BrettM
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- michifornia
I used just a 4.5" angle grinder, a big 'ol sledge, and a MIG. It only took me one cutting wheel and one grinding wheel.
you will have to relocate your coil brackets, I won't get into that, I have leafs.
grind, grind, grind more into the knuckle side of the weld than the tube side. occasionally spray WD40 on it and give it some BIG whacks with the hammer. eventually you will see the hair-line crack between the two, then follow it all the way around making sure you can see it for a full 360 degrees. Now you can either smack the knuckles around, or knock them off and put them back on. I chose to knock them off completely. I then wire-wheeled the tube, packed a bunch of snow in the tube (shrink it) and heated up the knuckle really good with a torch(expand it). I then slid the knuckle on real easily and within 5 minutes it had clamped itself onto the tube as the temperatures equalized. Weld 'er up and you're done.
oh yeah, the angle finder is your best friend. and don't worry TOO much about the angles, many trucks come with up to 2 degrees variation in caster between left and right knuckles. (for road crown, riiiiight
)
you will have to relocate your coil brackets, I won't get into that, I have leafs.
grind, grind, grind more into the knuckle side of the weld than the tube side. occasionally spray WD40 on it and give it some BIG whacks with the hammer. eventually you will see the hair-line crack between the two, then follow it all the way around making sure you can see it for a full 360 degrees. Now you can either smack the knuckles around, or knock them off and put them back on. I chose to knock them off completely. I then wire-wheeled the tube, packed a bunch of snow in the tube (shrink it) and heated up the knuckle really good with a torch(expand it). I then slid the knuckle on real easily and within 5 minutes it had clamped itself onto the tube as the temperatures equalized. Weld 'er up and you're done.
oh yeah, the angle finder is your best friend. and don't worry TOO much about the angles, many trucks come with up to 2 degrees variation in caster between left and right knuckles. (for road crown, riiiiight
)
