Dana 25 Knuckle Rebuild

[GrandpasOld50]

I am in the process of rebuilding my Dana 25 steering knuckles.� The lower bearing were so shot that they were in pieces.� I replaced the bearings and the races and put it back together.� However, with all the shims removed I was only able to manage 3 lbs of tension.� I read on the Novak website that if proper tension was not obtained a washer can be added between the kingpin and the kingpin bearing to increase the tension.� Will any washer do or do I need to find a grade 5/8 washer?� Thanks in advanced.�

[oldtime]

I never heard of this problem before.
However I think 3 lbs of tension should suffice if measured without knuckle seals in place.

The whole weight of jeep rest upon the bottom pivot.
So place any extra washer and adjustment shims at top and that should suffice.
Long prior to the� D27 axles Willys went to using top shims only.

[GrandpasOld50]

Thank you for the reply. I have to apology. The axle is a Dan 25, not 27. I was going off memory and it clearly failed me.  I don't know how much of a difference that makes.  I modified the title of the thread to reflex the actual axle.

The spec's on the Novak website statement that there should be 12-14 lbs of tension without the seals. Since that is 4 times the tension I am getting, I figured I needed the washer to increase the tension. I am trying to tighten up the lose/wear steering.� Once this is done I plan to replace tierod ends, rebuild the bell crank, and rebuild the gear box.

[athawk11]

Can you post a photo of the knuckle?

A Dana 25 might have knuckles that require evenly distributed shims on the bottom and top of the kingpins.   

[GrandpasOld50]

Here are 2 pictures of the knuckle.

[GrandpasOld50]

Just for fun I have attached picture's of the steering knuckle I had to replace because it had a hole in it.

[athawk11]

There was an informative knuckle post here that did a great job of showing the differences in the knuckles.  Really good photo examples.  Of course, Photobucket made it useless at this point.

The last picture of your blowout hole...If you are showing the bottom of the knuckle, I believe I'm seeing that the lower kingpin surface sits proud of the knuckle edge.  If true, you would only shim the top kingpin on your knuckles.

If you replaced only one knuckle, make sure the lower surface looks identical on both knuckles.

[GrandpasOld50]

Perfect.  Thank you for the information.  I will check to make sure they are the same.  And the picture of the hole is the bottom of the knuckle. 

[oldtime]

O.K. it's a Dana 25.
As atahawk has indicated the early will use shims at top and bottom.
The use of bearing cap bolts as opposed to bearing cap studs suggests these are later D25 knuckles.
 So... shims required under top bearing cap only.

I still believe 3 pounds of swing drag to be acceptable.
Realistically your only talking .001 or .002 tighter fit at the bearing cap.
Besides you will add more potential for additional play after installing a non standard washer at the bearing.
You could lightly run a file across the knuckle cap faces if you want to remove a couple thousands .....

[athawk11]

You could lightly run a file across the knuckle cap faces if you want to remove a couple thousands .....

Now that is a pretty good idea!  I guess I should expect this from you.  You are the axle expert I've come to rely on.

[oldtime]

Yeah thanks for saying that Tim but honestly it's caused from spending too much time working on and thinking about Jeeps with too little drive time these days............ Ha !