Anyone ever have a broken fordkingpin knuckle? (Not another kingpin vs balljoint)

[DesertBen44]

Just was curious if any of you guys rolling around in trucks with kingpin dana 60s have ever had a knuckle break? All my internet wrenching tells me that the ford kingpins had weaker knuckles then the dodge and chevy, and that beefy aftermarket knuckles are $200 and up a piece. Reason I am curious is I recently talked myself into wanting a balljoint dana 60, simply due to the fact that the balljoint is the weak spot, and its not tough or expensive to replace, in fact even moog lifetime warranty joints look to be cheap.

After all that self-convincing, a 86 350 4x4 looks like its dropping itself into my lap, in rough shape, but with that axle I want.

Most of my reading leads me to some SERIOUS offroading sites, and it is said that the knuckles on kjingpins fail all the time. Im hoping none of you will have crazy stories about the knuckles failing while driving down the road getting groceries and whatnot. Im also curious as to if any of you have upgraded your knuckles to beefy aftermarket ones.

I should ad that I have no real life experience with a kingpin dana 60

 

[riotwarrior]

Yes the knuckles on Ford King pins can and do fail, however you can build up a decent axle or purchase after market knuckles and C's if you want...

I'l love a reid racing set of C's and knuckles uh huh!

Good luck with yer build!

Oh and lots of pics please!

 

[laserjock]

For the sake of my build, I would certainly hope a plain old 60 isn't going to fail getting groceries.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Dieselcrawler]

stock height tires or a little bigger is fine. it is when you got 38+inch tires and beat the balls of it. I haven't broke mine yet, but I am going to plate them before it happens.

heres what I mean by plating them. not my pic, just found one on google.

You must be registered for see images

 

[thx997303]

If your purpose is hardcore off road, then you may need to worry. If not, you're not likely to break a knuckle.

Remember that rock crawlers and the like are wedging tires in cracks, running locked front ends, low low gear ratios, usually massive tires, and occasionally giving it all the gas they have. Rock crawling and the various off road sports are NOT the same as normal use.

Though I'm sure some people have managed to break knuckles in regular usage, I highly doubt it's a common occurrence.

 

[freebird01]

you really shouldnt beat your balls off your axle parts.....i wouldnt think that it would feel that great lol

 

[DesertBen44]

Thanks for info all, those reid racing knuckles look nice! damn expensive though!

if dieselcrawlers knuckles have not failed yet that gives me some good confidence, your rig has probably seen a lot more offroading then mine will!

 

[Dieselcrawler]

also with stock form steering, you will be fine it normally is those of us who have highsteer arms. putting all the steering stress into the top of the knuckle.

 

[towcat]

i run a D60 KP on the front of a towtruck. It weighs in every bit of 10k. the truck and the contents inside get beat to death on some seriously rutted fire trails and "light" off-roading off the fire trails. Haven't had a problem with my '86. yet(need to find some real wood to knock on now)

 

[riotwarrior]

I am going to plate them before it happens.

heres what I mean by plating them. not my pic, just found one on google.

You must be registered for see images

Looks like SNOWRACERS build pic IIRC could be maybe not but it's what he did on BC4x4 with his ...

 

[kc0stp]

In regular use its highly unlikely, in hardcore offroading its fairly likely.

 

[SparkandFire]

We had a city truck come in one time with a failed kingpin on a D60, the pin itself had sheared in half. This was the result of an ignorant operator who failed to realize how much steering effort the truck required for months before the failure. The whole assembly was completely dry and rusted to the core.

In my opinion there are two groups out there. -

A) The extreme off road crowd (the picture of the "plated" knuckle comes to mind) These guys almost aren't happy until they break something. It's almost like destructive testing **** to see broke knuckles, driveshafts, t-cases, etc... Then it's off to the fab shop to make improvements on original designs, then try to break it again.

B) The rest of us.

I fit into category "B" - I take my truck down trails, get out into the backcountry in search of campgrounds and fishing spots. Most of the time I am crawling over rocks and ruts. I worked for a company that built communications towers all over the country and we took trucks where they wern't meant to go and we never broke any 4x4 parts (burnt up plenty of E4OD's, and burnt one truck to the ground on account of a failed power steering hose.) Most of our trucks were overloaded OBS F250's and F350's, and even the dana 50 axles held up to the abuse we threw at them.

There is nothing at all wrong with being in the "A" crowd. I read all the main offroad magazines and get a kick out of the big $$$ they put into things. I just think you have to realistically look at what you plan on doing with the truck. For me, my truck is my daily driver. If I break it, I have to drive my wife's Explorer to work then the wife gets pissed at me. Just putting things in context.

 

[NO_SPRK]

You must be registered for see images