With the front differential mounted I began to reassemble the front axle. Using the Front Axle Service kit from Marlin Crawler, I first replaced the knuckle races in the balls of the axle housing. Then I measured the knuckle shim thickness using the Knuckle Alignment tool also from Marlin. I compared our measured thickness to the shims that had come off the knuckles during disassembly… I measured 1 mm on the top and 1.1 mm on the bottom. The original was 1.1 mm top and bottom. I figured the two were pretty much in agreement and stacked shims to give us a hair shy of 1.1 mm top and bottom. After mounting and torquing the knuckle I measured a tension of 1.5 kg which is 0.3 kg shy of the low end of the range. I probably should have removed 0.1 mm from top and bottom to get into range but I stuck with the 1.1 mm top and bottom since that was what came off the truck. So why buy the expensive alignment tool? Good question!
Before mounting the knuckle I filled in some minor pitting on the axle housing balls with JB Weld and sanded it down to give a smooth surface for the wipers to run over. Next, with the knuckles in place, I installed the wiper to the back side of the knuckle. I used a modified wiper kit from Trail Gear that replaces the felt wiper with a thick rubber wiper. This modified wiper looks to be high quality and the backing plates are much thicker that the originals. I think this will be an improvement.
A special shelf in the freezer just for truck parts! (Arthur… don’t tell mom!)
