Dana 44 Kingpin Servicing

[Onry69CST]

I'm going through my Dana 44 closed knuckle on my 69 k20 and have everything off except the kingpins. I'm apprehensive to take it apart because everything seems well greased, tight, and in nice shape. I don't want to create any extra issues or fix something that's not broke. Although I believe the knuckle is supposed to be filled with heavy oil instead of grease, correct?

So two questions, how do you know when your kingpins need attention, and what's the risk of disassembling just to inspect, then creating issues upon reassembly? Thanks guys

[Onry69CST]

Any advice or stories from experience?

[LONGHORN1962]

If the knuckles pivot smoothly and are not real loose up and down I would leave them. If you have to disassemble them, keep the shims of any in the correct locations. Most of the knuckle ball seals don't seal well enough to hold oil, therefore grease is used. Larry

[palallin]

I would say that the job is not that hard, but it is both messy and unnecessary if they are tight.

I grease my bearings, but I also run 85W-140 in the housing.

[Onry69CST]

Thank you for the replies. I purchased new felt seals for it and I'm going to do the other hub seals and bearings I think as well. I'd like to run the heavy oil in the knuckle as it is supposed to have, but it would be mixing with whatever residual grease is left, not sure if that would work out well or turn into something nasty.

[palallin]

I wouldn't wanna eat it for dinner, but I haven't had problems. I keep the grease on the bearings, so I don't fill the housing with it.