I have an early Bronco with 76/77 knuckles, I like these knuckles because they have the highest mounting point for the tie rod and even higher for a tie rod over, what I don’t like is they take an outward bend limiting back spacing on rims, I want to use these on a full width hi-pin 44 conversion and get about an 1" more of back spacing on my rims.

What I would like to do is approx. 3” back from the tapered hole for the tie rod end heat it up and bend it inwards approx. 1”, what is the general opinion on doing this, I’ve done this while working at a Bronco specific shop on a customers Bronco but I’m not sure about the metallurgic points on this I’m told the knuckles are cast steel not cast iron, will I be creating a weak point where I’m guaranteed to fatigue and break some day, has anyone done anything like this.



http://dynamic-earlybroncos.classicbroncos.com/images/knuckle2.jpg

personally i don't reccomend it, the best solution I can think of is to convert to high mounted steering arms on both knuckles without the bend in em.

I did this on a scout 2 knuckle once and it worked fine. I didn't bend it far, only like 1/2" or so. I don't know if it's technically correct but it did work. Make sure it's good and hot so it doesn't crack. Then if you want piece of mine have a machine shop check for cracks.:)

get some flat top knuckles and go full on hysteer

Originally posted by frankellett
[B]I have an early Bronco with 76/77 knuckles, I like these knuckles because they have the highest mounting point for the tie rod and even higher for a tie rod over,

the 76/77 knuckles actually have a lower mounting location for the tie rod than the older style knuckle. If you want high, go to the scout setup. see below:
http://web3.foxinternet.net/venom9/drivknuck.jpg
http://web3.foxinternet.net/venom9/passknuck.jpg
these came from quinn dusenberry's writeup at http://web3.foxinternet.net/venom9/scoutknuckle.html and also http://www.broncofix.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=291#291

Heres a 76/77 Early Bronco Disk Brake Knuckle.
http://dynamic-earlybroncos.classicbroncos.com/images/77_knuckle.jpg

Heres a Full With Dana 44 Disk Brake Knuckle off of a F-150 or 78/79 Bronco.
http://dynamic-earlybroncos.classicbroncos.com/images/photo38.jpg

Hey frankellett What steering box is that your using? Is there any downside to having the pitman arm facing forward.

This will change your steering angles as well. The ackerman angle will be like that of a longer vehicle.

Yeah I understand about the akerman angle thats one reason I would like the obtain deeper backspacing to get a better scrub-radius.
Also tierod connecting points width varied from drum brake to disk brake knuckle so I don't know how much the ackerman angle really is affected, but I'm sure it will just be something to get used to, plus James Duff sells a knucke exactly like what I want for $500.00 bones a set that I know people that are running and the Ackerman angle isn't drastically changed.

Originally posted by StoopidMonkey
Hey frankellett What steering box is that your using? Is there any downside to having the pitman arm facing forward.

That steering box is a 78/79 Bronco box, but I think Ford used them on a lot of different year 4x4 trucks through the 70ss.
I havn't had any problems with the pitman arm forward, can't think of a downside about it, it's back far enough so I don't really worrie about it, can you think of a down side to it.