Astro Van steering knuckle mods. Making another jig fixture.

[astroracer]

Very cool Mark. And a great idea.....But doesn't the tie rod arm end have a tapered bore? And now it's flipped over.....did I miss something?

I know exactly what you are up against as I'm always trying to do something there's no off the shelf product for. So it's always the details that make my head ache. So it's always fun to see how others deal with and solve things. Thanks for posting your process.

Yes sir, it's an adventure isn't it?
The work done to the spindle was due to a lot of issues. Most onlookers don't "get" what I am doing but you do, as I see by the question you asked. I will explain and provide a few more pics.
1). The reworked spindle is a cast steel aftermarket spindle for an Astro Van. The spindle has a designed in 2"drop.
2). My suspension design was based around a C4 Corvette Steering Rack.
3). The Astro Van tierod bolts in from the bottom... Guess which way the Corvette tierod bolts in... yup, from the top.
4). To get the bumpsteer and suspension geometry correct the tierod point had to move up and outboard.
5). Deep offset wheels were also in the mix and the original location would interfere with the wheel rim. The move got the tierod very well clear of the wheel.
As you can see, lots of design requirements. The solution was well thought out and the spindle was modified under the guidance of a local fabricator that modifies and welds these spindles all the time for the 4 x 4 guys in the Flint area. Belive me, the modified spindle is MUCH stronger in this area then the original one was.
I did a LOT of grinding on this dude to incorporate 3/8th inch fishplates on either side of the joint. I also extended these plates in, to the base of the spindle.

Plated on both sides.

Looking from the top. You can see how much material was ground out so there was room to weld in these gussets.

After welding.

These were welded up with high nickel content welding rod. Mike took his time and did this welding over a period of three days to keep from burning all of the carbon out of the base metal.