You should fix the worn spots on the knuckle.

 

Yep. He's talking about where the pad 'ears' rub on the knuckle. After enough years, the pads wear a low spot, which inhibits the movement of the pads, which is Not Good. They can't engage properly.

Look carefully at the areas in the yellow circles, below.

This can be fixed by welding it up and grinding it flat. There may be other ways to fix it.

 

Damn. Well it turns out the parts store sold me the wrong pads and I didn't notice (only 1 of them was the wrong type, just had the wrong type of clip on the back) and my drivers side caliper is toast, so I put everything back together. I'm going to head down to the parts store again tomorrow morning and pick up new calipers and rotors and get the correct pads. Would they also sell a new bracket? Just asking because I looked up "caliper bracket" and "caliper knuckle" and there were no results, is there another name for it? I'm currently staying out of town for a long period and only have a limited tool supply with me and no access to a welder and there's no good junkyards where I am in Canada

 

Steering knuckle.

 

Thank you, found em. $386 each so I guess I'm going to have to make friends with a welder lol

 

I was going to say - if you're in a spot with limited tools etc - if the spots are not super deep you can sand the heck out of them and use a good amount of brake lube (being careful not to get it on the actual pads or rotor) to get you by until you can correctly fix it.

Being that knuckles are super pricey, it's probably cost efficient to weld them. A professional welder can fill that hole in minutes.

The thing to consider is that getting the knuckles off is not a trivial matter. Not that it's super difficult, but it requires pulling the front axles (This is easy enough, 3 13mm 12 point bolts and then the deep socket/bolt trick to pop the hub out.) and removing the ball joint nuts (cotter pins can be a PITA) and tie rod ends and then puling the knuckle off.
Being you're in Canada, your Jeep has probably seen a lot of road salt and moisture, so getting the knuckle off the ball joint studs may be a real pain.

When I did my Ball joints recently it took a f ton of blowtorching and many swings with a BFH (big f'n hammer)... I doubt if I cared to not damage the ball joints that I'd have gotten the knuckle off.

In short, I would seek out a shop that will fill the ruts on the vehicle or a welder that will come to you and fill them if you want to save a potential headache.

 

I was thinking of sanding them as they don't look too deep. Thankfully I'm in a fairly big city so there should be lots of welders around if need be. Thank you for your time and advice!

 

Those look like double piston Teves calipers exactly like my WJ had. If so, I would assume the caliper brackets are bolted onto the back of the knuckle and not an integral part. If so, you can buy fully loaded calipers that have the brackets and pads already installed on them.

This is a 2000 Cherokee, right? If they are Teves, I would recommend changing them to Akebono in the near future. I had terrible service out of mine until I changed them. The only difference is you have to remove the brackets to get the rotors off with the Akebono. With the Teves, I had a run of stuck pistons, squealing brakes, and warped rotors until I switched. No problems since.

 

No idea what type of calipers they are but I know that they are single piston. Probably the stock ones judging how worn they looked when I took everything apart.

 

Okay, they didn't go to double pistons in 2000 then. They are Teves then, but single piston Teves are fine. They are still used on the rear of the WJ. IDK why, but your picture had me confused, which is normal! LOL!

I'm a WJ guy, but a 4.0 is a 4.0! I'm getting bored with the Grand Cherokee forum, so bare with me please.

SO, your knuckles need to be welded. If the grooves aren't too deep, you can just file them smooth ONCE! After that the clearances get too large and the shoes will rattle. I suggest using a hard surfacing stick rod to weld them. Then they will last longer. If you're careful, I don't see why they can't be welded on the jeep without removing them.

 

I welded my steering knuckle grooves with the cheapest harbor freight welder. Haha

 

Whatever works for you, guy! I'm a experienced toolmaker and used to doing stuff the best way I can think of.

 

my solution to the worn spots: put it back together and drive it. 90k miles later (240 total) they are still fine.