a. The removal of the wheel locks should be self
explanatory.
b. You will need a special socket to remove/install
the wheal bearing locknut and the wheel bearing adjusting nut. I bought mine
at Kragen. There is a lock-ring washer between these two nuts that has
several holes in it. The wheel bearing adjusting nut has a small pin that
goes into one of the holes of the retaining washer. You may or may not see
this pin; it may have been pushed into the nut due to improper assembly.
Once you have removed the wheel bearing adjusting nut you can use a small
nail to push the pin out. This hardware should be interchangeable with the
spindles from your donor vehicle and you can use them if you want.
c. I believe the wheel drum and backing plate will
come off as one piece but I may be wrong. The axle shop did this part (I
asked them to leave it off since I was going to disc brakes. If it doesn’t
come off as one piece you’ll have to remove the drum and figure it out,
sorry.
d. Remove the cotter pin from the upper ball joint
and loosen the castle nut. I believe you can get a wrench on the lower ball
joint’s nut without removing your axle; you may have to turn the yoke on
the axle housing to give you a bit more room. Then to remove the steering
knuckle use a hammer (dead blow, 5 lb sledge, etc) and hit the castle nut on
the upper ball joint. This will, eventually, cause the steering knuckle to
comes loose. Finish removing the nuts on the upper and lower ball joint
while holding the steering knuckle so it doesn’t drop on the outer axle
shaft.
