Hello FrankZ, I'm not making any specific recommendations just a few observations for you to consider. It is likely that you would have to go through some rather cumbersome testing to determine exactly what these knuckles are made out of and whether they are heat-treated or anything else. So to be on the safe side I would make some suggestions: warm the parts up prior to doing the welding (hot enough so that you can't hold onto them with your bare hands), try to limit the heat that you are putting into them while you are welding (but don't cool them with any external means), skip around with your welding and between the two parts while doing the welding and finally don't allow them to be quenched after the welding is done (it would be better to pack them in some sort of heat retention material and let them cool slowly (lime powder works really well for this or some sort of fire brick cover or something similar). The reason that I have suggested this method, is that the results should yield a softer more pliable finished part that would be more likely to bend or misform instead of fracturing or breaking if it is going to fail. After you have done this welding and put the parts back into service keep a close eye on them to make sure that they are staying in tact. As I stated initially, these are suggestions and certainly not necessarily the way to actually approach this repair. Safey is of the utmost when you are making repairs or modifications to any suspension or steering components. Good luck and I hope you receive some additional suggestions for this endeavor. Regards, aevald
Hello Frank;
I wish I had seen this thread earlier!
"I didn't know him for long, but he was a great fella that used to enjoy welding and cars. Some people used to say he was a "gear-head" of sorts. The investigators said the fatal accident was caused by a failed steering knuckle."
Messing around with steering gear is not something I recommend unless you are entering the machine into a "crash em and bash em" derby. You don't know the alloy of the steel or the condition of heat treatment. Talk about throwing the dice! The choice of welding processes is almost a guarantee of problems to come.
Best regards - Al
Hi Frank, I hope you didn't get the wrong Idea about putting a round bar in the hole and welding it in from the farm code thread!
That is no way to repair any hole!
A steering knuckle can't cost enough to put yours and every other driver on the road in jeopardy!
and if you still go through with it, I wouldn't weld a slug in, better to fill the hole with weld metal before re-drilling!
Edit: I wish i would have seen the date first, lol the farm code didnt exist on the original posts date!