Front end questions with pics

[AaronPaul]

Ok guys so I’m a newbie at this and before y’all laugh at me remember we all started from knowing nothing.

First 3 pics is the steering knuckle on my 2000 TJ.
Can this be salvaged? Wire wheel, rust oleum and some fluid film? Would that work?

4th pic is the yoke and U Joint (I think)
Same question as above, can it be salvaged?

5th pic. What the hell is that part called. Looks like a C.
Same question as above, can it be salvaged?

Thank you for all your help in advance and I’ll try to respond to all of you.

Thanks again.

 

[AaronPaul]

Ok guys so I’m a newbie at this and before y’all laugh at me remember we all started from knowing nothing.

First 3 pics is the steering knuckle on my 2000 TJ.
Can this be salvaged? Wire wheel, rust oleum and some fluid film? Would that work?

4th pic is the yoke and U Joint (I think)
Same question as above, can it be salvaged?

5th pic. What the hell is that part called. Looks like a C.
Same question as above, can it be salvaged?

Thank you for all your help in advance and I’ll try to respond to all of you.

Thanks again.

View attachment 308420

 

[AaronPaul]

Pics

 

[Kid Mechanic]

If I remember you had a lot of rust. You have knocked off most of it, wire wheel the rest, coat with your favorite stuff.

The most important, make sure the area where the brake caliper slides is clean and lubed for brake safety & performance.
Those axles looked like they lived in the DC swamp, so those u-joints are most likely dry. Replace before they fall apart.
You can address those ball joints at some point, probably swamped out like the rest.

Get your brakes working then whittle away at the other rusty bits. Or just do it all at once, unit bearing, BJ’s, U-J’s, then steering stuff at that time or on another run at fixing it up.

 

[rasband]

You can probably recover most of that, but I would plan to replace the axle shafts (or at least the u-joints).

 

[AaronPaul]

If I remember you had a lot of rust. You have knocked off most of it, wire wheel the rest, coat with your favorite stuff.

The most important, make sure the area where the brake caliper slides is clean and lubed for brake safety & performance.
Those axles looked like they lived in the DC swamp, so those u-joints are most likely dry. Replace before they fall apart.
You can address those ball joints at some point, probably swamped out like the rest.

Get your brakes working then whittle away at the other rusty bits. Or just do it all at once, unit bearing, BJ’s, U-J’s, then steering stuff at that time or on another run at fixing it up.

"The most important, make sure the area where the brake caliper slides is clean and lubed for brake safety & performance"

Mind getting into a bit more detail on that please. Where exactly are you talking about and what kind of lubricant?
Thank you I appreciate your time

 

[Kid Mechanic]

"The most important, make sure the area where the brake caliper slides is clean and lubed for brake safety & performance"

Mind getting into a bit more detail on that please. Where exactly are you talking about and what kind of lubricant?
Thank you I appreciate your time

Your post #3, picture 1 is the knuckle and shows the slides where your brake caliper rides. Picture 3 has a shot of at least the lower slide from the back. It’s a bit rusty and the machined surface doesn’t look too bad, but clean that with a green scotch-brite. Don’t go rogue and gouge it with a grinder or something, just clean the rust smooth. When putting the caliper back on put high temp grease there. When you look at brake videos, it will show where to lube and not lube. Your caliper and ends of the pads ride on that and need to move smoothly. When you buy new pads sometimes they come with a little packet of brake grease or get it at the counter of the parts store.

 

[AaronPaul]

You can probably recover most of that, but I would plan to replace the axle shafts (or at least the u-joints).

Your post #3, picture 1 is the knuckle and shows the slides where your brake caliper rides. Picture 3 has a shot of at least the lower slide from the back. It’s a bit rusty and the machined surface doesn’t look too bad, but clean that with a green scotch-brite. Don’t go rogue and gouge it with a grinder or something, just clean the rust smooth. When putting the caliper back on put high temp grease there. When you look at brake videos, it will show where to lube and not lube. Your caliper and ends of the pads ride on that and need to move smoothly. When you buy new pads sometimes they come with a little packet of brake grease or get it at the counter of the parts store.

Awesome man thank you so much. Do you think I really need to replace the entire axel shaft as well?

 

[AaronPaul]

You can probably recover most of that, but I would plan to replace the axle shafts (or at least the u-joints).

That's not something I wanted to hear. U-joints ok but the whole damn shaft is $$$

 

[rasband]

That's not something I wanted to hear. U-joints ok but the whole damn shaft is $$$

It might be fine, clean it up and swap the u-joints to know. If you're not offroading they're probably fine.

 

[AaronPaul]

It might be fine, clean it up and swap the u-joints to know. If you're not offroading they're probably fine.

Thank you. When I swap the u-joints what should I be looking for in regards to if I should or should not replace the axel shafts?

 

[rasband]

Thank you. When I swap the u-joints what should I be looking for in regards to if I should or should not replace the axel shafts?

I would just clean up the shafts as best you can and see if the rust goes deep in them or if it's easy to clean up from the surface. You will find OEM take offs from guys moving to chromoly shafts for fairly cheap if you look around.

 

[AaronPaul]

I would just clean up the shafts as best you it can and see if the rust goes deep in them or if it's easy to clean up from the surface. You will find OEM take offs from guys moving to chromoly shafts for fairly cheap if you look around.

Thank you I appreciate it