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Reid Racing Steering knuckles

moodywizard

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Mine is back again, but I did notice there was .050+ vertical play in the ball joints. Been waiting over a week for Dynatrac to send me the rebuild kit………UPS came today and they sent me everything BUT the heim joints. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Went out today with the wife and the thing drove like crap when we left, felt every pebble in the road and every bump sent it into a wobble. Stopped for lunch, got back in the Jeep and started heading home and the thing drove fantastic, no shimmy whatsoever, smooth over the bumps, absolutely perfect. Literally didn’t do a damn thing other than let it sit on the street for 45 minutes while we ate and started it back up.

7A409F00-0EE5-4C3B-8188-711F112269B4.jpeg
you think rebuilding is the cure? Your symptoms describe exactly what happens to mine. Although I know my tires are fucked as well, slight shimmy at 50 then smooth above etc etc plus they look a little funky from driving a lot of miles with bad alignment. However still have from time to time say thing was you, sometimes drives great then other times all over e road feeling every pebble haha wish me luck on my adventure!

leaving tomorrow for a 7 day trip up to mammoth then Monday have apt at reputable shop to see what they say.
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4xFUN

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Do you know what brand? I JUST ordered a set of SPC sleeves to use when I rebuild the ball joints. I figured mine have been out and torqued quite a few times so I was going to replace them just in case they got wallowed out at some point.


Yes, SPC. I have been in contact with them, measured the sleeve, measured the opening in the knuckle-all within limits...BUT today I discovered the flaw in their design. (At least I am convinced this is the problem and sent them an email) The slit in the camber sleeve in SPC's design (at least mine) is on thin side of the sleeve where the OEM is on the thick side of the sleeve-this makes it near impossible to spread the sleeve (tightening the taper stud on the ball joint should spread it for a tight fit) enough for a tight in the knuckle-you are attempting to spread the thick portion of the sleeve. I did not have my OEM sleeves as I sold the knuckles with my Rubi axle, last week I special ordered the OEM sleeves from Jeep...This morning, after fighting this for weeks, the OEM sleeves easily expanded to a tight fit in my Jeep Mojave iron knuckles.

SPC on left, OEM on right.
Jeep Wrangler JL Reid Racing Steering knuckles IMG_2846.JPG
 

Jeep&dogs

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Yes, SPC. I have been in contact with them, measured the sleeve, measured the opening in the knuckle-all within limits...BUT today I discovered the flaw in their design. (At least I am convinced this is the problem and sent them an email) The slit in the camber sleeve in SPC's design (at least mine) is on thin side of the sleeve where the OEM is on the thick side of the sleeve-this makes it near impossible to spread the sleeve (tightening the taper stud on the ball joint should spread it for a tight fit) enough for a tight in the knuckle-you are attempting to spread the thick portion of the sleeve. I did not have my OEM sleeves as I sold the knuckles with my Rubi axle, last week I special ordered the OEM sleeves from Jeep...This morning, after fighting this for weeks, the OEM sleeves easily expanded to a tight fit in my Jeep Mojave iron knuckles.

SPC on left, OEM on right.
Jeep Wrangler JL Reid Racing Steering knuckles IMG_2846.JPG
24 hours too late! Looks like I might be trying to return these to autozone.
 

Jeep&dogs

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you think rebuilding is the cure? Your symptoms describe exactly what happens to mine. Although I know my tires are fucked as well, slight shimmy at 50 then smooth above etc etc plus they look a little funky from driving a lot of miles with bad alignment. However still have from time to time say thing was you, sometimes drives great then other times all over e road feeling every pebble haha wish me luck on my adventure!

leaving tomorrow for a 7 day trip up to mammoth then Monday have apt at reputable shop to see what they say.
Well I have literally replaced everything on the front end twice, including the tires. The joints definitely have a decent amount of play up and down. I guess we will see in a week or so when I finally get the heims.
 

track.n.trail

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Hey guys. I've been fighting front-end clicking issues when turning the steering wheel for a while now. The Jeep drives well but clicks like crazy when turning the wheel at low speeds (pulling out of my driveway, backing into a parking spot, etc).

I've already got Dynatrac ball joints that are torqued correctly. I noticed that on some ball joint install guides such as the Dana HD joints, they recommend torquing to factory spec, then advancing to the next slot on the castle nut. This could result in WAY more torque than is recommended. I've done this on my lower ball joints and the clicking is nearly gone (which I assume was from somewhat wallowed out holes in my factory knuckles).

My question is - how much torque can these factory knuckles take? Am I playing with fire by torquing them to nearly 100lbft?
 

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mgroeger

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Hey guys. I've been fighting front-end clicking issues when turning the steering wheel for a while now. The Jeep drives well but clicks like crazy when turning the wheel at low speeds (pulling out of my driveway, backing into a parking spot, etc).

I've already got Dynatrac ball joints that are torqued correctly. I noticed that on some ball joint install guides such as the Dana HD joints, they recommend torquing to factory spec, then advancing to the next slot on the castle nut. This could result in WAY more torque than is recommended. I've done this on my lower ball joints and the clicking is nearly gone (which I assume was from somewhat wallowed out holes in my factory knuckles).

My question is - how much torque can these factory knuckles take? Am I playing with fire by torquing them to nearly 100lbft?
I can't give you a number but I can tell you my redneck solution was to literally tighten down the castle nuts until the clicking stopped right there on the spot. They were actually clicking as I tightened them down and when the clicking stopped I stopped at the next slot on the nut.
After that I put around 60k miles on the Jeep with zero problems wheeling the heck out of it.
 

track.n.trail

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I can't give you a number but I can tell you my redneck solution was to literally tighten down the castle nuts until the clicking stopped right there on the spot. They were actually clicking as I tightened them down and when the clicking stopped I stopped at the next slot on the nut.
After that I put around 60k miles on the Jeep with zero problems wheeling the heck out of it.
Thanks! I heard the clicking as I was tightening the castle nuts as well.
 

track.n.trail

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Mine are clicking too, what’s the cause you think?
I believe it is caused by the soft aluminum knuckles "wallowing out", becoming loose, and causing the clicking noise - requiring more torque on the ball joints.
 

OBJLU

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I believe it is caused by the soft aluminum knuckles "wallowing out", becoming loose, and causing the clicking noise - requiring more torque on the ball joints.
Makes sense looks like I’m going with the Reid knuckles then
 

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track.n.trail

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Makes sense looks like I’m going with the Reid knuckles then
Same here, although I'll probably wait until I'm due for an RCV or Dynatrac ball joint rebuild
 

OBJLU

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Same here, although I'll probably wait until I'm due for an RCV or Dynatrac ball joint rebuild
That’s probably the ideal time to do it, that’s a good plan I’ll probably do the same, the clicking isn’t going to cause a failure so it’s an annoyance but I don’t think it’s something to worry about right away, next time I rotate my tires I’ll give the castle nuts on my dynatracs a turn or two.

How are you liking the 38’s?
 

track.n.trail

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That’s probably the ideal time to do it, that’s a good plan I’ll probably do the same, the clicking isn’t going to cause a failure so it’s an annoyance but I don’t think it’s something to worry about right away, next time I rotate my tires I’ll give the castle nuts on my dynatracs a turn or two.

How are you liking the 38’s?
I like them so far, however, I'm still trying to track down an annoying vibration issue. They've been balanced multiple times. Might be time to get them on a roadforce balancer to see if they're out of round of not centered on the beadlocks.
 

track.n.trail

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Does anyone have part numbers for the OEM camber sleeves? Or is OK to reuse your factory sleeves when upgrading to the Reid knuckles? Thanks
 

intentsrig

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Does anyone have part numbers for the OEM camber sleeves? Or is OK to reuse your factory sleeves when upgrading to the Reid knuckles? Thanks
I re used mine both when I installed my front axle, later dynatrac ball joints and finally the reid knuckles.
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