High knuckle steer swap SOA pattern parts (1 Viewer)

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Cdaniel

Undocumented Mechanic-I Am Not CDAN
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Enough buzz words to catch the essence of it?

I'm doing the front SOA on a 77 FJ40. Talked with 4x4 labs about high steer arms to be ordered when I sort out my PS box options. He mentioned the larger knuckle pattern would be the way to go. Now I'm considering it.

After a bit of reading I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking for.
Knuckle housings from an FJ60? or is it 79 and newer FJ40? Or are they one in the same?

I'm assuming all of my disc brake hardware an axles will still work. Although longfields will be in the plan and I already have a pair of Aisn hubs to use.

I'm not sure if I have the long or short hubs though. Anyone have the dimensions to tell the difference?
 
I think 40 or 60/62 '79 up would do it.

For a bit more(since presumably you'll have to buy the later knuckles anyway), you could buy 6 shooters, and I know that Luke can do high steer for those.
 
I did Bobby Long's 5th knuckle stud setup when I rebuilt mine with the 4x4 Labs High Steer arms a couple of years ago. It was about $50 for the kit, or you could make your own real easy. If you can weld and drill, you can do these. It gives the arms a whole extra stud so it's a 5 shooter, I guess. I have beat the snot out of mine since, and I have not lost any torque on any of the 10 studs yet. If you don't have a lot of wear/slop in the original studs, then this is an easy/cheap way to go. I have a whole bunch of pix somewhere if ya really want to see them. John
 
I did Bobby Long's 5th knuckle stud setup when I rebuilt mine with the 4x4 Labs High Steer arms a couple of years ago. It was about $50 for the kit, or you could make your own real easy. If you can weld and drill, you can do these. It gives the arms a whole extra stud so it's a 5 shooter, I guess. I have beat the snot out of mine since, and I have not lost any torque on any of the 10 studs yet. If you don't have a lot of wear/slop in the original studs, then this is an easy/cheap way to go. I have a whole bunch of pix somewhere if ya really want to see them. John

That set up looks a little sketchy to me John. I know your piggy is bullet proof and battle tested though. Still, the mechanical designer in me thinks that bolting a flat plate to an irregular surface could make for irregular results. No doubt it will probably not be a problem, but I think a Toyota engineered knuckle improvement is the way to go. :meh:

Anyone have info on identifying different Aisin hubs?
 
Of course, not everyone posts up their failures, but I have not heard of anyone that had one come apart. There is a lot more mating surface than it looks like, and the capture nut is welded inside the knuckle housing. It can be built up really solid. I was kinda surprised that there was even room for a nut in there, without interfering with the ball surface, but there is. What got me started was during the rebuild, I found at least one wobbly stud in the top of both knuckles. I figured if I got a replacement knuckle, my luck would have it just as old and tired as my original and likely to fail again. I drilled and tapped out them out so I had clean, new thread to start with. Only time will tell. I just could not justify the cost of going to a 6 shooter setup. John
 
So I picked up these large pattern disc brake assemblies. After much reading here and there, I'm getting the idea that I could just use these knuckles with new hi steer arms and reuse everything else original to my 77 (much better shape than these).

Can anyone validate my assumptions?
brakes.jpg
 
what where those knuckles off of
the hub part (where the studs are ) looks different than what i am used to looking at .

I'm not sure of the origin. They have been hanging around divorced from the axle a real long time and the seller couldn't say. Given his past part dealings I'd guess later model FJ40


edit: and thanks for the feedback on the swap
 
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Not to beat a dead horse, but Long's 5th stud kit is just a much simpler version of Luke's 6 stud setup. Anyway, I found out the hard way that OEM FJ 60 studs were not long enough to be seated 100% into the kunckle and still reach thru Luke's hi steer arms. I had to go custom. I don't know if Luke offers longer studs or not, but I would think so. John
 
I love my 6 shooter knuckles

I love my 4x4 labs histeer

My ram assis


Love my longfields

And soa




Get r done
 
So my new to me knuckles came with a busted stud. And a missing one. I'm pondering replacing all of the hardware, but it adds up quick.

What say you guys, just fix what's broke? Or best to just start fresh?

attachment.php
 
Replace all of them with upgraded studs and be done.
 
So my new to me knuckles came with a busted stud. And a missing one. I'm pondering replacing all of the hardware, but it adds up quick.

What say you guys, just fix what's broke? Or best to just start fresh?

attachment.php
I would replace the upper ones, as the steering leverage stress is on them, but the lower ones should be OK. Are the originals long enough to reach thru the hi-steer arms? Obviously, the studs can break, but on the few that I have dealt with, the problem has been lateral play in the stud due to wear in the housing. John
 
Stop the presses!
So my new to me knuckles seem to be something other that what I was expecting. There is roughly 1/4" more space between the upper and lower bearings than before. The hole pattern for the ball seal is different too.

So what do I have here?

Pics old on top
new on bottom
oldknuckle.jpg
newknuckle.jpg
 
I did my 77 FJ40 and did the whole thing, Longfields, 6 shooter knuckels with ARP studs, all new bearings, 4X4 Labs high steering with the super lower bearing retainers also with ARP studs. Spring over and Alcan Springs. I found the weak link when the Warn hub blew 1/2 apart. oh yeah it has ARBS front and rear. I did my own cut and turn on the front Birfs, I love the way it drives on the freeway at 80+
 
I did my 77 FJ40 and did the whole thing, Longfields, 6 shooter knuckels with ARP studs, all new bearings, 4X4 Labs high steering with the super lower bearing retainers also with ARP studs. Spring over and Alcan Springs. I found the weak link when the Warn hub blew 1/2 apart. oh yeah it has ARBS front and rear. I did my own cut and turn on the front Birfs, I love the way it drives on the freeway at 80+

Sounds awesome!:cheers:

...any insight on my mysterious donor knuckles?
 

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