Copyright © 2002 All International Rights
Reserved. This document may not be copied or published without prior written
permission. Updated: Jan 18, 2007 - Mr.N
A Major update is coming... just give me a few months. I do not except advertising dollars.
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-> What is a flat top knuckle? -> How do I find a flat top knuckle? -> Why do you need a flattop knuckle? Do not try to use a regular non-flat-top knuckle for a high steer arm! They do not have enough surface area in the knuckle to hold a stud in place. To do this is wrong, dead wrong. Additionally, do not weld a custom arm to the knuckle, this is just down right dangerous. There is a reason no flat top knuckle ever came from the factory with a steering arm welded on. -> What type of a flattop knuckle do you need? This article is a collection of knowledge I've gained threw reading Dana/Spicer books, walking salvage yard and information from the internet. I am trying to assemble as much factual data as possible but this might have some mistakes. If you know of corrections please contact me. Just make sure you've 1st hand knowledge and not "web knowledge" from reading it for someone's post on a forum. This article is being written to debunk some common "web knowledge" about the Dana 44 flat top knuckles. |
Dana 44 Chevy / FSJ Flat top Knuckle
and Spindle Chart:
This is the Chart you NEED for the
correct stuff! Match the knuckle, spindle, brake caliper bracket, brake
caliper with the outer axle shaft.
Note, last B.O.M. for J10 may be 603464, Spicer lists both numbers in two different spots.
Flat Top Knuckles, Different types of:
All pictures in this table show
a knuckle from a set of paired flat top knuckles.
 
This is a passengers side Chevy/FSJ style Dana 44 flat top knuckle. This is the perfect knuckle to use high steer arms on, it will bolt up to almost any straight axle ball joint Dana 44. See Chart above for what years to look for, Chevy = 73-76.5. |
Notice the features of a Chevy & Full Size Jeep (Chevy/FSJ) knuckle. This is what you are looking for! The 3 "bosses" above can be found on some other knuckles as well. This is a strong knuckle. |
Full Size Jeeps ran this unique flat top knuckles from 74-76. It's identical to the Chevy knuckle as the part number in the Spicer book is the almost the same with one difference, it's not factory drilled for a steering arm. Thus you'll need to get this knuckle drilled and tapped, read more $. Same brakes as the Chevy. |
Blue points out the extra thick casting section for this knuckle, much thicker compare to other knuckles. Notice red arrow pointing out a protrusion, these traits are only found in Chevy/FSJ knuckles, all have six bolt spindles. |
 Full Size Jeeps This is another picture or the drivers side knuckle, it never came with a steering arm attached. However if your going this route you could mill the top perpendicular to the spindle seat. This would allow you to keep the high steer arm flat. |
Why would you want to machine a flat top knuckle parallel with the spindle surface? To run the above arms. Note only for a regular (non-reverse spiral) housing. Picture from http://colorado4x4.org/er/histeer/ Arms here: http://www.rockstomper.com/catalog/steering/highsteer.htm |
International Harvest Company, IHC flat top knuckles are on 1973.5-75 200 full-size pickup. Notice the internal hub design and drum brakes. IHC run's the only 8 bolt spindle pattern for a flattop, Scout guys are you listing?. |
IHC are on 197?-7? 200 full-size pickup with disk brakes. Notice the external hub design, similar to the HD Ford. |
IHC 1974 pickup truck with flat top knuckles, external design. |
IHC passenger flat top knuckle with external lock-outs are found on 7?-7? full-size pickup. Bad picture but it is a flat top knuckle with disk brakes on a IHC. (Getting BOM) |
Dodge early 70's. This is from a 74 Dodge fulltime 4x4, notice the 35 spline stub shaft. Your stuck running the Dodge knuckles-out parts with this knuckle, nothing will interchange. 74.5-80 |
Dodge early 70's This is a 74 Dodge passenger flat top knuckle, notice the unique Dodge setup. This runs the big unit bearings. I don't know Dodge so don't expect to see too much data on how to use any Dodge parts. |
Dodge late, mid 80's to early 90's Flat top knuckle. |
Dodge late, mid 80's to early 90's. Notice the thin area at the edge of the knuckle where the brakes run. This knuckle has several marginal points, you maybe better finding something else if not running a Dodge. |
Ford Super-Cab: 1/2 ton Super Cabs had a unique flat top, ran from 1977-79. Easy to spot with the 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern and the F250 style steering arm. Note: although some people have used these knuckles I'm no longer recommending using them for use as a Flat top. See Misconceptions below. |
A top view of the 1/2 ton Ford Super-Cab flat top. See Misconceptions below for the passenger side knuckle. |
Ford F250 flat top knuckle ran from 1976-1979. This is from a 1976 axle. This knuckle has the same steering arm bolt pattern as the Chevy knuckles, but uses a different steering arm than the Chevy. |
Ford F250 flat top knuckle: It can be used for a high steer application but only with the stock 3/4 ton brakes and 8 bolt wheel hub. See note below 1/2 ton vs. 3/4 ton knuckles. Notice later axles ran tie rod on top of knuckle. |
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 Chevy Drum on top and disk on bottom flat top knuckles. Blue Arrow shows that a disk brake caliper only fits the Disk brake knuckles, the Drum knuckle will not fit a stock Chevy brakes. Picture from ____ on POR |
 Drum Brake Flat top (1967-1972 Chevy, 67-76 FSJ) will not fit a stock Chevy disk caliper bracket. Red arrow shows a 1/4" gap, Dark Red shows 1 of 2 places the bracket hits the knuckle. C35563 Drum Brake case number. Picture from ____ on POR |
Spindles: Your spindle determines your outer axle shaft! Dana ran A LOT of different length outer axles shaft, not to mention all the different groves cut for the external snap ring. Dana also ran a plethora of spindles. You will find parts that interchange, but my suggestion is to pull the axle shafts from the type of axle you pulled the spindle and knuckle from.
Chevy & FSJ Spindle, smaller for swapping 73-76.5, always with flat top knuckles. See above chart for years. |
Chevy Spindle, large. 1977+ on 1/2 ton Dana 44's. |
| Ford Spindle, 5 bolt disk brakes 76-79. This axles
runs the same size bearing as the Chevy / FSJ axle. need pic.. |
Ford Spindle, 6 bolt found mainly on TTBs axles. Check part number for 78-79 as Dana list two different ones. |
Compares a Chevy / FSJ late style left to a early spindle right. Red arrow shows the easiest way to spot the later style, the large lip. Blue arrow shows the outer spindle bearing area. Green arrow shows the inner spindle bearing, this is larger on the later style, if needed it can be machined down to the early style. |
Ford spindles from a Heavy Duty Dana 44 ran from 69-75, drum brakes. |
High Steer Arms:
*See Warning at bottom of
page*
| So you
want to make your own high steer arms. Here is the information
I've gathered however my recommendation is to just buy a pair.
Unless your looking at make several and selling them it is almost as
cheap to buy them as make them. Below are several companies who
sell them, under the reamers. Reamers: The below reamers can also be used to enlarge a small TRE to a large or to swap the TRE ream to place the tie rod on top of the knuckles. (EB guy's are you reading this?) Making the holes for your Tire Rod Ends (TRE's). As I found out, the degrees are insignificant, you want a 1-1/2" per ft taper, that means it tapers 1-1/2" in 12 inches. It will fit most standard TRE's. It is the depth that makes the large TRE's vs small TRE's.
3965137 GM Part Number 9/16" stud |
| Afco Racing $120 p/n 80770 http://www.afcoracing.com/products/...ProductID=2631 
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Optional Reamer Sources: Stock Car Products $80 p/n R8201 http://www.stockcarproducts.com/ 
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Who Makes high steer arms?
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| Looking for high steer arms for Hummer Rims! Use Hummer rims on your Dana 44 with out running spacers or adding a new center to your hummer rims! |
| Tie Rod: Knuckle to Knuckle
ES2233L Passengers side (reamed hole for TRE) NAPA PN 269-2554 |
Drag Link: Pitman Arm to Knuckle or Tie Rod.
ES2027L for pitman arm (high angle) |
| 7/8-18" on the threaded ends | Pictures to come.... (as if I'm ever done, or for that matter fast ;) |
| Note: the ES2233L & ES2234R have a smaller taper than the ES2027L & ES2234R TRE's, however the Taper angel is the same. Pics to come. |
McMaster p/n 2595A828 or 2595A424
for a 7/8-18 Right
hand 4-flute tap ~$51
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Need Jam Nuts as GM has stopped making them? Try Parts Mike 14026808 left 7/8-18 14026806 right 7/8-18 |
www.Regalcuttingtools.com |
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| Note: Make sure you use 90 weight oil for cutting oil for these taps. Oil is much cheaper than another tap. |
Different types of steering
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Attaching High Steer arms to the knuckle: This
is a must read!
| This text is taken from BillaVista web site Steering page, , this text is verbatim: |
| On Mating surface.
"It's actually pretty critical to have the two mating faces truly flat. This way the clamping force of the bolts or studs is maximized- it's the "friction" between the arm and the face milled into the knuckle that does most of the work.
If you simply rely on the bolts themselves, you're just begging for a failure. On Welding to the knuckle, just don't do it! "Please allow me to explain in simple terms why welding any cast material is bad in terms of strength. When you weld material that is strain hardened, such as virtually any and all formed steel material, the material from the 2 different pieces flow together and meld, with the rod being used as a catalyst, or a helping hand. Now, castings are different. In all castings, be it cast iron or cast steel, there are tiny pockets of air between the individual particles of metal. These air pockets are also present in forged steel during it's formed stage, but they are relieved during the strain hardening process. These air pockets play a big part in the makeup of castings. When you attempt to weld cast material, the air pockets restrict the flow of
molecules, thereby not allowing the two materials to flow together and meld. So the flow is basically one way, from the non-cast part to the cast part. Now, forged material hardens as it cools, and this process is not very critical in most applications, due to the structure of the materials, however with cast, the hardness is reduced as it cools, allowing the casting to become brittle. This fact is true with all cast materials, be it aluminum, steel, or iron. Cast material cannot be heat treated once it is cooled after it leaves it's casting form. Welding to cast material is not a matter of whether or not you've weakened the casting, but rather how much have you weakened the casting, because once cast is welded, it is weaker than it was originally. This is why nobody welds new new arms to the flat top knuckles unless they are uninformed idiots, my friend. Another problem once you've welded to cast, is how much you've weakened the casting. There is really no exact way of knowing, so the part may last a week, a year, or a lifetime, but the fact still remains that it is now weaker than it was. This is why the
professionals machine the surfaces perfectly flat and drill and tap the holes in the knuckles. This is considered to be a critical process, and one that is best handled by a machine shop, or somebody with access to the proper machine tools. There is a reason for everything, my swamp dwelling friend, and once you know the reasons, then you can make an informed decision, and it has been proven that somebody from the state of Florida has made at least one intelligent decision sometime in the past, so I am confident that you can be the second person to make one! I have faith in you, my friend! |
You don't want this to happen to your steering at 55 MPH: Insert picture of broken studs in steering knuckle.
Knuckles Out: This is possible because of the same ball joints most Dana 44 axles use.
Swapping the Knuckles Out for high steer and 5 on 4.5" wheel bolt pattern: Dodge only
Swapping the Knuckles Out for high steer and 6 on 5.5" wheel bolt pattern:
Swapping the Knuckles Out for high steer and 5 on 5.5" wheel bolt pattern: You've Three options
Swapping the Knuckles Out for high steer and 8 on 6.5" wheel bolt pattern: (8 bolts = 3/4 ton style) You've 3 options:
Bearings, this is why you can swap:
Inner and Outer spindles bearing are the same
part number for... as seen in the chart
| Ford 1/2 ton Non flat Tops: The following knuckles were advertised on E-bay
(Item #
2405806595) as "Dana 44 Flat Top Knuckles FORD STYLE"
with a price "Buy It Now for US $110.00" Even going as far
as saying "can drill and tap these". This misleads a
person into believing these are the "flat top knuckles" that they
can use for high steer. This is wrong, dead wrong! You can even see the top is
not flat.
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Ford 1/2 ton Non flat Tops and
why it is a bad decision. Red lines show the thin top section, compared to
the Chevy / FSJ knuckle is less than 1/2 the thickness, not enough for a stud
to hold up properly. Plus material needs to be removed for a clean
flat fit of the high steer arm, this is just asking for disaster. The Yellow area shows a very thin section on the
knuckle.
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Ford knuckles, this shows a 1/2 ton knuckle verse a 3/4 ton knuckle.
The red arrow shows the notch in the 1/2 ton which clears the
caliper. The 3/4 ton does not have this, thus you can not swap Ford 3/4 ton knuckles on a 1/2 ton axle. If
you run the 3/4 ton knuckles you must run the 3/4 ton brakes, rotor and
hub. (Unless you do some custom work, not recommended!) See Ford Super-Cab
knuckle for a solution to this! (Pic wanted) |
 This is an Ford Early Bronco knuckle, machined flat, drilled and tapped. I suggest avoiding doing this to a knuckle, there are plenty of true flat top knuckles in the junk yards. See note on high steer arms attachment. From Steve Meyers page. |
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Ford Early Bronco knuckle Author suggest to avoid this knuckle if your looking at running high steer arms. Can you see enough room for a high steer arm to firmly attach too? I can't. |
This is just Wrong! A second arm was cut and used as a spacer. This will fail in time. Also note he used bolts instead of studs, see notes below on this if you don't know why this is bad. No wonder this truck was in a Junkyard. |
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Aftermarket knuckle. It it rumored this knuckle was made with cheap material and is very prone to cracking then breaking. I've read it's no longer in production. |
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Chevy Non flat Tops: The following knuckles were advertised on E-bay
(Item #
2405893339) as "Dana 44 flat top steering knuckles"
notice "knuckles" is pleural and thus misleading. Look at the picture,
the passenger side is not a flat top, but a novice may not discern this! One
good thing, seller list the year, 79.
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Chevy Non flat top Dana 44 knuckle passengers side, ran from 1977 to 1979 for 1/2 tons and 77-80 for 3/4 tons. Only the 1/2 tons come with the smaller spindle for swapping hubs. The driver side is a flat top knuckle but not recommend for use, you want to keep your flat top knuckles paired up at all times.
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Picture of a Chevy 10 bolt axle. This axle has a driver side flat top knuckle with a steering arm. However No10 bolt axle ever came with a passenger side flat top knuckle! Since you want to keep knuckle paired together avoid this axle. It a Camber, Caster, Ackerman angle, scrub radius thing, Mr. N says "Just keep your knuckles paired up." |
Chevy Dana 44 knuckles, flat top vs. non flat top. Picture from BillaVista great steering article. |
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Dana never made a passenger side knuckle that was drilled and tapped from the factory. This is a general misconception that the above knuckle disproves. They are very rare but they are out there, so keep your eyes open. So far I only know of one other knuckle other then the one I found. Stamped # RC38618 |
 Drum brake flat top knuckle, notice the off-set spindle bolt holes. These knuckle can not fit stock Chevy Disk brake calipers or brackets. Knuckles were on E-bay # 2478873138 for $200 buy now, I sure feel sorry for the buyer who tries to use these, unless they run Drums.
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 Picture showing a pair of Factory drilled and tapped knuckles on a Dana 44 front. Pic from 4Blanger on POR. |
This one got me. I was not careful
enough to spot this, thanks to Spawn X from POR for the picture of a pair
of 77.5-79 Ford SuperCab knuckle. The passenger side looks like a regular
F150 knuckle of the same era but "The 'thingy' where the tie rod
mounts to is about inch and a half-2 inches TALLER than my F150 knuckes"
Spawn_X. I'm no longer recommending these for use
until I find a passenger side true flat top. (Hint Dedenbear now makes a custom set to solve this)
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#1 Wheel Mounting Surface to Wheel Mounting Surface |
| 59.5" EB Dana 44 1972-77 | 6? 4.5* F250 Dana 44 1977.7-79 | |
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Other Web pages with good steering info:
The fulltime stuff has a large machined boss that locates the outer race of the wheel-bearing, and a big-assed bearing retainer that bolts to the knuckle (through a 1" hole in the hub/rotor) with six 12-point 3/8x24 bolts. There is no spindle on the fulltime setup. Since those have caliper brackets they're early 80's to early '90s- ish. Now they still made "fulltime" in that period but they used drive slugs; the dedicated fulltime '70s knuckles are TOTALLY different except for the balljoints, they will fit onto most standard 44's however. - Lloyd POR
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Viability is now down to 18 weeks! www.mccl.org
If you do nothing else,
preserve life. This is a Pro-Life
web page.
Funny how pro choice is really
only one choice. That "choice" is murder.
Have a question and didn't find me at the link above? Find me at www.Pirate4x4.com Ford forum or http://www.jeepaholics.com , user name on All forums is Mr.N
Proud to be a Practicing Catholic!
Click on Picture to follow.
Don't believe in God? Don't worry, He believes in
you.
Warning! These pages are for information only. If you want to modify your vehicle or steering take you vehicle to a qualified shop and let them do the work. If done improperly you could not only loose your life you many take others with you! This page is Pro-Life, including saving others and your own life, not to mention the un-born children.
Copyright © 2002 All International Rights Reserved. This document may not be copied or published in anyway without prior written permission.
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