Okay... so I got to thinking (my first mistake) and trying to figure out how to get cheap flat-top knuckles for a D44. Sure the 74-76 Chevy and Waggy knuckles aren't super-rare or super-expensive, but I'm a cheap bastard :flipoff2: There are bazillions of driver's side flat-tops with the studs already there on Chevys.


So... Is there any reason you can't run a Chevy driver's side knuckle on both sides?


the only complications I see are: the caliper would be on the front (no big deal, right?), you would have to do high-steer (not crossover) because the steering arm would be on the back on the passenger side, and you would need an arm with the stud pattern reversed for the passenger side.


Are there any other complications? Any differences in the knuckles that I'm not thinking of? They appear to be symetrical on all accounts besides the caliper mounts, steering arm, and the steering arm stud pattern. Do the ball-joints have any sort of angle on them that make them only work on one side?

Go ahead, flame away! I admit that I don't know much about knuckle design; there may very well be some obvious design feature that I'm overlooking that would prevent this from working...

As I started reading your post I thought "this dudes smokin' crack", but as I read on I realised that its probly just good green.

It should work .... I'm not sure I want to do it ....cause I haven't found 'em to be that hard to get yet.... and there are several sources for new ones now.

Eric

Originally posted by urjb
I thought "this dudes smokin' crack"

I get that a lot :D

No, but seriously though, why not? especially if you're making custom arms anyway?

Anyone else?

It would work as long as you don't mind the caliper in front and you make a custom arm for that side.

Why bother, with all the stuff out there for hi steer and the supply of flat top knuckles, just do it right.
Scott

Cool! I'm not crazy :D (maybe)


I think some manufacturers should step up and make arms with a reversed pattern. It wouldn't really cost them any more, and I think many people would be willing to pay a few more dollars on a passenger's side arm in order to save many more dollars on a knuckle, milling, drilling, tapping, and studs.

Originally posted by 1badPOS
Why bother, with all the stuff out there for hi steer and the supply of flat top knuckles, just do it right.
Scott

As stated above:
Originally posted by BrettM
I'm a cheap bastard :flipoff2:

also, if i'm making custom arms anyway, I might as well do it this way. plus, it makes one less different part on my truck, incase I actually wanna carry a spare knuckle:rasta:

My friends (KrazyKrawler) buggy runs with the knuckles swaped from side to side. Both calipers are forward and he runs the tie rod and ram assist behind the axle. Therefore nothing in front to get bashed up.

Now as far as the caliper goes cant you just reuse the pass side caliper braket. I think it should just bolt right on.

Originally posted by rokcrln
Now as far as the caliper goes cant you just reuse the pass side caliper braket. I think it should just bolt right on.

You should be able to, but you will have to run drivers side caliper so the bleeder is on top and the fitting is on the inside.

Now what part of this am I not understanding. Tha caliper BOLTS to the nuckle. The only differance to the nuckle is the tierod mount. The backing plate is the same and will bolt up the same and use the same pass side caliper( pass side backing plate and caliper). What am I missing?

Originally posted by rokcrln
Now what part of this am I not understanding. Tha caliper BOLTS to the nuckle. The only differance to the nuckle is the tierod mount. The backing plate is the same and will bolt up the same and use the same pass side caliper( pass side backing plate and caliper). What am I missing?

If you look at the backing plate from the inside (the axle housing side) The caliper is to the rear of the vehicle at the 2:00 position with the fitting for the brake line in the inside and the bleeder on top. Now, if you imagine rolling the caliper to the 10:00 position, the fitting is still in the same place as it was before, but the bleeder is now on the bottom of the caliper. It will never bleed. By using a drivers side caliper and flipping it around, the fitting will be on the inside and the bleeder will be on top. Newer Ford Super Duty's with rear disc brakes use the same calipers on both sides, one on the front side, the other on the back side.

Originally posted by motorhead72k5


If you look at the backing plate from the inside (the axle housing side) The caliper is to the rear of the vehicle at the 2:00 position with the fitting for the brake line in the inside and the bleeder on top. Now, if you imagine rolling the caliper to the 10:00 position, the fitting is still in the same place as it was before, but the bleeder is now on the bottom of the caliper. It will never bleed. By using a drivers side caliper and flipping it around, the fitting will be on the inside and the bleeder will be on top. Newer Ford Super Duty's with rear disc brakes use the same calipers on both sides, one on the front side, the other on the back side.

But the caliper bracket (backing plate) bolts on. All you have to do is rotate the caliper bracket. You could then just run the passanger side caliper. Chances are the caliper would hit the steering arm on the knuckle and would have to be cut off.

I think you guys are talking about different backing plates. If you are using jeep/chevy stuff the backing plate can be rotated to any position you like since it bolts onto the outside of the spindle. If you are using dodge stuff then you have to run a backwards caliper because the brake bracket bolts onto the knuckle. Ford D44? I don't remember where the bracket is.

Originally posted by Triaged


But the caliper bracket (backing plate) bolts on. All you have to do is rotate the caliper bracket. You could then just run the passanger side caliper. Chances are the caliper would hit the steering arm on the knuckle and would have to be cut off.

Ok, let's try this. Imagine this being a pass side brake assembly. Notice the location of the bleeder screw, on top of the caliper.

Now, if I roll the caliper to the front of the axle, the bleeder is on the bottom. It won't bleed that way.

Now, Imagine this as the stock drivers side brake assembly with the caliper to the rear of the axle. The pass. side brake assembly will look just like it with a drivers side caliper mounted on the front side of the axle..

I've thought of this before, perhaps we were getting our crack from the same source. I don't think the front-mounted caliper will clear the Hysteer arm, look at the double-ended arms made for Dana 44's, you'd have to do something like that, only you'd want the driver's arm to match, so you'd end up with two custom arms, and now you've gone beyone the savings of not havignto mill and drill a passenger knuckle.

Flat-tops are out there, I regularly pick up complete flat-topped Dana 44 axles for $100-$150, I can get the passenger knuckle milled and drilled for $35 and make the arms for $90, then I clean up the knuckles, install new Spicer Ball joints, spindle studs, and steering arm hardware from Parts Mike for around $135, and sell a complete pair of Hysteer knuckles with arms for $400, netting me a Dana 44 axle complete minus knuckles for at the most, $10.

For truly cheap and available flat-tops, I'm looking into designing a custom caliper bracket to allow the use of F-250 flat-tops and Corvette 4 piston calipers with either five or eight lug hubs and rotors and allowing use of 15" rims with up to 4.25" backspacing on even the eight-lug stuff.

Many junkyards don't like to keep the older stuff, so you can pickup pre'76 Chevy and Jeep front axles for dirt cheap, and Dodge stuff seems to be even cheaper in my area. 1/2 tons are super-cheap, 3/4-tons seem to fetch a little more.