... sort of.

I'm sure by now you are all aware that I bent a stock knuckle back in March, if you're not read this thread first, it will get you up to speed.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ad.php?t=82721

Anyway, back to the story.

To fix the problem and prevent it from happening again I picked up another set of knuckles. Had them sand blasted to clean off the years of grime (they are off an 01-05 ish truck (not sure what year exactly, it was a fire victim), then set off to work building gussets for them.

As you can see I boxed in the 'neck' of the knuckle, where the previous one bent. I did this with 3/16" steel plate, and fully TIG welded it. I also added gussets to the bottom of the knuckle around the lower ball joint (not pictured).

You may also have noticed that I changed the steering. I decided since I was working on it anyway I would give heims a shot on the outer in an effort to eliminate the pesky stock outer tie rod ends. To do this and get around the tapered hole I drilled it out to 5/8" and then TIG welded a chromoly weld on reinforcement washer to to the top and bottom. Along with adding a double sheer tab to the top. The heims are 3/4" FK JMX series heims and the tie rods are 1 1/2" .120 DOM.

Note: I'm sure somebody will mention it so I'll just say it first. No, you are not supposed to weld to cast steel. Cast steel is brittle and welding to it makes it worse (in some cases). Thus why I TIG welded the gussets to the knuckle. I've had much much better success with TIG welding to cast than MIG welding to cast. Also, since all I did was reinforcing and not actually adding any load bearing parts I am not worried about being cast steel.

Without further ado... pics!

 

damn looks good and a lot stronger

 

wow...

 

I wish i had done that to mine before i bent my pass side. problem is that mine are superlift so a JY is not gonna be of much help. looks good, and the heim seems like a good idea.

 

any pics with the 35's on it?

 

Nothing good... it's only left my driveway once since I got them and that was to drive to work one day. I'll have better this weekend. Let me see what I can dig up though...

 

damn. wow.

 

yet another wow, when should i drop my truck off to get some work and new tires???

 

Yeah, you can weld to cast steel, but as already, said, it's very brittle. Great work!

TIG is the only way to go man... Minimize warpage, really good pen., only thing about it, is it takes awhile... But the time you spend in it makes it all worth while!

 

and you need to have a steady *** hand to tig lol

 

Yup sure do! I do it everyday, even when you're shaking, you get used to it if you do it alot lol

 

I have no idea how to weld to cast but I've heard it's a pain. Nice work, looks stout.

 

It's a Dixion kit originally right? I like your additions, but I'm amazed that the upper ball joint wasn't the weak link in the mishap. Good luck on the new mods.

 

It's still a Dixon kit, the only part that I've changed is the tie rod.

I'm surprised about the ball joint to be honest too. Hitting the rock just proved how strong they actually are. I would have figured the tire and or wheel would have gone too before the knuckle, but whatever...

 

Nice Jason! Looks like that heim is about maxed!

I like the double shear you have now!

 

Yup, I'm using all I can of it!