Remember that time you bit off more then you could chew

[Bandit_guy]

I did it, knuckle overhaul. I was scared but I looked up info on the web,( check out coolerman's web site it's got a ton of great stuff) read my shop manual 10 times or more and in the end it wasn't so bad. Dirty and greasy but not so bad. Driver side tear down and rebuild with a kit from Four wheel auto one day not major issues. Second passenger side not so good I destroyed one of the studs for the top bearing for the knuckle, trying to remove the infamous cone washers. Most of the washers were easy to take out with a tapered punch wacked into the crack and they popper right out. Two cone washers on one side were stuck to the studs so bad that 4 hours of work were not enough to free them. The end result was that I cut the stud, drilled out the stud to empty the cone washer, pulled the cone washer and pulled what was left of the stud with the knuckle in a vise. Then I had a beer.

So................. it's ready to reassemble and I know that one day I will have to do this job again for what ever reason, so I want to replace the studs nuts with bolts. What is the reason for putting studs with a hex nut in the first place ? I get the reasoning for the cone washers, but they are so much easier to take out when the studs come out with the nut. ( When they are all rusted and gummed up like mine) What info am I missing that would prevent me from replacing these studs with regular bolts of the same grade ? Any opinions or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

 

[green71fj]

i had the same issue that you did all i ended up doing was welding the nuts to the stud so the stud would just come out

 

[dargreg]

DO NOT use bolts use studs there is a reason for useing them.You will destroy the threads in the knuckle a couple hundred miles down the road as they will come loose .To get the wedges out give the steer arm some really good whacks on the side of it by the studs they will come it loosens them up and you can drive a small screwdriver in to spread them.As for the screwed up stud heat it and some parrot nose pliers or weld a nut on it.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I thought replacing the studs on my AA cross member install with bolts was a good idea. Now I have a perpetual leak because I can't keep the bolts tight. Same deal when i replaced a couple of the lower studs in my diff cover with bolts.

As far as I can tell studs have magic Juju that makes them stay tight when bolts get loose. Do not anger the stud gods.

Besides when you start servicing your knuckles on a regular basis instead of every 100K miles or 30 years, whichever comes first, you won't have as much problem getting the cone washers out.

And if you ever do this on another old truck find a very small cold chisel and drive it down into the split in the cone washer from the top. It seems wrong to apply force down when you want them up but it works. Once you break the bond between the stud and washer the normal whack and smack method works great.

 

[FJ40zen]

Just loosen the studs and whack them all straight on with a brass hammer or drift. The cones pop loose easily.

 

[yotaforce1]

good job so far. as i read this i kinda agreed on you guys putting in bolts instead of studs, but rusty's leak made me think that i wouldnt go for it because, the way i see it, toyota wouldve done it if it was just that simple.

good luck on lthe decision making

 

[Bandit_guy]

Well, thanks guys for all the info. The new studs will be in on Monday. As for how to pull out the cone washers I think I tried every technique mentioned. From close inspection when they finally did come out lot's of nut loosener and the tapered punch in the split was what worked best for me, for the ones that did come out.

Thanks again all