Aluminum parts on 2018 Rubicon JL

[Oakey]

The great thing about the Jeep parts industry is that if some problem does rear its head, the vendors usually respond very quickly, if not already having something on the market. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone come up with a steel sleeve for those holes.

Only 10k on these knuckles and you can already see them egg shaping on the top and compressing on the btm in the castle nut area. This set had the ball joint castle nut retorq 3 times in those 10k miles.

2019 JLR , 37', 3.5 lift, 3.5"bs rims.

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[roaniecowpony]

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future. For our children.

You win the Miss America title!

 

[roaniecowpony]

You also have to consider the volume when deciding on use. A chunk of aluminum is going to be close to 2 1/2 times larger in size than the same weight of a ferrous iron material counterpart (titanium being the exception).

It is all dependent on the alloy content. I can assure you that a piece of 1050 or 5005 aluminum is going to be much weaker than the same volume or mass of the weakest irons.

I'm confident that the OEM aluminum knuckles are being used as a way to save weight with a sacrifice in strength. Think aluminum steering box as an example.

Manufacturers are using every weight saving option available due to meet current EPA demands. The aftermarket is filling in the void to offer stronger components for hard use off road.

I'll take another look, but I believe our aluminum knuckles are forged, and I'd bet they aren't anything like 1050 or 5005 alloy. More likely a 6000 series, as opposed to something like a 2000 or 7000 series, which is more costly. Auto makers are cheap. 6000 series is cheap, strong, good corrosion resistance, ok fatique properties.

My thought is that if you're going to use aluminum in a steering knuckle, make the contact areas for the tapers larger, as well as the balljoint holes or just bush them with inserts.

 

[roaniecowpony]

The JL reminds me of the "weight savings program" we'd seem to do after a new plane design. Once the first plane is made, it typically comes in over the predicted design weight. Then we'd start lightening things or getting rid of them altogether. Same process on every new airplane program. There was a torque tube that had arms on it that went from the captain's side to the first officer's side rudder pedals. The weight saving program changed it to magnesium. Many years later, they were failing and were replaced with aluminum (heavier than mag). There are many more stories like that. We lightened them initially, then when in service, we'd begin to beef up things when failures started showing up, resulting in the weight of an airplane (fleet) continuing to increase over its life.

JL owners are changing out aluminum parts with cast iron or adding a lot of steel skids, etc..

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