Aluminum knuckle failure

[grimmjeeper]

I thought the diesels had the same cast iron knuckles as the gladiators. Was that updated somewhere mid stream or am I mistaken?

My 2021 diesel has aluminum knuckles. I'm already planning the upgrade to steel along with HD ball joints.

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[jaymz]

Looks like it would have been faster, and certainly cheaper to replace the knuckle
on-site.

 

[Nailgun]

Do the Mopar steel knuckles have a part number yet?

 

[grimmjeeper]

Do the Mopar steel knuckles have a part number yet?

They do. But Reid racing steel knuckles are just a little bit cheaper.

 

[TxJeepers]

The old Man states he was having wheelhop

And he said he didn’t have it locked.

 

[TxJeepers]

They do. But Reid racing steel knuckles are just a little bit cheaper.

And can be had quicker was my experience

 

[TxJeepers]

Do the Mopar steel knuckles have a part number yet?

Do a little searching in here for Mojave knuckles. The part numbers are in that thread.

 

[Aonar]

I linked this starting where they talk about steering issues. It is the #5 (out of the top 10) issue as per this shop in Moab. Throughout the video they talk about how wheel hop, etc can cause a lot of damage.

 

[Maverick909]

Failure on the knuckle was driver error and part error. He was not locked up and was hopping the front axle when it snapped. He is new to wheeling and said it in the morr video. It is a weak point if you axle hopping. Believe it’s on 37’s too.

 

[BUSHRVN]

I had to go see for myself and sure enough... Bummer. What about the C deal on the axle side? It looks darker on the diesel than the gas one.
Diesel

Gas

Both on the axle side are steel/cast steel.

 

[old mike]

Because of the weight of steel knuckles, there have been a number of efforts, in addition to Jeep diesels and other models, to switch to aluminum knuckles and a number of them have turned out to be problematic.

Dynatrac originally switched to aluminum for the 1550 knuckles on their XD60s and had to recall them and switch back to steel knuckles. I've heard rumors that it's a temporary switch until Dynatrac has the time to post-pandemic re-engineer them back to aluminum, again to save weight; but, I'm not hearing that all that many folks are eager to go back to aluminum and I'm told that Dynatrac's replacement steel knuckles are holding up just fine.

Given the unpleasant inconvenience and potentially dangerous consequences of a knuckle failure, especially in rough country far from frequently traveled roads, I'm not convinced the weight savings of aluminum knuckles is worth the risk. It's not like it's a race and a few pounds are going to cost you crucial seconds at some finish line.

 

[Rangemaster]

My 2021 diesel has aluminum knuckles. I'm already planning the upgrade to steel along with HD ball joints.

Me too, been collecting all the mods for month now. These knuckles from Ried are next.

 

[58Willys]

That recovery wagon towing the trailer is one awesome piece of work.

 

[blkout50]

My 2022 diesel rubi has aluminum knuckles.
I believe only the XR and 392 gets the steel knuckles, maybe the 4XE too, not sure.

My 4xe Rubicon has aluminum knuckles also.

I haven’t been able to verify, but I read somewhere that 4xe Rubicon’s have the same wide track axles as the Gladiator Rubicon.

After watching Matt’s offroad recovery video a few days ago I will swap out to cast steel knuckles. I don’t wheel too hard, but hard enough to worry about the aluminum knuckles. Especially since the 4xe is a heavy pig (6400 GVW).

 

[bjm00se]

Yeah, that was a pretty amazing and catastrophic breakage. And I enjoyed watching the recovery video. Owner seemed like a good sport, too. (Though now that he's seen how hard and expensive it is to recover a Jeep out of a tough spot, he may take a little more caution in the future.)

We didn't get to see video of what went into it, just description: "unlocked, it was hopping."

And that's a pretty explosive breakage. I might guess that the hop was pretty severe and the wheelspeed fairly extreme. But, we don't know.

The Jeep hasn't been built yet that can't be broken by poor technique. And I can't afford to upgrade everything single part that's ever been shown broken in a youtube video... probably just the tie rod/drag link and call it a day.

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