I recently acquired a 62 k-20 with the closed knuckle Dana front axle. In theory, you are supposed to fill up the knuckles with gear oil, which lubes the universal joints, the wheel bearings and the knuckle bearings. Shortly after I bought the truck, I filled the joints with oil, and drove it a short distance to get it home. Later, when I inspected the front end, I determined it needed a total rebuild – the knuckle bearings were gone. When I took it apart there was some oil left in the knuckles, but not much, and the wheel bearings were somewhat dry.
I read as much as I could about how to lube the joints, and got a lot of opinions. It is clear to me that these knuckles will have a hard time keeping oil in them, especially as they approach 50 years old. So, when I put everything back together, I packed the wheel bearings with high quality wheel bearing grease, the way you would with traditional spindles. I also packed the knuckle bearings the same way – they are small caged roller bearings similar to wheel bearings. I did not do it yet, but I intend to replace the axle u-joints with traditional closed seal joints with grease fittings, like those used in open knuckles, and then leave the knuckles dry.
My thinking is that, based on the use of the truck, if I plan on re-packing the wheel bearings every 10,000 miles, the interval will be 5-10 years. Four wheel drive will be used 10% of the time, if that, so the u-joints should be fine. And, I live without the leaks.
Does anyone have any thoughts or see any drawbacks to this? I would be interested to hear them.
Thanks
