that-son

tried removing the rubber seal on the knuckle but i'm afraid it's getting shredded. the knuckle still won't come off even with a slide hammer and i only managed to remove one small outer bearing. it can't be that hard... the videos make it look so easy. anyone?

energy suspension carries all kinds of bushings for the 720 including rocker arm bushings and bumper stops. rockauto has cheap rubber bushings...

i know i've got some anti-seize somewhere. if i can't find it, i'll just use some mobil 1 grease. valve cover gasket and half moons are coming next week. outer bearings and races are due thursday but inner bearings, races and cv boots will be here next week as well. i was wondering if i could get some suggestions. right now, the rotors are off the truck but still attached to the knuckle. i decided to just keep the axles coz i did not want to take a chance to send them out to cardone and be charged a kidney for the rebuild. so... can i: 1. keep the axles on and just grease and stretch the boots and slide them in place? i've seen the video where the guy puts the half axle on a vice grip and hits it with a hammer to take it apart. i don't have a hammer that big, i don't have a vice grip and i don't have a table to attach the vice grip to. 2. repack wheel bearings. can i do this with the knuckle attached? is there a trick to removing the rubber seal behind the knuckle? i don't even know what the outers look like coz i only had time to unscrew those frozen screws this morning. 3. install ball joints on the knuckle. 4. install ball joints and rotor/knuckle assembly. what am i missing?

so just to update... the screws holding the hubs are frozen tight. tried pb blaster yesterday, sprayed some more this morning then gave them screws a good whack... still nothing. bought a $20 impact wrench from hf, destroyed one hf t40 bit, bought a better quality bit and managed to unscrew one sumb!tch. tomorrow i'll return the impact wrench and buy the $50 one. if that doesn't work... i'll bring it to the high school. or maybe a tirecenter...

thanks! i'll check out resonators... didn't mean to hijack the read. lol.

thanks for the advice. will do that anyways however the rumble is there even in neutral. :(

i got the cheapest ($30) turbo muffler installed on my truck. now i'm looking to get a silencer for it. between 1000 -1500 rpm the rumble is unbearable.

also, as mentioned double check vac lines. and... check all plug wires. make sure plugs are firing in the right order.

i wanna say it's all around but i think mostly it's between the engine and firewall. i'll find out for sure tomorrow. i ran out of time this morning and did not want to wash up just to go look for my flashlight,.

have you checked the timing, idle speed and air fuel mixture? go ahead and spray some carb cleaner in there and lubricate all the linkages but check those three things first. also, my idle speed got wonky when my alternator was going bad. so check that too...

right now i'm just cleaning/removing grease a whole lot of grease and mud. tried contacting cardone to see if they can rebuild my axle shafts and what exactly they would replace. they didn't pickup yesterday and they didn't pickup today either. maybe i have the wrong number. i've decided to just rebuild the idler arm. rockauto carries bushings for less than a dollar. energy suspension also has them for $14. maybe someday i'll have brass bushings machined for it. tomorrow, i'll clean and completely take apart the crossrod. i'll decide then if i'll just rebuild it or replace it. i think i found some bushings for it as well. i can't seem to find wheer my engine oil is leaking from. thought it was from the drain but it's coming from higher up. are the seals accessible or will the engine have to come out?

datzenmike - unfortunately, none of the jy's around me have a 720. i even have a neighbor who drives 50-70 miles to look at barracudas in jy's. he tells me he's always asking and looking out but nada. anyway, glad i listened to you about the pitman arm. i almost bought a new one only because there's a ton of them now on the internets. pulled out the idler arms and crossrod today and i saw for myself. there really is nothing to wear out on the pitman arm. i do have a question though. does the pitman arm need to be fully seated? after cleaning out all the grease and mud, i noticed theres maybe a 3/8 in. gap between the p arm and whatever it goes into. i tightened it as much as i could, to the point where i feel like the truck will fall off of the jack stands but only managed to close the gap by maybe an 8th of an inch. there's still about a 1/4" gap there. of course i loosened the nut again and made sure the lock washer did not flatten. also, the haynes manual says i need a hydraulic press to work on the shafts and knuckle. is it really necessary to remove the knuckle from the rotors to repack the bearings? the manual says to just grease the bearings and the sides of the seals spacers...ect. but my two neighbors who are retired mechanics tell me to fill 'er up and pack it full. how much is enough? thanks again guys. the tips i get here are really invaluable!

i read somewhere that it's better to just replace the axle shafts if the boots are torn. and that's the only reason i'm thinking about replacing them. but since i can't seem to find them anywhere should i just replace what i can and repack with grease?

yes! i did it! here are the tools i used. i ended up taking the caliper/brake assembly out of the way and pulling the rotor and mount out. i used the tool on the right (tie rod tool) for the upper and the tool on the left (idler arm tool). i'm just waiting for shocks and looking for axle shafts now. rockauto carries bearings, seals and cv boots... that everything i need to rebuild? the only axle shafts i've seen online are for '83 and up.

i put synthetic in the rear differential and it's leaking ever so slowly now...