I have chiseled the bearing off of the spindle before. It is time consuming, but you can save the spindle. If you know anyone with torches they help. The biggest thing is to make sure you do not scar the spindle. I went over the spindle with an emery cloth and then packed and replaced my bearings.

The tools you need to remove the knuckle can be rented from the parts store. Most have free tool rental. When you return the tool they will refund your money back to you. If you rent the tools, go to the salvage yard first and get your donor part. This will give you the practice before you damage anything on yours. When you finish yours return your tools and you are only out of pocket for your parts.

If you get another knuckle, make sure you buy new inner and outer wheel bearings. Do not trust the bearings from the junkyard or you may have to do this again.

Make sure you pack the bearings well.

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This guy used a pneumatic pickle fork. You can rent a hand held one that you smack with a small mall or large framing hammer. do not be afraid of hitting it hard. You are wasting your time if you hit it like a baby.

Good luck. Youtube can be your best friend for references.

 

Agreed, but the ball joints are pressed into the control arm NOT the knuckle.

 

Ozstang's right, the ball joints are ipressed in the I beam (not control arm) and the knuckle/spindle comes off without them. His method of the BFH on the knuckle (blue spots on his pics) will remove it with no damage to the ball joints. I'd tryu to work on getting the outer wheel bearing off. If you have an angle grinder maybe you could cut the rotor to gain access to the bearing then cut and chisel it off. Even if the spindle is gouged a little you can hit it with some emery cloth or a file. As long as the new bearing slides on and off snugly it should be ok.

 

I'd normally call it the lower control arm, but in the F-truck there is no upper control arm so I just call it the control arm. I beam works too (pressed though, not cast)

 

So, let me make this absolutely clear...


If I want to replace the ball joints, I NEED a ball joint press.

 

Yes, that is correct.

 

Now, I just called a few salvage yards asking about the front knuckle, and they were all running about $60.


How can I know if I need to replace the knuckle?

 

Well,I have been going on the assumption that your spindle is trashed.If you can in fact knock off the bearings and salvage the spindle,then you won't have to replace the knuckle.But,I don't like to take chances on my trucks,especially with something like that,so I would personally just replace the knuckle.It all depends on what you want to do,and what you have the ability to do.It's pretty easy to mess up the spindle with the slip of the hammer or chisel,which is why Kyle said it was very time consuming.You have to be really careful with it.

As for the ball joints,I was mistaken on the location,they are on the IFS arm,not on the knuckle.Late Night post fail.They are however on the knuckle with the 4x4 trucks which is what I was thinking of.Everything else is correct though.Thanks for the catch OZstang.

 

Wicked,

I have to agree that the spindle is trashed, especially if you can't get the bearings off.
To remove the upper & lower ball joints, use a pickle fork & BFH as these guys said. Start with the bottom one first.
To install the ball joints use a press, it will be somewhat intuitive because of the design.
Once the steering knuckle is off, and all your parts are clean (very important) then you can press on the top ball joint, and then the lower one.
Then you re-install the dust shield, rotor, caliper, etc....

Now you do the passenger side!!

 

Using a hammer on the highlighted areas in blue, works quite well. A couple tips to make it work a bit easier, thread the nuts back on 2-3 turns, and push down on the end of the spindle as you hit those blue marked locations. After both have popped loose, just unthread the nuts, and the whole thing should come pretty easy.

 

Well, do to it being time consuming and, well, i'm about out of money....

I have taken an angle grinder and I am cutting off the hub/rotor. I'm about halfway through. Once I get it off, I am going to clean off the spindle best I can and just put on the new hub/rotor assembly with the new bearings.

I was going to replace the tie rod ends due to the fact I have taken one side off already, but i'm just going to put it back on. I did not take off the ball joints, and I won't, due to the fact it's going to cost even more money i do not have...


So, let's hope that the spindle will be alright!


(I can't believe this all started with me just wanting to replace the brake caliper....)

 

Well man,you do what you can with what you have,so best of luck with it.If you're unsure of the spindle's condition,post a pic of it and someone can tell you if it's still worth saving or not.

 

Well, how can I tell if it's good or not by looking at it?

 

By the way... I've got a torch that is used for soldering in copper plumbing... does the same thing...


How can the torch help? Heat it up and it'll be easier to get off, yeah?

 

Make sure it doesn't look like this when you're done.





As for your other question,i'm not sure,Kyle can probably help out more with that.