shopping cart wheels?! knuckle studs again! WTF!!

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

PGH854runner

PGH854runner

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Threads
131
Messages
698
Location
Pittsburgh,PA
Ok i broke 3 out of 4 knuckle studs yesterday.....AGAIN!!!

First time i broke 2 off the bottom....maybe i was high centered on those rocks a lil bit too much

Then after i installed hi-steer(trailgear) i sheared 2 of 4 from the top driver side.....maybe i didnt torque them enough when i put the hi steer arms on....

So i got the good studs(grade 8 i think..the ones with a 9mm head on them)....red locktite,torque wrench,etc

Yesterday after coming thru a nasty rock garden i turned right but watched my drivers wheel shopping cart thru some minor rocks

WTF!! i only run 33x13.5's,open front,5 inch lift

am i doomed to deal with this forever?!?!

or should i convince the wife that SHE needs six shooter knuckles for christmas
 
Crazy. I have been running my '85 axle under a heavy second gen with front locker, 35" swampers and an overweight chevy v6 and have never broken a knuckle stud. Lots of front axles before going chromoly, but no knuckle studs. And yes, I wheel the s*** out of my rig.

Most people on here seem to stay away from trail gear stuff, I tend to stick with marlin if I can. I would definetely try this route before I spent all that money on six shooter knuckles:

Front Range Off-Road Fabrication


Or you can try the longfeildsuperaxles.com trick of adding the "fifth bolt" to your high steer arms. although a lot of folks say its a bad thing to weld to your cast high steer arms, I think if it's OK with Bobby Long, It's OK with me.
 
Not necessarily a fix, but two things immediately come to mind here.

Flex from the steering box and frame, is the frame plated additionally to stop the flex, I would assume so since you added the SAS.

But, here's the key part, if you relocated your steering box when you plated the frame, did you also relocate and insure the steering pitman stop was also relocated? The one that stops the pitman arm from going too far?

Flex at the steering arms might be the issue because there are no limit stops left on the frame at all. It's one thing to go ahead and knife off the right idler arm stop because you no longer have a need for it with high steer, but if the driver's side one isn't there, or it has become bent or pushed around too much it will not necessarily stop the steering box at the necessary limit and then allows excessive force transmitted out through the steering because it has now gone from a push to a point, push to a point situation and now is forcefully tugging on the system. If you have decent steering linkages and ends, it will sometimes cause enough flex in the steering arms to fatigue the knuckle bolts.

It may not happen immediately, but it is something I've seen happen within just 4 months of taking anywhere from 3-9 trips. Add in the stress into the system as you're turning the wheel into an off-camber section to take a line and something will give if you're turned to full lock, which in most of our cases, when we take certain spots we either do for a short time, or more often than not, hold at lock until the section is cleared.

Just an experienced thing I saw, not necessarily the problem with yours, but worth looking into, worst case I'm way off base, best case it'll solve some of this for you.

Here's the part where I remember all the fun of fixing my '83 p/u and why it's cheaper to have an expedition, light(er) trail vehicle instead. ;) I do miss it sometimes though.. :lol:
 
Last edited:
*Also, hold a straight gauge to the top of the knuckles where the arms attach lately to see if there's any tolerance issue b/c of the first time and second time issues? If it isn't dead square, even with a shim, it would cause some deflection to a degree that would also eventually cause stress to different points, if I read all that right, you've broken the bolts more than once in the same place..

and yeah, convince the wife you "Need" the 6 shooters, so you make it home from the next trip before Christmas morning, she might just get them for you as a Thanksgiving present. :D
 
Last edited:
you def set off a bell in my head because i dont have any pitman arm stops,and my truck turns tighter in one direction than it does in the other.......



so im thinking when it is on the side where i turn tighter the box can still exert leverage even though the knuckle is on its stop on the axle housing....hmmm

hope i made sense...i think

I need to seriously recheck my hi-steer setup and make sure i am centered......then get some new knuckle studs.....and retorque them often......the 6shooters are a hard sell to me because i got so many stock straight axle parts
 
When I did my high steer I broke one stud on the trail. When I discoverd it I noticed all the nuts was loose.

I think lock-tight is in order and a re-torque after a few miles.

I am going with 6 shooters to insure this does not happen again. I am sure my trunioun bearings are shot now.
 
make sure that every thing is very clean when you put it together.
I have been lucky, no problems so far.

I like to use brake cleaner on the treads for the lock tight into the knuckles.
I don't use lock tight on the nuts.

also make sure that your cross over is not binding up.
that is the pitman arm or cross over hitting the main tie rod.
 
Yep, they break when they're loose. Mine used to loosen up after each half day in the rocks. Come to find out my lock washers were flat as a board, no spring left. I went and bought new metric lock washers and it solved my problem all through Moab.

HOWEVER, I day at Rausch and I felt a little looseness at my wheels, sure enough, all eight were loose. The studs are fine it's the nuts that loosen. Now I just torque them before and after each run.
 
i have been running an 85 front on my Trekker with 35's and a locker for 7 years and have yet to breaka stud. i also have been running my 1985 4runner with 35x14.50's and a spool in the front and have never broken anything and i wheel the h*** out of it.
that is a very concerning issue i would check the knuckles to make sure that they are not loose at all. also make sure that they are shimmed right so that hey do not bind when you are steering.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom