Would you weld on or bend your stock steering components?

[khaledster]

that how i made my double steer arm almost 8yrs ago heres some picks and info i have saved from the internet .

some info and how too's i found on the net .about spring over double steering arms .
here's how to make your own ....
.
To make the double arm, you need two passenger side knuckle arms.
Take one arm and saw off the two cylinderical parts (the part that goes into the knuckle).
This will be the top half of the arm assembly. I used a bandsaw to cut it.
The next step is to clamp the cut arm into a milling machine and mill off
the remainder of the cylinder until flush with the flat surface (this can be done with a hand held grinder).
Now flip over the arm and mill the top side of the arm until flat (see picture) A steady hand and a lot of patience,
and this might be able to be accomplished with a hand held grinder. Next
drill out the four holes to a 1 inch diameter.
This should allow enough room for the socket which is used to tighten the knuckle arm nuts.


Now take the second knuckle arm and mill (possible grind)
the top surface to match the other arm (see picture above).
With both arms all machined, clamp the top sides of the two arms together,
aligning them by the four holes (not critical, align by eyeball).
Now weld the arms together by welding all the way around the two mating surfaces.
Next cut a triangle out of at least ¼" plate (I use ½" plate) to fit between the two arms.
Weld the triangular brace into place.

my kinda way of doing stuff with a cruiser i'm gonna let a capable welder tig weld them for me..... well written

 

[vk7ybi]

I've got a scheme to try fitting a pair of calipers to each knuckle for more stopping power with 40 inch boggers on the winding roads to the trailhead. That'll require welding to the knuckle. Just haven't tried it yet.


Mark...

Old thread, but couldn't this be done with some TG 6 stud swivel housings?

 

[tlc_4play]

When I fitted the FJ60 power steering to my 40
I cut and welded a FJ60 relay rod onto the FJ40 steering relay rod
No issues to date

 

[shelfboy1]

there have been many articles in car mags on how to weld steering parts safely.last year in ro and custom there was one on how to make a pitman arm .i have run welded components on my 40s for many years with no problems.

 

[morrison]

Me too. I've built pitman arms from scratch, welded relay rods, steering shafts, tie rods. I think mine is all stronger than stock. But if you turn someone loose on it with a $99 W***mart wire welder that gets no penetration, you might be better steering clear. (ha ha)

 

[Texican]

I've got a scheme to try fitting a pair of calipers to each knuckle for more stopping power with 40 inch boggers on the winding roads to the trailhead. That'll require welding to the knuckle. Just haven't tried it yet.


Mark...

Get ya a pair of six shooters, they have the mounting tabs on both ends

 

[71-CRUISER]

Marks post was from before the 6 shooters existed...... This is a seriously old thread.

 

[Texican]

Marks post was from before the 6 shooters existed...... This is a seriously old thread.

Oh......I have cut and spliced lots of drag links, GM on one end Toyota on the other, and have bent one set of arms up and welded gussets for a redneck hi steer on a trailer only trail rig....never had a failure, my spliced drag links are angle cut, drilled with a solid rod inside, the drilled holes are then welded into the rod....then ground smooth.

 

[justbecause]

bent my relay rod, welded a piece of 1" angle to it, worked good as a temp for several months now i have an all new set up thats gettin ginstalled sunday!! (fingers crossed...)

 

[69LC]

I have a pair of 80 knuckles that seem to be oval at the face where the spindle bolts on. It's not by much, but they bent during a front right collision that bent the right radius arm, bent the front housing and twisted the steering box sector shaft off.

My guess is that if the knuckles were iron they would have broken instead of slightly bending.

I'm not using the knuckles. The truck was a 92 parts truck my son and I scavenged parts from.

It made me wonder if good knuckles could have extra bosses welded to the top for two extra thread bosses to be added for high steer arms with 4 inline studs.

 

[69LC]

I just realized how long of a thread revival I just did...

I'm bored TDY in Guam...

 

[Vossie]

I just realized how long of a thread revival I just did...

I'm bored TDY in Guam...

lol well, its always relevant stuff here on MUD.

as has been said already here, welding done by a pro is a go, bending or sloppy welding is a no

 

[GHalll]

When I fitted the FJ60 power steering to my 40
I cut and welded a FJ60 relay rod onto the FJ40 steering relay rod
No issues to date

I may be crazy but with that steering stabilizer, wouldn't the spring make it easy to turn the wheels one way and difficult to turn the other? Perhaps a matching sabilizer to mirror that one would be the way to go?

 

[Weber Sarge]

Best way to identify cast iron versus cast steel is light it up with a welder . Just a quick , short burst to produce a small ball , then get off it quickly . Let it cool a few seconds , now try taking a file to it . If it's cast steel - it will file relatively easy and the file will cut - even a cheap one . If it's cast iron , the extra carbon content and some other materials will make it severely harden - a file will not touch it and if you bear down hard you may groove the teeth on the file .

I don't trust the grind/spark test on cast iron - depending upon who made it the stuff can vary wildly and recycled steel in it can fool you easily.

Sarge

 

[Steamer]

I made high steer arms out of stock arms by cutting them in half, rotating 180, angling up and re-welding. 10 or more years ago. No problems. Trail only though.

 

[pbgbottle]

Bump an old thread for fun but did anybody ever try any welding on the knuckles ?

 

[Pin_Head]

No, but I have drilled them and they drill like cast iron too. No long chips; just little pieces of grit. Large steel castings are difficult to make because of the shrinkage of steel compared to cast iron. They are “investment” cast. The technology wasn’t readily available until the late 80s. Do the weld test. Just a tiny blob of weld metal will mix with cast iron and cool rapidly and make “white iron”, aka iron carbide and Martensite that is not machinable and will dull a file like Sarge said in 2016. It would be very surprising if they were cast steel.