More Birfield bolts sheared help (1 Viewer)

[snowwolfwarrior]

After reading the woes of the studs shearing.loosening off, I checked mine as I did have some grease on the bottom half of the knuckle and suspension arm.
I found one of the front studs sheared off, but was still in the arm, a little pull and it fell out leaving the rest of the stud up in the knuckle, the other front stud was loose, I tried to tighten it up, but it feels like it is pulling out the thread in the knuckle, so stopped doing it up, the two back studs are tight.
As only two have come adrift, would you think that the seal will be ok? and do you think I could get this done without a strip down?
Is it possible to remove the arm that bolts to the knuckle without to much trouble?
Any help on this would be greatly apprieciated, I have only had it a week!

Kind regards Mick from London UK

 

[landtank]

I'd think that the hardest part would be getting the old stud out. I've used left twist drills to do that. They are designed to drill in the oposite direction and is quite usefull in these applications where you want to extract that stud. I'd remove and then replace a stud at a time.

 

[IdahoDoug]

It sounds like the arm was still held tightly up against the knuckle, eh? If so, you've not sustained any internal damage or issues and all you need to do is remove the broken stud and replace it and possibly the loose one. Simply unbolt and drop the arm, then remove the broken stud and the loose one and the two tight ones. Replace them all with new ones of the newer design (Not sure if you need to have access to the inside of the knuckle to install these - the old design you don't).

If it turns out you need to have internal access to put the new style ones in, I'd at least put 4 new ones in until your next knuckle rebuild, when I'd put the new style in.

DougM

 

[snowwolfwarrior]

birfield

Cheers for the info Doug, what would happen if I removed the steering arm that bolts to the knuckle. it's only two rod ends, would I have to support the car or just be able to remove it, it would make it really easy to remove the broken stud as I will probably be able to knock it round oan out with a pointed punch. if I were to just remove the arm would I put stress on any seals, or is it just a steering arm or is it a stress loading arm?

 

[BigR]

Make sure you dont lose the cone washers!

 

[landtank]

how about 1 thread for these questions

 

[Curran]

Snowwolfpuppy,
I just finished doing the operation your talking about on the second steering arm/knuckle.
My recommendation would be to jack (and block) the suspect side up high enough for you to work under. Remove the wheel and then completely remove the steering arm. If your knuckle grease is still good it willl stay in place. If it falls out in a soupy mess then you know something else is goofed up and you need to strip more apart to diagnose the problem. It sounds like your steering arm is still in place. Thus, I wouldn't expect you to have as much of a problem as I had. Getting the steering arm out of the way should also help you get better access to the broken studs.

I found that the studs that had sheared off were lose enough that I could screw them out with a flat tip screwdriver. I used a set of RoboGrips (fancy pliers) to unscrew the others. Again, if the everything else up in there is good, the grease should stay in place when you pull out the old studs.

You won't need to access the inside of the knuckle to install the new studs. The reverse Torx head is on the end that faces the pavement when you get it all put back togather.

Good Luck.



Curran

 

[snowwolfwarrior]

studs

Cheers Curran for the reply, I will be starting the opperation perhaps tomorrow night after work, I will order the studs/nuts/washers on Monday and they will be with me on Wed if they are not in stock.
I had been experiencing a slight judder on braking and had put it down to a warped disc, perhaps this had been causing the judder or perhaps the warped disc is on the side that I have had this trouble with and the juddering has caused the studs to fail, I will keep you all informed on how I get on.

 

[snowwolfwarrior]

torque

Curran...... What torque setting did you use to put the studs back in the knuckle? and did you lock them in with thread lock.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Snow,

There is no structural support - this is just the steering arm connection. So you can simply pull it off and go to work.

While I agree with Curran's suggestion to jack and block it in the event you're going to open things up, I see no reason to expect to go into it - certainly not anything to do with your loose studs. If you have to repack the birf at some point, then you should do that. But if this is not a convenient time, I'd simply replace the studs and continue driving until a planned birfield repack. As a tip, do this work when the truck is as cold as possible (hasn't been driven for a half day or so) to keep the grease from flowing out the stud holes as you replace them one at a time.

DougM

 

[landtank]

There is no structural support - this is just the steering arm connection

The pin that interfaces with the lower trunion bearing is part of these arms, it's these pins that hold everything together. If you intend to pull off the arm you will need to lift and support the vehicle. Removing the tire while giving you better access will also take some of the weight off of the pin and allow you to more easily remove it.