Steering arm shim? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
May 17, 2003
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Ok, so this is pretty stupid but Ill be $#%@ed if I can figure it out.

Doing the mini swap and am to the point that Im setting the knuckle preload. Add shims and torque everything to 49 ft lbs, 10 lbs on the fish scale. Remove all shims and torque, 10 lbs on the fish scale.

Havent put the felt seal on yet or applied grease to the knuckle bearings so its not that. What gives?
 
first, you are reading a Haynes Manual for that torque setting....


79 ft-lbs!!!

49 ft-lbs is WAY wrong and will earn you a cracked knuckle....

I'm gonna sticki this for the weekend.....Please, EVERYONE, make note of this and correct your manuals....

PLEASE!!!
 
Appreciate the correction. Certainly not looking to break stuff.

That said, the tighter I torque the nuts, the tighter my knuckle gets, no matter how many shims I have in there. Cant seem to get it to loosen up to 4-5 lbs on the fish scale. What gives? How many shims is too many? Im running out as it is and I havent even touched the other side.
 
did you replace the bearings, or are you using what was in there?

did you happen to use the bearings from the mini with the cruiser races and end up with two different brands and two different seat angles? (Yes, from what I've heard, Koyo and Timkin and others don't all use the same roller/race angles and they do NOT interchange)

I hate to say this...I have not yet bought a fish scale and my last 2-3 front axle reworks were just tossed in....and I've yet to have an issue with the trunions. I am however swapping to mini-knuckles soon and will likely need to actually test them...
 
Replaced the bearings and the races with a matched set. Cant imagine that would be it.

Is it possible to use 6 thick shims on both top and bottom of the knuckle? Seems like a lot but thats where Im headed next (if I can find that many).
 
that doesn't sound right to me.....any more than one thick shim seems like too many....

Are the races fully seated?!? Perhaps a burr in there causing them to stick up too high?
 
The races look fully seated but Ill check them again. The knuckle drawings at Specter show three shims on top and bottom. I didnt think it was right but Im no expert.
 
IIRC, I ended up with .005 on top and bottom. I was told you need to have the exact same amount of shim on the top and bottom for correct placement of the arm.

I do have 3 shims on each side.

How did you seat the bearings?

It sounds like one of the races may not be seated all the way. Even a small gap makes a huge difference.
 
Long story short, gave up on the drivers side and took a swag at the pass side. &nbsp:Drivers side steering arm and shims were gone when I bought my mini axle for swap, so I had nothing to go by there. Put in fresh bearings and races and one thick shim on top and bottom of pass side and it was set. Easy as pie. &nbsp:Decided to redo drivers side. Reset races, put in bearings, and one thick shim top and bottom... poof, problem gone. Thanks for the help.

BTW, any other incorrect torque settings from the Haynes manual that you can pass along? Like I said before, not trying to break stuff.
 
That's the only one I recall offhand.....tho there might be others. That's usually the one that "bites" you the worst since improperly torqued trunions = loose steering arms = stripped studs and/or cracked knuckles.
 

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