Aftermarket, Scrapyard, OEM Knuckles? 2nd Gen Tundra

Hey all,

Both of my outer tie rods rust-welded themselves to their respective knuckles on my 2007 Tundra. Unfortunately, I had to cut the outer tie rod off on both sides in order to get access to the CV axles, needle bearings, etc, and have so far been unable to remove the outer tie rod ball joint from either knuckle. I've tried heating the knuckle with a torch, inductive heater, tried 50/50 acetone and ATF, PB plaster, all while either hitting the side of the knuckle, hitting the ball joint post itself, using a press, a vice, etc (both are STUCK). In order to drive the truck, I purchased some A-Premium knuckles off Amazon as a temporary fix, but the more I drive it, the less I trust the Chinese metal. I've seen and read that the top of the knuckle, where the upper control arm ball joint ties into, is already a stress-prone area, so I wanted to replace those knuckles with the originals (if I can just get those dang ball joints out).

In the event I can't use the originals, I'm wondering what y'all think about:
1. New OEM Knuckles - Cheapest I can find is for $526 EACH ($1,050, gulp) without shipping
2. Buy used knuckles from a junker/donation truck either from a scrapyard or eBay ($60-$120 each)
3. Buy aftermarket knuckles, in which case, looking to see what brands are recommended

For the OEM knuckles, $526 seems like highway robbery to me, even after the massive discount (original is around $800 each). For the used knuckles, the price is more palatable but, not knowing what the knuckles went through, could be a toss up if I get one (or both) that have stress fractures. For the aftermarket, I'm not sure if I'm overthinking the A-Premium since they had great reviews on Amazon, but I also heard that Dorman knuckles are crappy quality. I'm not at the point of springing for Cambren knuckles as overbuilt as they are, though the idea did cross my mind.

Open to anyone and everyone's thoughts on this. Meanwhile, I'll be at it trying to get the originals back in order.

Thanks all!

V/R
Dave

 

Pretty shocked that heat and a press won’t release that tapered stud. Can’t really get rust in thereI would try that approach again, getting the female area nice and hot

 

@lr172 idk what's going on but no matter what I do, these just won't come out. The female area get's red hot but I just have map gas, I'm actually thinking of buying an oxyacetylene torch.

 

If you got it red hot, I wouldn’t go further. Kinda thought these might be cast iron and getting that above the critical temp can make them very brittle. Maybe some research will tellyou if they are cast iron or cast steel. Kinda stumped on this one . Must have been tightened by a real gorilla with a really long breaker bar. Have never heard of that before. Tapered fittings like that are a very tight fit, so corrosion is rarely a problem like it is with bolts

 

OEM knuckles are forged, not cast.

 

Have you tried a pickle fork? They tear up the boots but usually work. It's much easier to do when it's still on the truck. I have one that fits in an air hammer. I also have an OTC ball joint separator (that lots of Chinese companies clone) that's my first choice. If the nut was on the underside I have even (while still on the truck) used a jack to lift up the truck pushing on the treaded end of the ball joint. You need jack stands as once it pops the truck will drop a bit. I've never tried to but I would eve drill it out (assuming it's not hardened steel). Once you drill up to the smaller diameter the remaining steel will not be that strong. You could even use a narrow blade to cut the remaining steel at the angle of the taper.

 

@lr172 maybe not red hot, but I've heated it to over 600 deg F and still nothing. I did worry about ruining the temper and just making it worse, but I'm not sure what else I can do. I've put the 50/50 acetone and ATF on both for days to let it sink in, even tapping the female side to see if that would help - still nothing.

@Vizsla I couldn't find how the knuckles are made, but you could be right. Only issue is the A-Premium that I replaced the OEM with also had the outer tie rods stuck to them, so at this point I'm at a loss!

@Dr_Al I originally tried the OTC ball joint separator and, believe it or not, actually broke the steel pin I put so much pressure on it! I tried the pickle fork, nothing, and decided to just cut the outer tie rod off at that joint. I've never seen anything like it.

So I guess back to the initial question; if I can't get these knuckles to work, do I leave the A-Premium in there? Do I buy a different aftermarket set of knuckles? Do I buy new? Do I scrap yard or eBay these? I can't seem to win with this truck.

 

OEM are forged - 100% fact. This is how I remove them if stuck, don’t know if it will help, sounds like you might of tried something similar already. Loosen nut but don’t remove, use a tie rod/pitman arm puller or 2 jaw gear puller - it will hook onto the bottom flange of the knuckle to tie rod location(carefully - it’s easy to damage the boot with the claws) and the threaded push rod will go on top of the threaded tie rod stud. Loosen the nut enough so it captures the push rod of the puller on top of the stud, but still on the tie rod stud. Apply as much tension as the puller allows and smack the snot out of the knuckle with a heavy hammer where the tie rod stud passes through. Never used heat, but would if needed.

 

Yup did all of that and then some until I was running out of time for the day and decided to just cut the outer tie rod. Now both knuckles are in my workshop, having been soaked in 50/50 acetone and ATF, PB Blaster, etc, did the heating with map gas and all that. I tried the ball joint remover, have clamped them in my vice with spacers so the ball joint could be pressed out, smacked the crap out of them. Nothing. Brother has the bearing press so I might see when he's available to use that, put more force into it. Otherwise, I'll have to drill everything out being careful not to damage the mating areas.

Sounds like everyone's advising I just keep trying to make the original knuckles work, rather than try aftermarket, buy new oem, or buy oem scrapped/eBay.