Aluminum knuckle failure

[roaniecowpony]

Prices all over are nuts. The Ultimate Dana 44 I bought 6 months ago for $4299 is now $5799. That was a shocker to me when I looked it up the other day,

I've seen indications that tires are creeping up too. I expect we'll see not only the effects of inflation, but also that of worldwide oil commodities trading higher from the Ukraine-Russia war. The thousand dollar tire is coming soon.

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[troverman]

Also, cast aluminum would not hold up to normal driving stresses much less wheeling.

Reviving from the dead. Just wanted to mention most alloy rims are cast aluminum. If an F-350 can pull 20,000lbs on pot-hole laced roads on 10-ply tires with 80psi on them and the cast aluminum rim mounted directly to the wheel bearing, I suppose it can handle "normal driving." It is worth pointing out while single rear wheel F-350 trucks have cast aluminum wheels, the F-350 dually pickups have forged aluminum because of their hiehger weight carrying abilities.

Frankly, I think the aluminum knuckles on the JL / JT's are pretty rugged assemblies. Reducing unsprung weight has a lot of benefits. Many people are not building dedicated trail rigs, and I suspect many of the folks on this thread that commented "saw the MORR video and going to immediately order the REID Racing steel knuckles" are folks that hardly ever wheel, and when they do its probably easy to moderate trails. Stock Jeeps are capable of quite a bit of wheeling.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Reviving from the dead. Just wanted to mention most alloy rims are cast aluminum. If an F-350 can pull 20,000lbs on pot-hole laced roads on 10-ply tires with 80psi on them and the cast aluminum rim mounted directly to the wheel bearing, I suppose it can handle "normal driving." It is worth pointing out while single rear wheel F-350 trucks have cast aluminum wheels, the F-350 dually pickups have forged aluminum because of their hiehger weight carrying abilities.

Frankly, I think the aluminum knuckles on the JL / JT's are pretty rugged assemblies. Reducing unsprung weight has a lot of benefits. Many people are not building dedicated trail rigs, and I suspect many of the folks on this thread that commented "saw the MORR video and going to immediately order the REID Racing steel knuckles" are folks that hardly ever wheel, and when they do its probably easy to moderate trails. Stock Jeeps are capable of quite a bit of wheeling.

While I am not saying that everyone should run out and buy Reid's or Mojave knuckles, I will say there are too many cases posted on this forum alone about the stock knuckles for this not to be an issue. If you are not wheeling, then carry on, but if you are, you will wear out your ball joints and the removal of them can egg/wear the holes OR you will stress and bend them depending on what you are doing.

Comparing aluminum wheels to aluminum knuckles is apples to swordfish. The wheels "self support" themselves since they are complete circle with supports from the center of the hub to the outer part of the rim AND they have a tire to absorb the initial shock from impact. The knuckles do not have that advantage.

 

[AnnDee4444]

While I am not saying that everyone should run out and buy Reid's or Mojave knuckles, I will say there are too many cases posted on this forum alone about the stock knuckles for this not to be an issue. If you are not wheeling, then carry on, but if you are, you will wear out your ball joints and the removal of them can egg/wear the holes OR you will stress and bend them depending on what you are doing.

Comparing aluminum wheels to aluminum knuckles is apples to swordfish. The wheels "self support" themselves since they are complete circle with supports from the center of the hub to the outer part of the rim AND they have a tire to absorb the initial shock from impact. The knuckles do not have that advantage.

Is that why you're @CarbonSteel and not @ForgedAluminim?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Is that why you're @CarbonSteel and not @ForgedAluminim?

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