resharp001

Guessing it was so loose you got hung up on that rather than realizing there was no way the knuckle would have fit on that way.

Rednroll

Ok....now that I'm back on track . What's the tips on re-installing these axles and the fiberglass washers? I'ld like to not F this up!

I notice they're kind of bowed. Does the bow point towards the bell housing or towards the wheels?

Rednroll

Well, I was putting the knuckle on and the BJ just dropped out and I was like...."uh oh!" Then I re-watched the TF install video to figure out what was different since there seemed to be a lot of space on the top side of the BJ and the C mounting hole.....and then I had that moment of speaking to myself and saying "You are such an idiot"

resharp001

A lot of people just discard the those plastic guides. They are just helping "guide" the shaft by holding it at a height it passes through the axle seal. The only real trick, whether you leave the guides on or take em off, is grease the splines a bit and use a steady hand to carefully guide it in. Just don't go jamming it in all willy nilly or you might be replacing axle seals in the near future. If you leave the guide on, I'd just flip it so it's bending a bit towards the diff.....so you're pushing it against the bend rather than with the bend. When brand new, those aren't bent at all, but they bend a bit over time. Again, only function they have is helping insert the shaft.

Rednroll

So since there's 2 of them, then I should spread them out to help keep the axle centered then huh?

I originally thought they were the seal.

resharp001

Oh no, the seal is pressed in from inside the diff towards the tubes....and if you have a leaky seal you get to yank the axles shafts back out and pull the carrier out of the pumpkin. Usually straight forward.....but you know...you've not had the smoothest ride with a lot of this crap.

Usually there is just one guide on there. Wonder if the shop that did your u-joints slapped another one on.

Rednroll

This has definitely been a job that I will never want to do again. Between the curve balls and self inflicted wounds I'm pretty beat. It doesn't help much either when I end up doing everything twice such as re-installing the knuckle only to realize I forgot to put the speed sensor bracket on. With 150K miles on my JK, in rust belt Michigan, this is definitely a job where you have to wear your big boy pants to get things apart. I mushroomed one of the Advanced Auto adapters installing the passenger side TF lower ball joint, which probably started when I went to remove the factory ball joint. I had a 25in breaker bar, with a 3 foot extension pipe and pulling on it with my arms and legs like I was rowing a boat and after about what seemed like 20 pulls, I finally heard "dank"...where the ball joint moved about 1/8"in, and it was 2 more cycles just like that before it finally came out.

Gonna have to delay my trip, where we had planned on leaving tonight but in the current state, it's looking like a tomorrow afternoon departure.

resharp001

Been there, done that. LOL. The job is easier once you've done it before, but seeing what you guys deal with as a result of winter road treatments.....man, I'll not blame anyone for not wanting to do that. It adds a whole new dimension to even straight forward tasks.....and that job is some decent work as it is.

Rednroll

Well, I finally wrapped this job up. I had planned to replace my passenger wheel bearing hub but ended up replacing the driver side as well since the speed sensor broke off of both hubs and I couldn't extract the plastic inside the hub. I tried drilling it out, only to notice the bottom part fell into the hub which I couldn't fish out of it. I ended up going to Napa and getting another hub....and Yozza!! $145 for a Napa hub. I paid $85 for a Crown online which looks better than the Napa. They had it in stock and I didn't feel like dicking around trying to find a lower price one, so bit the bullet. I ended up going to the dealer and getting a new axle nut so I now have 2 matching 35mm nuts. Whoever put that 34mm on there didn't do me any favors because it looks like it had a slightly finer thread and they cross threaded some of my axle yoke threads.

Glad to be done
- New TF HD ball joints installed
- Both front wheel bearing hubs replaced
- Steinjager sway bar disconnects installed
- Power stop Z36 front brake pads
- Shop installed axle U-joints
- 90% complete on dash cam install currently functional.

All set, it all seems to be working good so far.....I'm ready to roll!

jedg

Wow... that's a total goat screw you just went through. On the bright side, you fixed the crap that was wrong and you should be good to go for a long time!