How to take apart and put back together a steering knuckle: A picture tutorial.

[scitzz]

Just for S&G's, I took one apart and put it back together, after rebuilding mine, and thinking "I should have taken some pics of that!"

I put a "new" to it rotor on that knuckle while I was at it. It really is pretty quick and easy. If you don't know how to do the bearings, I don't know what to tell you, except don't lose the spacer!

The Rotunda kit supplies everything you need for this job, except the press. My idea was to find a way to do this without a press.

Grab something like this:



Put it in the knuckle like this:



Grab a two jaw puller and attach it like this:



Which will separate the knuckle like this:



Then grab something like this:


Another shot:



That was for the side where the axle slides in, for the side where the locknut goes you need something like this :



And a bolt and nut about 5 inches long:


Set your back piece in the bolt:



Thread that through to the front, like this:





And tighten it down.

You can probably use things from a set similar to this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html

Which you probably want anyway

I will leave figuring out the rest as an exercise for the student.

And please excuse the cell phone pics!

[htchbck]

hmmm... I was under the impression that if your steering knuckles (or rotors for that matter) gave you any trouble, you were just supposed to remove the whole thing and replace it with one from an Aspire... JK, good writeup, may be doing this on my wife's car since she doesn't want the aspire swap, wants to keep the 114.3x4 pattern 13s that we took off of Chuckstiva.

[Safety Guy]

Thanks, Scitzz!

After separating the hub from the knuckle, is the Festiva rotor just held on by four bolts, or is it too pressed on the hub?

Karl

[Damkid]

Karl, once the hub is removed from the knuckle, the rotor just bolts on

[WmWatt]

1. I borrowed a puller from Canadian Tire for free under their tool loaner program.

2. Those rotors look like the ones on the wheels I got from the junk yard and need replacing.

[scitzz]

There was once a time that I had no clue how to do this, and proceeded with a trial and error approach. Mainly because I couldn't find much help here, our forum seems deficient on this one.... I ended up buying a junkyard part.

So, anyway,when I bought the Rotunda kit and a service manual off of E-bay, I felt like I hit the jackpot! I don't own a press though, and thought this might help some others out. I suppose if someone wanted to send me a knuckle, I could rebuild it too.

Also, I THINK the aspire knuckle has to be cracked apart the same way to do the bearings, but have never really looked at one.

[scitzz]

Oh, WmWatt! Would you believe that last rotor that was installed is basically brand new? It has been outside on a rack with a known bad bearing for a year or so. Under plastic, but the moisture still got it, but no pitting....

[Safety Guy]

Thanks Chris and Scitzz. I'm going to have to start prepping some of both cars' knuckles soon with fresh bearings.

Karl

[scitzz]

Karl, if you plan on doing the bearings, I can scan in the pages from the manual as well. Gimme a day or two....

[WmWatt]

In the case of those rotors I'd just clean off the rust with steel wool.

[scitzz]

OR a slow brake from forty or so....

[Safety Guy]

Scitzz wrote:

"Karl, if you plan on doing the bearings, I can scan in the pages from the manual as well. Gimme a day or two...."

Oooo, that would be nice!

BTW, John and I were talking about front bearing replacement this morning. I have a 12 ton press, though I haven't put it together yet. What accessories from HF might I need to make things easier?

Here are a few items:

http://www.harborfreight.com/large-bearing-separator-3979.html?utm_source=retarget&utm_medium=banner&utm_term=october&utm_content=ad%2Bidentifier&utm_campaign=criteo&hft_adv=50030

Maybe this kit would have what I need for multiple jobs:

http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html?utm_source=retarget&utm_medium=banner&utm_term=october&utm_content=ad%2Bidentifier&utm_campaign=criteo&hft_adv=50030

This might be useful for those who don't have a press:

http://www.harborfreight.com/blind-hole-bearing-puller-95987.html?utm_source=retarget&utm_medium=banner&utm_term=october&utm_content=ad%2Bidentifier&utm_campaign=criteo&hft_adv=50030

Karl

[scitzz]

Did another one today with Kartracer, and Smedley. We used the 12 ton press, and these...

http://www.harborfreight.com/large-bearing-separator-3979.html?utm_source=retarget&utm_medium=banner&utm_term=october&utm_content=ad%2Bidentifier&utm_campaign=criteo&hft_adv=50030

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html

And a BFH.

I have to hook up my scanner since you gave the thumbs up. Look for me to post Monday or Tuesday night...

Now, as for preload, and the bearing spacer. I think the manual says if you re use the same one, you will usually be OK. I will scan in how to check that as well....

Then, I might make a video/scan thread to politic for a sticky

[Safety Guy]

That would be great Scitzz. I compared the large bearing separator with the bearing sep. kit, and the one you pointed out is a larger (proper) size, so I'll skip the kit for now. I'll probably be getting the bearing driver kit today with coupon.

Looking forward to the pics, etc.

Karl

[scitzz]

Dang, it is almost 6 AM and I forgot to hook up the scanner....