Did a bad, bad thing. Steering knuckle

[jrsavoie]

Late last night I was working on replacing the lower ball joint on the 96 Suburban.
I never got my ordered fork yet so I was just going to use the pitman arm puller like I did on the Tahoe.
I couldn't get it on because it was hanging up on the rubber boot. So I got my sawzall out to cut the rubber out of the way. It worked quite well.
The only problem is that I got into the Steering knuckle about 5/16" on the out side to nothing on the inside.
What kind of metal are these knuckles made of?
Can I/should I weld it? Or should I buy a different knuckle?
If so what rod should I use? I have 7018, 8018, 9018 & 110/18. I also have some nickle, stainless & Super Misslie.
Are these just plain cast steel and easily welded or is this a heat treat type project?

 

[guybb3]

Jr, are your ball joints pressed in (I'm assuming yes)?

 

[jrsavoie]

Yep. They are pressed in.

 

[btfarm]

Jeff, that's probably forged or stamped steel. I kinda doubt if it's cast. One way to find out is by taking a course file to an insignificant area with a clean sheet of paper to catch the filings. If they are grey balls/curled chips and it's real easy to cut, then it's cast and you should use cast rod. If it's steel, you can't go wrong with tacking a plug of stainless on that. You really didn't cut much so I don't see a big stress riser there. Tack it and you should be good.

 

[diesel65]

I would just take a carbide burr and radius the hole a bit bigger on that side. Its not going to weaken it.
You making to much work to seperate the ball joint, take a 24-36 oz ball-pein hammer and smack the inside part (opposite side of what the picture shows) of the knuckle where the ball joint passes thru. Hit it authority!!!!

 

[Acesneights1]

I would just take a carbide burr and radius the hole a bit bigger on that side. Its not going to weaken it.
You making to much work to seperate the ball joint, take a 24-36 oz ball-pein hammer and smack the inside part (opposite side of what the picture shows) of the knuckle where the ball joint passes thru. Hit it authority!!!!

:iagree:

 

[davo727]

I also agree on the theory of just blend it out nice and call it good.

 

[jrsavoie]

I buffed out the cut with a 4 1/2" flat wire bruch on a Metabo. I was very surprised how soft the metal is. The wire brush actually beveled the cut enough to weld.
I put 4 tacks of 316 ss. on it to fill the crack.