D60 knuckle clearancing

[JayH]

I've got a pair of Dodge knuckles on my hybrid that are too small to pass the yoke from my Dutchman inner shafts through. IOW, I have to take the knuckles off the kingpin before I can remove or install shafts.

Has anyone clearanced the ID on a knuckle for this purpose? It doesn't look like it'll take that much meat or even in all that critical a spot for strength considerations but I'd like any input before I do it anyway. Thanks.

 

[Binder]

Doesn't the spindle have a flange that fits inside the hole to align things? What happens when that hole is bigger?

 

[NotMatt]

I've got a pair of Dodge knuckles on my hybrid that are too small to pass the yoke from my Dutchman inner shafts through. IOW, I have to take the knuckles off the kingpin before I can remove or install shafts.

Has anyone clearanced the ID on a knuckle for this purpose? It doesn't look like it'll take that much meat or even in all that critical a spot for strength considerations but I'd like any input before I do it anyway. Thanks.

This is pretty common with aftermarket shafts. I would use your best judgement for clearancing it, if it's not too much to take out, I would go for it. It will make it much easier to pull the shafts later if you need to.

I recall a certain incident with an aftermarket D44 stub shaft that broke on Trailtoy here on the board, that took the entire group we were wheeling with a couple hours to get fixed, simply because there just wasn't enough room to get the stub out. Granted, that was partly due to the ears being a little tweaked from the breakage I believe, but it would make for a shitty day no matter what the reason was if you couldn't get that shaft out easily and needed to.

 

[JayH]

Doesn't the spindle have a flange that fits inside the hole to align things? What happens when that hole is bigger?

The spindle and knuckle are concentric, but It looks like I could clearance a 1/16 - 1/8 for about fifteen - twenty degrees or so in two spots. That still leaves over 300 degrees of the circle where the spindle and knuckle will still mate, and of course the bolts. But thanks for that reminder Binder. It would suck to remove so much material that the spindle wasn't centered anymore

 

[JayH]

This is pretty common with aftermarket shafts. I would use your best judgement for clearancing it, if it's not too much to take out, I would go for it. It will make it much easier to pull the shafts later if you need to.

Thanks NotMatt.

 

[JayH]

What about clearancing the ears on the inner yoke? If the aftermarket Dutchmans are larger than stock, I'd still have the same amount of material as stock so I should be OK, no? Decisions, decisions...

 

[benw1]

Yes, just put the shaft in a lathe and skim the ears down until they fit.

 

[Digger 5]

Yes, just put the shaft in a lathe and skim the ears down until they fit.

I'm not crazy about taking any meat off the axle shafts. I think you'd be much better off clearancing the bore.

 

[benw1]

You are not taking off much, and it will still be bigger than a stock shaft.

 

[darius]

DONT GRIND THE SPINDLE HOLE!!! I do this with every front end I put together, just sand all the edges of the yokes, it doesn't take much. I assure you that is not going to become the weak spot, you will still break shaft's in at the carrier, .

 

[jeepmauler]

DONT GRIND THE SPINDLE HOLE!!! I do this with every front end I put together, just sand all the edges of the yokes, it doesn't take much. I assure you that is not going to become the weak spot, you will still break shaft's in at the carrier, .

Fab god is rite.......Knock the edges of the ears off till they slide through.Have had to it with stock spicer shafts as well as my Yukon cromo's

 

[JayH]

Thanks guys. That's exactly what I did. :awesomework: