supahonkey

I can't get my knuckles to rotate! I ground down the weld, hit against the knuckle with a hammer, and broke the weld. I can get the knuckle to slide toward and away from the diff housing with some encouragement from a hammer, but I can't get the knuckle to rotate. My buddy used a big hammer, and I held the axle to the ground with my feet. He hit the side of that knuckle, trying to get it to rotate so many times. I then got out the trusty PB blaster and doused it. I let it penetrate for a five minutes then went at it again with no luck. Any suggestions? Take a look at the pic below to see how I was able to move it in and out a little bit with a lot of hammering! I didn't know it was going to be this hard. My SAS is scheduled for next weekend, and I don't want this to be the limiting factor in getting to done. Thanks.

http://yotataco.com/images/SAS/Novem...4/DSCN0797.JPG
and...
http://yotataco.com/images/SAS/Novem...4/DSCN0804.JPG

WATRD

On mine, we were unable to get the knuckle to rotate on the shaft. We had to take it completely off, rotate it and tap it back on.

It sounds like you are in the same boat.

SloPoke

Hmmmm. We locked the oposite tube in a vise and used a long pry bar through the knuckle mount holes to turn em. Took alot of force but the long pry bar added much needed leverage so our scrawney butts could turn them.

Best of luck!

SloPoke

You make any more progress or are you still stuck?

crash

Remove the knucles, and take some fine emery cloth and polish the housing. They are tight, and a dana 60 is even worse..

RockComa

Why are you turning the knuckles. I know the purpose behind it but when I did my tacoma I didn't have to turn mine. I run 4" lift springs sprung over. I just rotated teh entire housing very very slightly and welded the perches on.

WATRD

If you just turn the housing up and weld on the perches, it throws the caster out of spec. Not a big deal on a trail rig, but it's a major contributor to "death wobble" on rigs that get streeted. Proper caster also helps the steering to self center after a turn.

I rotated mine and I am glad I did. I have no death wobble up to 100 mph and my caster is within the original manufacturers spec for the rig my axle came out of. As an added bonus, my steering snaps back to center better than it did when the truck was IFS.

RockComa

What caster are you running right now. I'm at around just under 1* out plus/minus of what the factroy 44 wag axle is. I've run mine as far as 85mph which is about all my 4cyl will push pulling the 38s and it's fine. I do drive mine on the street sometimes around town and for going to the beach but it is trailered to the trails. Guess I just got lucky seeing as I have no real major deathwobble considering I have yet to install the steering stabilizer. Started out with 37 ounces to balance my tires and it was to much weight and rubbed the calipers so I just took the weights off. You guessed it unbalanced 38s.

WATRD

We rotated the knuckles for 6* of caster, but once all was said and done and everything settled, it looks like it's between 4* and 5* final caster.