Axle overhaul, Part 2

This section covers the disassembly of the knuckles. These pictures show the right knuckle coming apart, but it's basically the same procedure for the left. (Components on the left were significantly more worn in my case.)

Scrape the caked-on gumpta (dirt+grease+oil+years) from the knuckle.
The Chassis & Body manual instructs the reader to disconnect the tie-rod end on the steering arm at the tie rod. I chose to leave it connected this time.
Remove the four 17mm nuts and lock washers from the studs on the top of the knuckle.
Using a brass drift placed on the top of the stud and held vertically, hit it with a large (3lb or 5lb) hammer. A short hammer works best because of the confined space. This will cause the cone washer to pop up, likely loosening more than one at a time and also causing the steering arm to back up, away from the knuckle.
Using taps from the hammer and a brass drift on opposing sides (front/rear) of the steering arm, lift it up and remove it's "dowel" from the top bearing. Lay the tie rod and steering arm on the leaf spring. For some reason the driver's side steering arm was much harder to remove than the passenger's side.
Remove the two shims. In my case, there was a thin one and a thick one, with the thin one on the bottom. Each had a hole on one short side, and the hole faced the rear of the vehicle. Driver's side was the same except the thin one was on the top.

It's a good idea to keep the pieces from the top and bottom, left and right separated. I use zip-loc freezer bags.
Remove the four 17mm nuts and lock washers from the studs on the bottom of the knuckle.
Using the same method as the top, remove the lower cone washers.
There was a gap between the knuckle and the bottom iron plate, but the dowel facing up from the plate held the bearing in the bottom of the knuckle firmly. Placed a long thin steel punch through the top bearing, seating it in a dimple in the center of the bottom dowel. A couple hits with a 3lb hammer pushed the dowel out of the lower bearing, freeing the lower iron plate. There was a single thick shim on the bottom. The hole on the short side of the shim was facing the front of the vehicle. Driver's side was the same.
I would have preferred to use a brass drift, but neither of the two I had would fit through the top bearing. The dowel doesn't have any mechanical contact on its top surface, and the dimple seemed to be there for just such a job. For the SST, maybe?
Rotate the knuckle, remove the top and bottom bearings, keeping track of which is which. The right, lower bearing was the worst by far. The inner and outer halves shifted so far against each other that the roller pieces were almost freed.
Remove the eight 10mm bolts from the oil seal on the back of the knuckle.
Remove the knuckle. The components of the oil seal will remain behind the inner knuckle. Pull those components over the housing. The order in which they'll be removed is: split brass ring, rubber ring, felt ring, a two-piece metal retaining ring.