OK, I got my inner knuckles pressed on and welded to the tube of my Dana 44. I must have been tired or someting because I managed to weld the inner knucles on at slightly different angles from each other. I measured the difference and it seems to be between 1.5 and 2 degrees.

Soooo, do you guys think I should cut it off and reweld it? Will I notice this difference while driving? What is the bad thing that could/would happen with the steering the way it is now? Are there ball joints that I can buy that will take out some of this mis-alignment?

If it makes any difference, I have the caster set at about 6 degrees (for one of the knuckles at least :D).




thanks,

I have measured several used axle housing and found them to have at least that much difference from the OEM. A friend reacently swapd a 60 in for a 44 in a big bronco. When setting up the rad arm ears, he measured the angles of the inner welded knuckle to get a base for setting the angle for the ears... Yup, a several deg difference.. After that I went and measured some housings I had access to.. All had some difference, some as much as 6 deg.

Take it worth what it is worth.. The axle mentioned above, works well in the vehicle.

This is very reasuring to hear.



:)

Originally posted by bronco78
.. All had some difference, some as much as 6 deg.



:eek: Holy crap!!!! :eek:

Originally posted by NE-RokToy


:eek: Holy crap!!!! :eek:

Ya thats what I though when the friend told me about his housing,, Which is why I went and checked a few others.. 2 of the 6 I checked were less than 2 deg off. 1 at just about 6deg. The other 3 were less than 3 deg. And to set the stage... All 6 of the housings were placed in the same jig, same shop, same tool used to measure.. BUT they were not all the same type of housing.... 2 D44, 2 D60, 1 D70, 1 Rockwell

fix it, don't be L A Z Y :flipoff2: just cause the factory fucks up, should U?

the factory didn't fuck it up, they deliberatly have different specs side to side to account for the crown of the road, so it depends on what way yours are off, if its wrong it will want to be on the wrong side of the road.

Originally posted by mytzlflick
the factory didn't fuck it up, they deliberatly have different specs side to side to account for the crown of the road, so it depends on what way yours are off, if its wrong it will want to be on the wrong side of the road.


doh!

:crybaby2:

Originally posted by mytzlflick
the factory didn't fuck it up, they deliberatly have different specs side to side to account for the crown of the road, so it depends on what way yours are off, if its wrong it will want to be on the wrong side of the road.
I don't buy it;) show me in a manual or front end alliment sheet that says caster should be different from one side to the other.....U can't:D

Just do this:
http://www.offroaders.com/info/tech-corner/project-cj7/project-cj7-castor.htm

You can get them thru NAPA for ~19.00!

If you could, I would reweld it.

Though couldn't you run a 2 degree alignment ball joint in the one side?

later :jeep:

Originally posted by Old Scout
Just do this:
http://www.offroaders.com/info/tech-corner/project-cj7/project-cj7-castor.htm

You can get them thru NAPA for ~19.00!

Do they make anything like that for the kingpin Dana 60 front?

Thanks

yeah I can actually, check the body spec book on any newer unibody car, you will find most of them lay one strut back just a tiny bit more than the other, same thing here. do you really think that dana couldn't put the knuckles on straight? they probably have a huge jig to get em lined up. check those axles and I bet you'll find they are all off the same way relative to the road surface.
ok I could be wrong on the 4wd's as I havn't got the spec book in front of me but I have seen this before.

Originally posted by TPIJeep


Do they make anything like that for the kingpin Dana 60 front?

Thanks

I rather doubt it. You'd either have to replace the kingpin itself, or the outer knuckle. There doesn't appear to be anything else that you could replace to achieve the same effect.

I'm sure I have read about caster being different side to side to compensate for road crown. Don't remember which side is supposed to have more.

Originally posted by CJ-Jeeper
I'm sure I have read about caster being different side to side to compensate for road crown. Don't remember which side is supposed to have more.


Well lets see, in the U.S. we would want just a little bit more caster on the passenger's side knuckle. This is my guess, anybody want to confirm or deny this?

If I can figure out which side is "supposed" to have more caster and I happen to have the same thing on my axle then I will leave it be.