LocostUSA.com

hello,

this isn't for my locost project, it's for a my daily driver subaru wrx, but this board is full of people that don't throw money around if it isn't necessary so i figured i would ask. the subaru forums i frequent recommend buying a new knuckle, and it comes up fairly often... it is almost impossible to remove the ball joint from the knuckle on these cars... there is a bolt that holds the ball joint in place (you can see where it would go in the picture, near where i circled) and if you live where it snows, it'll probably break. once you get the remains out, the actual act of removing the ball joint is also extremely difficult. well getting to the point, my knuckle started to develop a small crack in the process, do you think it would be alright to just weld it, or should i buy a replacement?
the circle is the area where it is cracked and the green line is about how big the crack is.. around a half inch

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street car? buy a new one. get in a wreck even if its not your fault and it'll "become" your fault faster than you can blink.

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"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

Yep, replace it. In Alberta the first thing the tell you in welding school is you never weld steering parts on anything that goes on the road. Farm tractors etc are ok but stay away from anything that goes on public hiways. The risk is too high. If anything went wrong and somebody was killed or hurt you would be wondering why you didn't just spend the couple hundred buck for a new one.

I'd replace it.
And in a general note, whenever I know that I need to do something with a car that involves the disassembly of parts that aren't likely to come apart easy, I tend to spray them with penetrating oil _days_ in advance and multiple times before I get around to do the job.
It works wonders on almost anything.

Moti

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Moti

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I work quite a bit with castings at work and I would recommend replacing it. If it's steel, the correct procedure to repair it would be to excavate the entire crack using magnetic particle, dye penetrant and ultrasonic testing; weld repair it under controlled ambient conditions, filling in the original hole; remachine the bolt hole and stress relieve it locally. Even then, the integrity and longevity of the repair can't be guaranteed.

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Steve

alright cool, thanks for all of your input. just to cover my butt and in my defense, i did spray it with pb blaster, and didn't think i'd have a problem getting it apart... my VWs and all the american stuff i've worked on all had ball joints that bolted to the control arm or you could at least see the top of the ball joint to press out, and the shank went into the knuckle and came apart with a pickle fork...oh well, too late now.. at least i have a heads up for next time..


my next question though... should i buy a new knuckle, the bearing, seals, and assemble it myself for $255 (plus the cost of a press ~$80 at HF or ~$20 for local shop to do it, bringing total to ~275-335), or buy a used knuckle and hub, already assembled with a new bearing, and seals, for $240 from a shop that specializes in mazda and subaru parts and service, and checks the cores they use?

i always like excuses to buy tools, but recently got laid-off so my tool savings fund is still being saved for a welder...

thanks again for the help...

_________________
TV and Beer! What could be better?
http://weregonnahaveatvparty.blogspot.com/

oh and i forgot, the used one is priced to ship.. the new one is estimated at least $26 to ship, bringing that to ~301-361

_________________
TV and Beer! What could be better?
http://weregonnahaveatvparty.blogspot.com/

i went with the used.. and i think i'm going to sell this car..

_________________
TV and Beer! What could be better?
http://weregonnahaveatvparty.blogspot.com/

Just a silly question. I assume that everyone fabbing their a-arms and uprights on this forum are using them on the road, right? Or did I miss something about self-fabbed suspension/steering being for track use only?

Tom...

Welding cast metal is a lot more difficult than welding CRS, and while CRS can be decently welded by an amateur, I would leave repairing cast items to a professional.

Yeah, what he said.

Its a little bit weird, you can go to Canadian Tire buy a 110volt mig and build a car or trailer from scratch with material from where ever you can find it and put it on the road. No inspections what so ever (at least on a trailer) but weld a knuckle or pitman arm and you are in big trouble.

I guess there have been no major accidents caused by home made vehicles. Once there is you will probably see the laws change.