I know it's totally 100% explorer related.. but an Explorer with D44/D60 can suffer from some of the same problems.
The knuckles on a toy axle are kingpin style, with an easy modification to go high steer on them. The problem is - as you add bigger tires, and/or hydraulic assist, you start to sheer the top studs off the knuckles. The other problem is as you tighten the studs, they stretch. So you start doing a daily tightening routine, which continues to stretch the studs. Eventually, the studs snap off.
This happened to me on the Rubicon, in July 2004.
The toyota knuckles use 4 studs, but they are 12mm in size (about 1/2"). One possible fix that has been tried is a 5th stud. A 5th stud can be hard to install, and it makes it almost impossible to do any trail fixes, since you have to literally disassembled the whole knuckle to get to the 5th stud. The other problem I always had - the nuts are soft, and non-locking type. I actually have deformed some of the nuts.
D44's with Chevy flat top knuckles are milled for an high steer application use 3 studs, which are 9/16" in size, cone washers, and grade 8 self locking stover nuts.
So, I disassembled the front knuckles, cleaned up the high steer arms, and sent them off Inchworm Gear for drilling, taping, and reaming for using the d44 studs, cone cone washers and nuts.
I got them back last night! you can see the difference between the studs in the 2nd picture - the small, puny ones are the stock Toyota studs.
The knuckles on a toy axle are kingpin style, with an easy modification to go high steer on them. The problem is - as you add bigger tires, and/or hydraulic assist, you start to sheer the top studs off the knuckles. The other problem is as you tighten the studs, they stretch. So you start doing a daily tightening routine, which continues to stretch the studs. Eventually, the studs snap off.
This happened to me on the Rubicon, in July 2004.
The toyota knuckles use 4 studs, but they are 12mm in size (about 1/2"). One possible fix that has been tried is a 5th stud. A 5th stud can be hard to install, and it makes it almost impossible to do any trail fixes, since you have to literally disassembled the whole knuckle to get to the 5th stud. The other problem I always had - the nuts are soft, and non-locking type. I actually have deformed some of the nuts.
D44's with Chevy flat top knuckles are milled for an high steer application use 3 studs, which are 9/16" in size, cone washers, and grade 8 self locking stover nuts.
So, I disassembled the front knuckles, cleaned up the high steer arms, and sent them off Inchworm Gear for drilling, taping, and reaming for using the d44 studs, cone cone washers and nuts.
I got them back last night! you can see the difference between the studs in the 2nd picture - the small, puny ones are the stock Toyota studs.
