Rear knuckle removal help

myfirstls

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Aloha guys. Been a while since my last post. My LS been good to us so far and no major problem thus far. But I did have squeaking noise coming from the rear end, so decided to tackle the rear suspension R&R. Had the parts for a while, but just wasn't up to it.

Anyway, pretty much everything went smooth on the right side, including removing the knuckle, but left knuckle just refuse to come apart. I'm using "front-wheel drive hub remover" (I think that's what is called) and my right came apart without any problem.

Currently, I'm doing one side at a time, so when I was doing the right side, left tire was on the ground, and since I'm doing the left side now, my right tire is on the ground. And when I used the hub remover and turn it's bolt to remove my left knuckle, it is so tight that my right wheel, which is on the ground, turn as well.

Guys have any advice on this? Did some search and my only other option seems to be remove the entire shaft assembly with the knuckle on it. gotta have easier solution then this!
 
Did you try applying the parking brake on the right side? You'll probably have to put something (pads and rotor?) for the left caliper to squeeze on at the same time or manually apply the right parking brake via its cable.
 
Did you try applying the parking brake on the right side? You'll probably have to put something (pads and rotor?) for the left caliper to squeeze on at the same time or manually apply the right parking brake via its cable.

Thanks Joe. Yeah, I thought about that but my left rotor is currently stuck on the hub. I did remove two clips that holds the rotor, but my guess is that hub center is rusted and stuck on at the moment. My left was same but knuckle came off so I used mallet to remove the rotor.

Anyway, I'll give a shot again. hope it will come off somehow.
 
Well, I finally got the knuckle out from the vehicle. But in the process, it came out with axleshaft. Long story short, I was hitting it with the 5lbs hammer just to break that seal/joint off and in that process, out came the shaft. I wasn't hitting that hard, or beating the knuckle to death. But I may have hit someplace I shouldn't have by mistake. Kinda hard to hit where you want to hit in the wheel well. At least it's out of the vehicle so gave me few option how to take the knuckle off.

How to take it off option list will be 12-ton shop press (still need to figure out how to press it out), that 5lbs hammer, air hammer (I do have compressor) and that same ol' front wheel drive hub puller which didn't work. I will report as soon as I get the knuckle off and how I did it.
 
Soak the axle shaft with some PB Blaster for a couple days, where it splines through the hub. Then use a torch to heat up the hub. The axle shaft should come out of the hub fairly easy then. The nut should be on the shaft by a few threads, and a socket over the nut. Hit the socket with a hammer.
 
Thanks 04. Does it have to be PB Blaster? I did tried with WD-40, but soak time is just under a day. I also tried it with torch, but maybe I didn't heat it up enough as I was working outside. I also tried it with MAP gas but maybe not enough time heating it up?

Anyway, for now, I did buy cheap CV shaft from Rockauto, and got myself a used knuckle from evilbay. Still have the old assembly. I was gonna take it to machine shop to press them out, but here in paradise, that's gonna cost me one of my Kidney................ (Last quote I got for a part that needed to be pressed out was $125. And yes. That was Aluminum)
 
If the used knuckle has a bearing in it, you might want to consider replacing it since you don't know the history of it.

Thanks 04. Yes, I did replace the wheel bearing as I was gonna do this anyway. Had the knuckle in a oven at 300 degree for about 30 minute, and had the wheel bearing in fridge overnight. With this setup, bearing just dropped without pressing. One of the easiest on LS repair.

Now, taking off the outer bearing race from the hub. That's a whole different story.
 
Don't know why it didn't post.... but yeah. PB Blaster is probably the best penetrating oil on rusty parts. WD-40 is a Water Displacer, thus the name. Blaster is popular in commercial and industrial markets, and IMO better than Kroil.

Soak everything well with the PB and let is set. You can even use it with heat. Just not directly into any flame. When applying heat to one side of the hub, (front/rear), spray the Blaster on the opposite side and you will actually see it draw in between the parts.
 
Thanks 04. I have to look for PB Blaster whenever I go to parts store now.

I'll try it again with PB and see what happens.
 

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