Kingpin bearings / knuckle seals

The time has come to replace the kingpin bearings on the N/S of the Jimny, so have been out soaking all the nuts, bolts, etc with penetrating fluids in hope of everything loosening in a few days time.

The bolts holding the knuckle seals in place are very heavily rusted, so having some doubts as to whether these are going to come out. The seal is looking pretty ropey so definitely needs to be changed, which set me thinking..... Has anyone been able to remove the hub with the seals still in place (obviously not concerned what state the seals end up in as they will be replaced)? It would then be much easier to remove all the bolts on the bench with good access and some heat!


Cheers

You cant as the metal ring that holds the rubber seal in will foul on the swivel ball. Gotta come off I'm afraid!

If they are really stuck then i would grind them off and drill/tap out the remaining bit on the bench.

If any consolation... mine looked horrendous but came out no problem. The one that everyone seems to have bother with is the ABS sensor bolt. 9 out of 10 times that crappy bolt shears off. Still gotta come out to get the swivel hub off completely tho.

Thanks - thought that there must be a reason why it wasn’t mentioned anywhere!

After some additional soaking and trial easing of the various bolts this morning, it looks like the biggest problem is actually going to be the ball joint from the steering box!

Two options for the ball joint:

undo the nut to the top of the thread on it and bash down on the nut with a block of wood and a hammer,

or buy one of these for just over £10...

www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cht222-ball-joint-remover/

Beware this tool can sometimes split or damage the rubber part of the ball joint, meaning new ones needed.

The quickest way to seperate ball joints and track ends with out any special tools is with a hitting stick.

Sorry - should have been more specific. It’s the nut on the ball joint that seems to be seized solid at the moment. Left it soaking after wire brushed the threads and some heat so fingers crossed..... I guess worst case will be cutting it off and hoping it unscrews out of the rod!

For the little nuts on the swivel ball seal you need some of these -



They have a reverse spiral cut inside the 'socket'...

www.machinemart.co.uk/p/5-piece-bolt-grip-set/

They'll grip the heads of rounded bolts

They also do this to fill the box with all sizes -

www.machinemart.co.uk/p/5-piece-bolt-grip-set-expansion-set/

Invaluable when working under a Jimny