Rubiconasaurus
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TL;DR I'm trying to replace my steering knuckles and ball joints but the hub bearing assembly is stuck. I'm looking for suggestions to safely remove it. Full details below.
My 2020 JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel (no lift, stock wheels) with about 34k miles is having terrible death wobble. This thing has been a pavement princess; babied beyond belief. I replaced the track bar with a Steersmarts Yeti Pro and it helped for a few weeks then returned with a vengeance. Got it aligned and that made no difference. I've done the usual check all bolts blah, blah, blah and no luck; jeep becomes essentially undrivable at highway speeds once the DW starts.
Bit the bullet and bought new Reid knuckles, dynatrac HD ball joints (probable culprit according to the interwebz and this forum), steersmarts drag link, tie rod, and stabilizer (plus relo bracket).
Got everything gathered, watched about 10 different YouTube videos about how to do it and set off to try today. Got to the point of removing the hub assembly and got stopped dead in my tracks. I took the three 13mm 12 pt bolts off and tried to pull the hub and nothing. It is seized to the knuckle like it was welded on. Tried hammer, prying, wd40, etc. I get the problem steel/iron hub + aluminum knuckle (thanks bean counting, mpg chasing f***heads replacing steel knuckle with aluminum) has seized together something fierce. I'm in southwest Ohio for environmental reference.
I'm obviously replacing the knuckles so I don't give an F about damaging them but definitely don't want to screw the hub assembly up. How the heck can I get this damn hub off/separated from the knuckle? Air hammer was next on the list to try. A friend suggested https://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools/loaner-axle-flange-puller/p/oemtools-fwd-hub-puller/2050_0_0
but that doesn't look like it would work in this particular application. I'm desperate to get this thing off. It's the wife's jeep and it at this point it's not really safe for highway driving. I have $3k of parts to fix it but I can't get it apart. Please help.
My 2020 JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel (no lift, stock wheels) with about 34k miles is having terrible death wobble. This thing has been a pavement princess; babied beyond belief. I replaced the track bar with a Steersmarts Yeti Pro and it helped for a few weeks then returned with a vengeance. Got it aligned and that made no difference. I've done the usual check all bolts blah, blah, blah and no luck; jeep becomes essentially undrivable at highway speeds once the DW starts.
Bit the bullet and bought new Reid knuckles, dynatrac HD ball joints (probable culprit according to the interwebz and this forum), steersmarts drag link, tie rod, and stabilizer (plus relo bracket).
Got everything gathered, watched about 10 different YouTube videos about how to do it and set off to try today. Got to the point of removing the hub assembly and got stopped dead in my tracks. I took the three 13mm 12 pt bolts off and tried to pull the hub and nothing. It is seized to the knuckle like it was welded on. Tried hammer, prying, wd40, etc. I get the problem steel/iron hub + aluminum knuckle (thanks bean counting, mpg chasing f***heads replacing steel knuckle with aluminum) has seized together something fierce. I'm in southwest Ohio for environmental reference.
I'm obviously replacing the knuckles so I don't give an F about damaging them but definitely don't want to screw the hub assembly up. How the heck can I get this damn hub off/separated from the knuckle? Air hammer was next on the list to try. A friend suggested https://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools/loaner-axle-flange-puller/p/oemtools-fwd-hub-puller/2050_0_0
but that doesn't look like it would work in this particular application. I'm desperate to get this thing off. It's the wife's jeep and it at this point it's not really safe for highway driving. I have $3k of parts to fix it but I can't get it apart. Please help.
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