# Knuckle



## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I broke another knuckle. Same one _that broke the last time. This one was brand new and has less than 5 hours on it. _**** IT MAN!!! The first one I understood why it broke. This one broke with for no reason what so ever. Are they that weak? (YES) When I get a new one I have an idea to beef it up. I will take pixs and post. I bet it will not happen again!!! I work in a TV repair shop and have an ultimate set of tools.:burnout:


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## drtj (May 3, 2009)

What u do to break it? Post some pics


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

drtyTshrt said:


> I broke another knuckle. Same one _that broke the last time. This one was brand new and has less than 5 hours on it. _**** IT MAN!!! The first one I understood why it broke. This one broke with for no reason what so ever. Are they that weak? (YES) When I get a new one I have an idea to beef it up. I will take pixs and post. I bet it will not happen again!!! I work in a TV repair shop and have an ultimate set of tools.:burnout:


Which knuckle? wouldn't by chance be the left rear, and the lower a-arm mount.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

Right rear same as b4 and I just climbed a hill as far as I can tell. Nothing extreme. I bet it will not happen again when I got done with it this time. I am going to fix the broke one and beef up the new one. Just wait and see.


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

drtyTshrt said:


> Right rear same as b4 and I just climbed a hill as far as I can tell. Nothing extreme. I bet it will not happen again when I got done with it this time. I am going to fix the broke one and beef up the new one. Just wait and see.


I know of several people that are having problems with breaking the left side...many times...with no aparent reason. You are the first on the right side, so I am sure we all would be interested to see how you will repair this and make it better.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I was searching for a knuckle and ran across and interesting post,what are your opinions?
The post was about attaching straps to the upper and lower A arms to keep them from seperating or "pulling" the Knuckle apart. I get the picture in my head of kinda like the monster trucks have the straps to keep the suspension from traveling to much.

And if I am not mistaken DrillersGoDeeper was mentioned in the post. It was an older post from HL and I think he helped this guy get back to the truck or something.

Anyhow when I get my new knuckle I am going to fill in the "milled'out spaces on the part with some of this Hi Tec aircraft stuff I got out here at work to more or less make the part solid. This stuff is a two part liquid filler that we use in hi pressure areas.It sets up and is hard and when I say hard I mean it.

I was just wondering about the straps if anyone has seen this or heard about it.


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## Masher (Jan 16, 2009)

I broke my rear left when I hit paydirt at the end of a hole and came shooting out of it like the Duke brothers jumping a creek. I haven't had any trouble since that. Mark Wise has some that are supposed to be unbreakable. He had em machined.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

yeah I am thinking about having some machined also.I thought I might be able to do that myself but I that was 10 Silver Bullets thinking instead.


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## phreebsd (Dec 16, 2004)

have you guys seen the replacement knuckles built by sstav i think it was?


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## Masher (Jan 16, 2009)

Shoot Mark a PM he can get em for you I think he sai 300 for them. Don't hold me to it but I think that's what he quoted me.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I am gonna do my filler mod first and then report the findings.LOL This is some really high density stuff,and I think it is gonna bond really well to the pours in the cast knuckles. Just think of JB Weld on steroids with volume.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I welded and filled my broken knuckle. Who thinks it will hold up?
Both side are welded and filled I just did not post those pics.


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## 09BruteIRS (Jan 31, 2010)

It looks good but i guess only time will tell, i think it should hold up.


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## wood butcher (May 11, 2009)

u would be better off if u weld some plate to the sides where the indentions are. did u do the welding or have a shop do it?


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

Nice work. Good luck. Let us know how it works out.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

wood butcher said:


> u would be better off if u weld some plate to the sides where the indentions are. did u do the welding or have a shop do it?


 I do not think plates would be any stronger than what I have. Along with the extra heat involved with the extra welding I would still have voids in the knuckle. The filler I used is high density material used in pressure applications seperating atmospheric pressure from cabin pressure. I am betting it will hold.


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## 2ltl2lt (Jul 12, 2009)

Get in touch with Bob a http://therockmfg.com/. Hes got some billet ones hes been workin on. I talked to him a while back about making me some then I sold the Brute. I know hes got the part programed and designed just not sure if he ever cut any.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I have the knuckle installed and have been over the same area where it broke and it is still in one piece. I made a ball out of some of this filler and bounced it twenty five feet in the air from a concrete floor. I could have bounced it harder if I was outside. This stuff showed no signs of chipping,cracking, not even any indentations, still a prefect ball.. I am going to do my other knuckle and have some more broken ones on the way. I have a few more ideas about re enforcment but my filler material will diffently be in everyone of them.


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## 05fcpbrute (Oct 5, 2009)

i have not broken a knockle yet! (3000 miles) but mine have play in them where the steel sleaves go threw for the a-arms to bolt up. i bought a irs rebuild kit from moose,installed new sleaves and they were to long! cut off a hair with hack saw. then put em in perfect! tightend em up a lil but not enough for $100 bucks per side!! now mine have a lota play in em so i'm takeing off knockles and mikeing em and haveing machine shop costume make me two sets!! also i installed greese fittings top and bottom!! problem is you dont pu steel sleaves in alum.knockles!! thanks kawi!!!!!!!!!!!


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## outskirtsdweller (Jul 6, 2009)

phreebsd said:


> have you guys seen the replacement knuckles built by sstav i think it was?


Well, right rear knucke cratered on me today...Was just playing round the house and it went kapow when I hit the gas for the last wheelie that particular knuckle had in it!!..Got 2003 miles out of it. I looked on ssatv and website is having probs right now. Any choices out there other than another stock knuckle?


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## bshattuck87 (Oct 2, 2009)

Hey drtytshrt, where do you ride around here in Savannah?

Brenton


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

I live in Pooler and we still have woods out here. LOL theye are decreasing rapidly though. I have a buddy that lives in Liberty county that has access to couple thousand acres we ride there allot. I go to the Canoochee creek rides when they have them, the next one is on March 4,5,6,. Effingham county friends there have places to ride. we are going to try and ride this week end for a bit but i do not know where yet.


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## bshattuck87 (Oct 2, 2009)

I used to live in Richmond Hill and we used to just hop on te RR tracks and drive to Liberty County. During the summer I would ride just about every other weekend out at the Lakes on 204. But since they've closed that off, I don't really have any other places to ride. Are you friends with Joe Gill?

Brenton


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

Thru a thrid party. The guy I ride with rides with him but i HAVE NOT MET HIM YET. i BOUGHT TWO AXLES from him but just left the money at his shed and picked up the axles.


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## outskirtsdweller (Jul 6, 2009)

outskirtsdweller said:


> Well, right rear knucke cratered on me today...Was just playing round the house and it went kapow when I hit the gas for the last wheelie that particular knuckle had in it!!..Got 2003 miles out of it. I looked on ssatv and website is having probs right now. Any choices out there other than another stock knuckle?


 
A fix to hopefully mimimize the chances for future knuckle failure. 3/16 flat bar (1/8" would probably be enuff) to tuffin things up a bit.


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## Masher (Jan 16, 2009)

Nice.


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

Yeah I like that idea as well.


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

Yeah...I like the idea too. Should help. Nice work!


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## outskirtsdweller (Jul 6, 2009)

outskirtsdweller said:


> A fix to hopefully mimimize the chances for future knuckle failure. 3/16 flat bar (1/8" would probably be enuff) to tuffin things up a bit.


I need to also mention that this was not a direct bolt up and go (what fun would that be!)..I had to cut a very slite notch in the front and back side of both the upper and lower a-arms so that the flat bar would fit flush. You can see the notch in the pics if you look close. The little slivers of metal on the floor in the second pic are what I removed. Also gotta have a nylon type washer between the knuckle and the flat bar (4 washers per side) so things still articulate ok.


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## outskirtsdweller (Jul 6, 2009)

outskirtsdweller said:


> A fix to hopefully mimimize the chances for future knuckle failure. 3/16 flat bar (1/8" would probably be enuff) to tuffin things up a bit.


The knuckle story continues.....The support straps I made are working out just fine, buuutttt....A friend and riding buddy of mine King'sBrute (he's a noobie on here) and me were talking bout the cheezy cast knuckles on the brutes....I had ordered a couple of oem replacement knuckles at about 120 bucks a piece to replace my my broken one. He knows a fab guy real well and I gave one of my oem knuckles to him to see what he could come up with.....Well, to say the least, I was very impressed with the 1st prototype. Its made of commercial heat treated 4140 steel and is one helluva heavy duty knuckle. The dang thing weights just under 5 pounds compared to the stock crappy cast knucke which comes in well under 1 pound. I have installed the bushings, sleeves, and the bearing and will get it on my brute for testing. check out the pics.....the one on the right is 'knucklezilla'.....Im thinking this would be the last knuckle you would ever need!!......


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

NICE!! Now the question is...is he willing to mass-build these and sell them. I would be one of the first in line!!


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## BadBadBrute (Mar 25, 2010)

outskirtsdweller said:


> The knuckle story continues.....The support straps I made are working out just fine, buuutttt....A friend and riding buddy of mine King'sBrute (he's a noobie on here) and me were talking bout the cheezy cast knuckles on the brutes....I had ordered a couple of oem replacement knuckles at about 120 bucks a piece to replace my my broken one. He knows a fab guy real well and I gave one of my oem knuckles to him to see what he could come up with.....Well, to say the least, I was very impressed with the 1st prototype. Its made of commercial heat treated 4140 steel and is one helluva heavy duty knuckle. The dang thing weights just under 5 pounds compared to the stock crappy cast knucke which comes in well under 1 pound. I have installed the bushings, sleeves, and the bearing and will get it on my brute for testing. check out the pics.....the one on the right is 'knucklezilla'.....Im thinking this would be the last knuckle you would ever need!!......


What did he charge you to fab those up? Me gonna get some of those made.


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## King's Brute (Mar 30, 2010)

That is the plan once the prototype designs are perfected and finalized.. We are going to add grease inserts to the next one .. .


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## King's Brute (Mar 30, 2010)

We are still working on design and programming for the machining right now... Once that is complete we can start looking at cost of material and machine time and come up with cost... Hope to have something ready for production and cost put together in a month or less and decide if cost associated with making is feasible to produce to sell


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## drtyTshrt (May 27, 2009)

That is very cool. The steel is heavy Duty but I bet they could be made out of 7075 T6 billet aluminium and be strong and light at the same time. I cut me some .160 titanium straps to install on mine like you did I just have not installed them yet. The high density filler I put in the voids has held up to some pretty rough terrian for now.


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## King's Brute (Mar 30, 2010)

the billet would be lighter but not sure on the strength...not going to brake the 4140 and weight is not going to effect anything on the back wheel area that i can think of .. 
and of course i can get the 4140 9" stock pretty reasonable...just going to have to pay up front for the programming ...then it is just machinist time..i dont think you would ever need to buy another knuckle after these were on


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## Butch (Aug 29, 2009)

any news on making theses knuckles? How are the staps working? I broke my second one yesterday. It is tough getting the brute out of the woods when this happens. Whats the theory on what is stressing these to failure?


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## ARMSTRONGARMS (Dec 2, 2010)

Weight is always a issue, some relief cuts could be put in like the oem ones, just not as big, or maybe even a few lightening holes??? I havent broke one yet but am curious to see price and results from these.


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## chromejunks (Dec 29, 2009)

would be interested in a set as well. espiecally if yall can get the price under $600. you can get billet ones from muzzy under their teryx parts for $595.00


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## Mall Crawler (Jan 13, 2009)

chromejunks said:


> Whats the theory on what is stressing these to failure?


In my case and the OP's case it is the offset wheels and/or spacers the factory knuckles were just no made to handle the stress of the wheels and tires being offset that much. If you run IRS wheels and no spacers the problem would not be as prevalent.


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