[scorpydude]

howdy,

i'm about to replace my steering knuckle oil seals and usually take the whole wheel hub off, kingpin bearings out and then remove and refit new knuckle seal by pushing it over the kingpin widening in the axle housing (it's a tight fit but if you do one side at a time it just makes it over without damaging the seal too bad), felts and covers but last time I did this I had a real hard time getting the wheel hub back on while trying to hole the king pin bearings in the right place etc.

So I thought I would check the proper Suzuki SJ410 service manual to make sure I was doing it correctly and to my surprise it mentioned that instead of removing the wheel hub you just make a single cut the oil seal and felt with scissors and apply them without removing the wheel or wheel hub! Easy as! The manual does not state where you place the cut section of the seal but i assume you would place it at the highest point and then offset the cloth and covers over that so they cover the cut area?

Has anyone done it this way before? Is it perfectly fine to do it this way - saves alot of stuffing around?

[Joshyboy26]

i cant see why not. yeah put it at the top and then put the other joints at 90 deg rotations from it so the joints arent all in the same spot.

[Fatzook]

I never cut the seal. They can shrink, or get snagged on the knuckle ball if the surface is slightly pitted.

Getting the knuckle back on is easy. Just hold the bottom bearing in place, slide the knuckle over the top bearing, then let the bottom of the knuckle drop over the bottom bearing. Hold it in place with one hand. Get the top kingpin cap and fit. Then do the bottom.

[mrw82]

They need doing again already! they shouldn't wear out that quick

[just_cruizin]

Must be due to all the wheeling he's been doing

[want33s]

Toyota have basically the same setup and the manual says to cut the wiper seal and fit it with a dob of silicone gasket sealant.