Tapping a cast steel steering knuckle

[OverkillYJ]

I have to replace the steering knuckle on my Jeep. I have a high steer bracket (For lack of a better word) I put on a couple of years ago, but I used someone else's tap set to tap for the bolts. That person has all higher end stuff, but I dont want to bother him for them again. Its two 9/16" coarse thread bolts. I have a cheap tap set, but not a set I would consider good enough to do a perfect thread on this since failure is not an option.

So I am looking for a single tap that is high quality but dont want to go crazy, just something good quality for my application. And since I am cutting the old bolt since I welded the heads to the brackets so they couldnt turn loose, should I go to a fine thread?

Any Recommendations?

 

[rockwithjason]

Irwin or greenfeild

 

[csp]

I'm not following this at all.

Are you replacing the knuckle with a new one or trying to re-tap the old knuckle with bolts in it?

High steer arms should be using studs, BTW, not bolts.

 

[Mr.N]

Sounds like your trying to fix a sub par part with a half baked solution

There are a few ways to do high steer right, yours doesn't sound like like one.
You might want to look into a better solution, especially since it looks like you drive you jeep on the street.

 

[HMCFab9]

I've got good taps (& great die grinder bits) from Fastenal.
Also: as the other guy said- use studs, not bolts.

 

[larry_g]

Good taps ~$30. MSC There is also one $18 tap on the list but I would not recommend it. Do you really have a 9/16" thread or is this a 3/8 threaded bolt with a 9/16" wrench sized head?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[motobilt]

Who's bracket it is? Is it the Blue Torch Fab one? Reason I ask is I have first hand knowledge of the bracket. (I founded and previously owned the company)

 

[OverkillYJ]

Funny the responses on here. I haven't looked at this thread in a few weeks.

These is a rocky road high steer kit I have been running and abusing for a couple of years now. They use two 3/8" bolt that you tap and screw into the knuckle. They also use a larger bolt, I think 9/16" through the original tie rod connection. I already installed now, I was just curious about good taps. I bolted it all in and then tack welded the bolt heads to ensure they never turn loose. And of course I used all grade 8 hardware.

This is not a half baked steer kit. This is actually the best high steer you can get for a Dana 30 short of buying a set of 44 knuckles for $600.

 

[383 240z]

High steer on a 30?? Ok. Those are not flat tops. Please don't drive on the roads I do. Keith

 

[csp]

Funny responses?

You gave half the needed info to give a decent answer.

90% of the **** from Rocky Road is half-baked, including this kit. What's "funny" is they don't even show a decent picture of the knuckle on their website. Trying to hide something RR?

 

[383 240z]

High steer on a 30?? Ok. Those are not flat tops. Please don't drive on the roads I do. Keith

I came back in here to remove the post I quoted, however I cant do that and keep a clear mind.

I went out in the shop and looked over a set of YJ, and JK Dana 30 knuckles. They do not have bosses cast into them to support the threads, nor do they have the required flat tops for the high steer arms to mount to.

Having worked in the off-road motorsport industry for several years, I have seen many of these half assed "kits" fail in every conceivable way. Reid Racing are the only 30 knuckles that I've seen that work properly. Also not all Dana 44 knuckles are flat tops.

Here are the boss's I was referring to:

I stole that photo from Mr. N's website. If he is the same as the Mr. N that posted on this thread, I hope you don't mind, and thank you for putting all that info and spec sheets in one place and an easy to read format. Keith

 

[sweetk30]

dam all this **** . . . .

he just needs a real axle enter the dana 60 p.s. std talking on 4x4 forums to add the 60

all kidding aside . steering and brakes are not 1 to be short changed .

you need to be able to steer and stop .

last safety items like seat belts and cages .

I don't care if you push / tow / magic dust power it . . . you need these 3 every time.

 

[Mr.N]

I stole that photo from Mr. N's website. If he is the same as the Mr. N that posted on this thread, I hope you don't mind, and thank you for putting all that info and spec sheets in one place and an easy to read format. Keith

Same one, glad the web page helped. Thanks for the feedback

 

[beakie]

Funny the responses on here. I haven't looked at this thread in a few weeks.

These is a rocky road high steer kit I have been running and abusing for a couple of years now. They use two 3/8" bolt that you tap and screw into the knuckle. They also use a larger bolt, I think 9/16" through the original tie rod connection. I already installed now, I was just curious about good taps. I bolted it all in and then tack welded the bolt heads to ensure they never turn loose. And of course I used all grade 8 hardware.

This is not a half baked steer kit. This is actually the best high steer you can get for a Dana 30 short of buying a set of 44 knuckles for $600.

I had the BTF fab'd ones that motobilt mentioned
they were only for the pass side, but replicating for driver side was easy enough.

if you can, I would go with a fine thread tap.