I am in the process of doing front brakes, ball joints and axle hubs.

In the FSM it says to replace the knuckle seal, but does NOT mention grease, and on the DIY pages here, I do not find anything about replacing the knuckle seal (see pic).

Is the seal basically a replace only if it looks bad, or is it something that SHOULD be replaced to protect my new timken bearings?

And after I clean it up, should I put some high temp bearing grease all around in there, or is what I see basically grease that works itself out of the hubs?

Thanks!

 

The seal is just the rubber oring. You can put a little grease on it to help sliding it on. From your pic it looks like some of the old bearing is stuck in the knuckle. I've seen a few bad bearings do that. Take a chisel and tap it out, clean up the knuckle and put it together. I would advise some anti seize on the bolts and be sure to torque everything properly or hub will fail prematurely.

 

yeah, beat that piece of crap out of there and throw it away. when you buy the new bearing you will see, its a closed unit that can not be greased. i hate when they fall apart like that.

also clean up that hole too when you get it out of there as cat said, wire wheel it or whatever then antiseize or grease it so if 10 years down the road you got to remove it again itll come right out