others have said,
    I'm back to my orig. thinking.

    * I think the best way to service the knuckles....

    Wait for it....


    Is to pull them apart. ***



    Yep...
    Dirty and big job...


    But the reason I say that is,
    The Knuckle pudding / gear oil / artillery grease that You will find inside of there... Yellow and Brown and thick as CLAY

    Is pretty sticky and hardedned and stuck to all the areas where its thrown by centrifugal force.

    50 years ago, they were properly packd and lubed...

    its just time to take off the hubs, brakes, backing plate and separate the knuckles and clean them out good...
    And the front axles too.


    I KNOW it sounds like a PITA, and it is...

    But the one thing about these trucks....

    every half century or so....
    They require some TLC and Service.

    Then You are good to go for another three decades or more.


    When I did Mine, they were all apart... I cleaned everything really well
    And literally BLEW IN, with an air gun and an air hose, two Tubes of Red N Tacky by Lucas, into each knuckle.

    The Air forced the Lucas into every crevice and recess, probably better than the factory actually.

    I put it all back together... Used My OLD knuckle seals...( cause I didnt have new ones )

    And everything is fine...

    After I drove it a few miles, I opened up the fill plug and topped it off with Gear oil.
    I also found a hill and rolled the truck with each axle down for a bit, to help any gear oil from the differential flow through the tube to the knuckle as well.

    checked it sitting flat a week later...

    Everything was perfect.


    I will need to do that again in about 30 years.


    There is just no way to get it clean an inspected with out pulling it.
    *In My Opinion *


    If You do pull them, keep the shims in the same place, top and bottom ( 4 bolts on the bottom and the King pin on the top )
    The shims set the steerin' angles... so dont mix them up.

    Beware of the woodruff key holding the king pin ball in...
    It will stick to greasy rags and walk away.


    Best of Luck.


    I really think....

    Pull it apart, do it once and smile for three decades
    Last edited by Blitz; April 5th, 2015 at 11:25 AM.
    hostis est intra portas tuas

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Fernandina Beach, FL
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    3,689

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blitz View Post
    I have been biting my lip in this thread....
    Reading and thinking.

    After reading what others have said,
    I'm back to my orig. thinking.
    ...
    I really think....

    Pull it apart, do it once and smile for three decades
    Can't disagree with you. They lasted this long, they will outlast us ...

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    North Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    11,520

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    One member actually put grease fittings on in place of the fill plugs...then pumped in grease till they wouldn't take more....axle was later sold to another user and it was torn down...the amount of grease put in actually pushed the tube seal, just inboard of the knuckle in the tube, almost to the differential at the other end of the tube, not a good idea...there is a fill limit.

    For some reason, I was thinking there was a drain hole on the bottom but that's not so...sorry for the confusion there.

    If you look at the -12 lube order it does specify grease...we have been around this tree several times over the years as it does seem odd...well, frankly, it is odd.

    Another note that Barrman brought up years ago and is very important in my book...since the lube in the knuckles needs to lubricate the whole joint in the knuckle, if one adds ,lockout front hubs, they need to be engaged on a regular basis in order to let that lube do its job...something I didn't think about till he said it...it also lubes the upper king pin bearing...another important reason to turn them on periodically.
    Lord send your Holy Ghost into our hearts and make the desire of our hearts Your Will.

    Pro-choice, that's a LIE, babies don't choose to die!!

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Palestine TEXAS
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    All Good Points Brute.

    I just want to clarify,

    By using air, I was not "pumping the Lucas IN with air Pressure" like an air powered grease gun...

    I used a hand grease pump, pumped in what I could from the open front ( no brake backing plate ) with the flex hose, then used an air gun to "blow it into the back" and around the knuckles.

    Hydraulic Ram Pressure sure could be brought into play with a grease fitting, everything sealed, and then "pumping them full"

    Not a good idea...

    Just coat everything... spin the axles, used an inspection light and it will all make sense.

    The Oil after the Grease... when everything is sealed.


    Yep...

    I not gonna be happy to do that again in three decades :P
    hostis est intra portas tuas

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    North Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    11,520

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    I am not sure what type of grease gun this member used, just that he did have the zerks on the knuckle file plugs and kept putting in tubes until no more would go in...I dont remember the number of tubes but it was a bigger number than I would have done under any circumstance...
    Lord send your Holy Ghost into our hearts and make the desire of our hearts Your Will.

    Pro-choice, that's a LIE, babies don't choose to die!!

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Palestine TEXAS
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    Yep...

    He got some Hydraulic ram pressure going.

    Sealed knuckle, backing plate on, differential cover probably on too.

    That grease fitting, where the fill plug was...
    allowed him to pump in "who knows how many PSI " of grease in , under pressure.

    If it moved the outboard seal to the differential...
    I would say it was a bit overkill.



    Sounds like something Jiffy Lube would do...

    Pump it full of grease and slam the plug back on before it can drain out...

    * been there... done that , bought the expensive T shirt * for an '85 chevy silverado

    an no.... they didnt make good on the two rear axle seals, or ruined brake shoes or labor...

    Lesson learned...

    Never went back...

    Really bad thing is....

    I watched the guy do it.
    hostis est intra portas tuas

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056
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    Default

    Zerks to replace the fill plug? If Kaiser Jeep would have wanted these instead of plugs, wouldn't they have installed them when the truck was manufactured? All that grease sounds crazy to me.
    militarypotts Spec/4 Military Police, Vietnam Era, "Does the noise in my head bother you? Welcome to the Twilight Zone!"

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