5th stud knuckle

Last time out I ended up cracking the knuckle right around the studs. I knew that the 5 stud setup seems to work for most people. There is no way that I am going to spend more money on this axle since I plan on building a 609 this winter so this looked like a good cheap upgrade for me.

I know that Bobby Long makes a kit for this but being th e cheap a__ that I am I looked at it and decided that I could make my own. I was looking at using different size metal for this but decided to call up Bobby and see what he uses. He uses .375" and bends it onn a machine, but I have a vice and a torch with a BFH so that worked for me, I bent the flat bar to just under 90 degrees. I ground down to make a flat spot on the knuckle to bolt down the 3/8x2" ex flat bar lol. mounted up the the high steer arm and tacked the 3/8" bar in place.

I then drilled a half inch hole down through the flat bar and the knuckle, tapered the hole for a allen headed tapered bolt. Welded the nut on the back side to hold it in place. I also remember reading that Bobby would weld the knuckle studs in place also. So while I was in there I tacked them in place also. Oh yeh the bolt I ended up using was much shorter then the one shown, it ended up being flush with the end of the nut.

I then welded the flat bar to the high steer arm, and reinstalled and retorqued everything back down. Buttened up the front end and called it a day:cheer: . Hopefully I will not have to get back into this daam thing for a while now, at least untill I get ready to pull it out and step up my front axle this winter. Oh and yes everything was torqued to specs on the front knuckle studs to #120 as per Brian at FROR for ARP studs. This is a much cheaper choice then the other options out thereuke: , and it was actually pretty daam easy. stan..

Nicely done.

Crash has a similar setup posted on one of his builds in the Garage area. I might see if I can find his posts, and edit it together with yours and put it into the "how to" area.

TreeClimber

edit - there probably is an easier way for me to have edit'd that from Mike's other post over to here, but I didn't want to 'cut' them out of that other thread either. So give credit to Mike. Those ain't my posts - they're his posts.

Cut & Pasted from Crash's build "Secret Squirrel"

Ok the time has finally come to make the thing fully rollable so I can do a few more rigs. So I removed the front housing and finaished cleaning it up and threw it back under the rig. One thing I wanted to so was go ahead and do the 5th stud modification to the steering arm/knuckle.

Here you can see the area thats best suited for the 5th stud.



There is casting flashing on the knuckle that has to be removed and make somewhat of a flat platform. The area also just below where the arm sits has a slight radius to it. So I like to remove that area (There is plenty of material down in the knucle so you won't compromize the strength of the knuckle).



So then you want to go ahead and set the knuckle bearing preload (15 inch pounds) so that you have the arm height set that way. So once that was done I started to make the tabs.

More Cut & Paste

So I went ahead and tacked the tab to the steering arm and drilled my pilot hole and then removed the tab and fully drilled the holes. For this one I am using 1/2" bolts. I have heard of people tapping the knuckle but its only a tad over 1/4" thick and IMO not thick enough to tap and be able to rely on it...



Here you can see the area you are trying to nail. Its a purfect cubby hole for the bolt head to sit in...





The only problem with the cubby hole is the edges are kinda round. So I went and used my die grinder bits to cut the roundness down so the bolt head sits pretty flush to the knuckle...

Almost done

So you ask how do you keep the head of the bolt from rotaing while you are trying to tighten it? Here is how you fix that.



As you can see you will also need to grind a flat edge on the bolt head to clear the inner bell on the housing.

Done

Now that was done---was time to fully weld the tabs to the arms.



And here it is fully bolted up..... :;



Also here is a view of the bolt head with the knucle on the housing. There is "just" enough room to pop it into place :;

TreeClimber said:

Now that was done---was time to fully weld the tabs to the arms.

And here it is fully bolted up..... :;

Also here is a view of the bolt head with the knucle on the housing. There is "just" enough room to pop it into place :;

Click to expand...

I went with the bolt on top way so that there would be no extra binding if the 5th stud was not exactly lined up with the other studs. Bobby says that happens quite a bit. Oy yeh and Crashes yah suck lol:fawkdancesmiley: youre write up is much better detailed then mine :awesomework: :cheer: .

no excuses said:

I went with the bolt on top way so that there would be no extra binding if the 5th stud was not exactly lined up with the other studs. Bobby says that happens quite a bit. Oy yeh and Crashes yah suck lol:fawkdancesmiley: youre write up is much better detailed then mine :awesomework: :cheer: .

Click to expand...

Do me a favor and finish your pics and text. I'd like to edit this into the "how to" section, as you've done a great write up so far. Thanks!

Pretty much done, this should give people a good idea of whats involved to do this. Its not that tough and just make sure that you are carefull when you drill youre holes and before you weld the tab to the high steer arms make sure that the arms are down flush on the knuckle. stan

I just got the Bobby Longs,,,,,,,,,gunna try them out this weekend.alot cheaper than the six stud units from Al-Pro:awesomework:

iceman said:

I just got the Bobby Longs,,,,,,,,,gunna try them out this weekend.alot cheaper than the six stud units from Al-Pro:awesomework:

Click to expand...

the six studs are from tg not all pro, and yes a lot cheaper lol. I think that I have about $0 into mine. Just some scrap that I had laying around and a few hours time.

Would another option be just tapping the 5th hole instead if running a nut?

Nice work too. :beer:

section525 said:

Would another option be just tapping the 5th hole instead if running a nut?

Nice work too.

Click to expand...

TreeClimber said:

(Quote is actually from Crash) I have heard of people tapping the knuckle but its only a tad over 1/4" thick and IMO not thick enough to tap and be able to rely on it...



Here you can see the area you are trying to nail. Its a purfect cubby hole for the bolt head to sit in...

Click to expand...

TreeClimber said:

Click to expand...

I always received A's in recess and C-'s in reading.

I did the fifth stud on mine and haven't had any problems with them comming loose.

Its like I keep telling those idiots over on PIRATE-- the 5th stud will cure 80% of steering failures--the other 20% need to throw the tow front away because they are just pushing the housing beyond its limits.

crash said:

Its like I keep telling those idiots over on PIRATE-- the 5th stud will cure 80% of steering failures--the other 20% need to throw the tow front away because they are just pushing the housing beyond its limits.

Click to expand...

I hope it does, I would tourque mine before every trip and they would always loosen up, hopefully this takes care of that for a while..