TeddyBoy
Knighted by the King of MUD himself
alright, bunch of points to hit on.
Yes I do remember threading in from the backside and I think you're absolutely right about them working loose BUT if (and only If) the bolt hole is threaded, if the hole is not threaded and the bolt/nut works loose then it should be pretty easy to determine.
If you remember I replaced all of the diff studs on my rear axle with G8 bolts (3/8" I think) to replace the factory studs and made damned sure I welded the head to the flange. It was a pain in the arse but so far that's been very successful and plan on doing the front on my new axle housing.
Your recollection of the stud having differing threads is correct. I cant remember exactly right now but I believe the knuckle side is M12x1.00 and steering arm is 1.25 pitch with the shoulder in b/w as you mention. There's a pretty good thread on pirate somewhere about the clamping forces of studs/cone washer/nut which is pretty informative but the short version was that particular setup is far stronger than just about any other option.
The bolt configuration would also work well I suspect but as you described there's very little real estate inside the knuckle.
So, If I'm reading your last paragraph correctly you're planning on using a screw type (see below) configuration which would put the total load on the knuckle threads ONLY. It has been my experience that the knuckle threads tend to strip fairly easily followed shortly behind by the nut stripping. Obviously, if the knuckle threads strip the knuckle is either toast or will require a larger hole/tap and thus would be a last choice.
All that said and what I think is probably the final and maybe best option is to use a D44 Knuckle stud setup. It's the same configuration as Toyota only much larger at 9/16". For about $100 you can get the hardware and then will have to buy/borrow/steal a reaming tool to drill out the steering arms to the correct size and pitch.
How to drill and tap a Toy Knuckle to accept D44 9/16's studs - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum
Yes I do remember threading in from the backside and I think you're absolutely right about them working loose BUT if (and only If) the bolt hole is threaded, if the hole is not threaded and the bolt/nut works loose then it should be pretty easy to determine.
If you remember I replaced all of the diff studs on my rear axle with G8 bolts (3/8" I think) to replace the factory studs and made damned sure I welded the head to the flange. It was a pain in the arse but so far that's been very successful and plan on doing the front on my new axle housing.
Your recollection of the stud having differing threads is correct. I cant remember exactly right now but I believe the knuckle side is M12x1.00 and steering arm is 1.25 pitch with the shoulder in b/w as you mention. There's a pretty good thread on pirate somewhere about the clamping forces of studs/cone washer/nut which is pretty informative but the short version was that particular setup is far stronger than just about any other option.
The bolt configuration would also work well I suspect but as you described there's very little real estate inside the knuckle.
So, If I'm reading your last paragraph correctly you're planning on using a screw type (see below) configuration which would put the total load on the knuckle threads ONLY. It has been my experience that the knuckle threads tend to strip fairly easily followed shortly behind by the nut stripping. Obviously, if the knuckle threads strip the knuckle is either toast or will require a larger hole/tap and thus would be a last choice.
All that said and what I think is probably the final and maybe best option is to use a D44 Knuckle stud setup. It's the same configuration as Toyota only much larger at 9/16". For about $100 you can get the hardware and then will have to buy/borrow/steal a reaming tool to drill out the steering arms to the correct size and pitch.
How to drill and tap a Toy Knuckle to accept D44 9/16's studs - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum