Steering Knuckle Housing - Front Left

[pjm-84]

Need to swap mine out. Did the ball joints a few days ago and noted some swarf coming out with one of the M14s. Thought it odd, but it didn't register, and I assumed it was from the ball joint (that needed replacing). Torqued to 50nm fine (Autodoc) but I note the VW requires 90nm + 45 degree, so went to re-torque last night and it stripped about 45degrees beyond 50nm and no where approaching 90nm. Wasn't happy with 50nm and thought this low, hence the check.

No great shakes and I glad I've caught this. Had suspension work undertaken by 3 other garages and the assumption would be it was gunned in previously , maybe missaligned. The others were tight and the other side super tight requiring a bigger power bar to remove.

So with the background over. Does anyone know who supplies VW for this item before I order a replacement from LLL part for a geniune one ?

VW pricing is stupid and LLL want £423 for the knuckle. But it would be annoying to find out its supplied by a third party to VW which I can buy at a cheaper rate.

 

[Perfectos]

Have a word with these ! I would expect them to know what they are talking about given the name

VW Transporter T6 Drivers Side Front Steering Knuckle Hub Carrier 2016-On - SteeringKnuckle.co.uk

steeringknuckle.co.uk

 

[pjm-84]

Hmmmm! Autodoc has a range of manufacturer's from cheap and made in China to more expensive and made in Germany

Trying to work out if an Loctited helicoil insert can take the torque.... just to save the work with taking the hub and knuckle off.

 

[sidepod]

Shouldn’t need Loctite with a helicoil.

 

[pjm-84]

90nm + 45 degrees is tighty. Dont want to go to the trouble and hit 50nm and the helicoil goes pop?

 

[sidepod]

Hang on a mo. Which thread has failed? The M14 is surely the ball joint spigot? The knuckle (can we call it by its proper name, upright?) looks to have two (guessing) M8/13mm tapped holes for the ball joint retention. They are certainly not 90nM etc!

 

[sidepod]

 

[sidepod]

I can see item 22 being 90nm but not item 12.

The ball joint , when inserted into the knuckle housing, is retained in compression and sheer by the casting and vehicle weight . The retention bolts (item 12) only see a very small load by comparison and then only in tension with suspension droop, hence the reason they’re only M8.

 

[pjm-84]

Update.... and for the benefit of others.

Item 12 - These bolts are M12x1.5x30mm long. Found this data on the LLL website. Torque is 90nm + 45 degree which is pretty tight. I called these M14 because this is the bit you need for the head and not the thread size. Too many Ms and I got confused.

Because I wasn't overly confident with the remaining bolts I ordered an V-Coil M12x1.5 kit and some 2x Dia helicoils. (Kit is supplied as standard with1.5xD)

The V-Coil is stainless steel and very strong in comparsion to other on the market. The drill and tap are very good quality and it was easy to insert the 2xd helicoil into the knuckle (2d fitted very well). I added some Loctite 271 and left it for 24hrs. Torqued the other 3x M12 up fine to the 90nm + 45degree so it was only this bolt that was stripped.

Created a little demo piece (large nut) but approx 0.7xd and this took 100nm (which suprised me). It didn't fail I just couldn't hold it anymore.

Torqued up today and all good.

Moral of the story is just because a garage does something doesn't mean it right. I posted about the CC tyres wandering a little prior to this and I'm now wondering if this was related to a slightly loose bottom ball joint?

Ho hum.