Steering Failure
- Chalkie
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Three of the four studs attaching the steering arm to the top of knuckle had sheered and the fourth was bent but useable as it turned out. Probably a progressive failure.
The ends of the studs inside the threaded hole were removed using a scriber as a punch. Two and a half hours work.
One of the sheered studs still had maybe 10 mm of thread. The nylon bushing for the king pin was in two pieces.
Reinserted the bent stud. The one with the small amount of thread was reversed. Found the mounting bolts for my solar panels would fit although only about 10 mm of thread taken up.
Managed to put it all back together and all worked. Made sure I dogged all bumps and got home safely.
317 will be in sick bay for a while I reckon.
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- Paul Scherek
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- Chalkie
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- PeteFox
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Comparison with standard knuckle
As fitted
Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- Chalkie
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- Outback Jack
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- Tony Lee
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Tony
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- PeteFox
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TonyTony Lee wrote: What has the steering knuckle itself got to do with the failure of the four studs - or are the studs somehow beefed up as well.
On the beefed up one the arms are keyed to the knuckle so there is no side load on the bolts, they only provide the clamping force.
Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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It was manoeuvring in our driveway at the time.
Ours was number 16 of these that Paul has supplied.
The RH is not under the same stress as the LH.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214
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- PeteFox
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Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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Paul is certainly of the view that it is an inherent weakness in the part design. The replacement is radically different.
Broken top removed and crud cleaned up.
The bottom of the stud hole is clearly visible.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214
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- PeteFox
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This is why I changed mine over. 400k km and most of it spent on corrugated roads, they (knuckles) just worried me. I've got a pair of stub axles to go on as well for the same reason.
Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- dandjcr
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I guess that would put your failure about here:
Give that the top of the knuckle is more about stabilising/turning the wheel, logically I would have thought the lower end was more at risk as it transfers the wheel weight and shock load to the axle:
Either way, another inspection is now due. I had my knuckles overhauled last year while chasing wheel wobble, I should have investigated upgraded knuckles when the exchange rate was favourable.
David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
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- PeteFox
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Outback Jack wrote:
PeteFox wrote: This is the beefed up steering knuckle set that is fitted to 266
Pete
Is that Paul Knott supplied one?
Yes
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- PeteFox
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Peter_n_Margaret wrote: It looks to me as if the crack started at the end of the rear offside cap bolt.
Cheers,
Peter
Yes Peter and it also looks to me like the crack has been developing for a long time as there is grease nearly all along the failure except r at the LH end where there is fresh metal. And you'd never spot it without the front wheel removed and then I guess you'd have to be looking for it.
I'm guessing that you did a fair bit of driving with a couple of square cm of metal holding the front of your truck together!
Lottery ticket time
Pete
Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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The replacement part is branded ENDUROCO.dandjcr wrote: I should have investigated upgraded knuckles when the exchange rate was favourable.
enduroco.com/ in Melbourne.
The black top cap that is engraved is aluminium, by the way.....
Paul said that many of the these parts he has supplied were for OKA busses.
They pull up alongside a kerb to let off or pick up passengers and then try to do a U turn. The kerb stops the wheel turning and the LH knuckle breaks.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers, Peter.
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- Chalkie
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- John and Bronwyn
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Someone I know (not on this forum) uses an Oka XT as a work truck, serial not known.
For some time he had noticed a gradual creep in front end alignment. Recently he was horrified to find that the LH steering knuckle had a large crack, originating at the top near where the steering arm attaches. The crack had obviously started quite some time ago. Fortunately it had not progressed to complete failure.
He was able to source an upgraded replacement from Paul N.
Mine (191) had the upgrade when I got it.
From the previous posts on this topic and from elsewhere it sounds as though knuckle failure is not exactly unknown. Also, Michael Hession reported on steering arm failure quite a while ago.
If you have the original knuckle, it would be a good idea to keep a close eye on it. Might be time to think about the upgrade?
John
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