Knuckle rubber seal issue...

Cully37

Bigger Hammer
Jul 15, 2014
57
Chicago Suburbs
First Name
Brian
Willys Model
  1. Other
Willys Year:
  1. 1953
I'm starting from scratch and rebuilding the steering knuckles out to the wheel to try and solve my death wobble. Upon disassembly I realized there was hardly any drag on the knuckles. After cleaning, blasting and re painting parts I am back to assembling the knuckles. I bought new king pin bearings, and I have the pre load now set at 15lbs per side which I'm happy with. Now the problem...I just can't seem to get the darn rubber oil seal to set into place correctly (the seal between the knuckle and the felt pad). This seems like it should be such an easy task but I'm stuck. Any tips, help, comments? How do I get this seal to completely seat before bolting on the felt pad and metal brackets?
 
Brian
You have to spread the seal out to get it in, so the fit will be not easy to begin with. Did you sand off all the crap from the round knuckle ball first? then grease the surface? Just be careful and check your work. It will work.
diggerG
 
Yes, the surface is clean and greased. It just seems that I can't get the whole seal seated in place long enough to get the felt pad and metal brackets bolted on. As you get one part of the seal in place, the opposite end pops out. I thought this was going to be the easy part haha!!
 
Seriously, what is the trick to getting these darn rubble from popping out of place while getting the felt and metal backing plates on? I'm about to go nuts with this....????
 
You spread the seal out to get it over the axle tube, so just unspread it by hand before you try to set it.
diggerG
 
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