Cracked steering knuckle

[DafyddJones]

So yesterday my car was at my usual garage to get the lower and upper ball joints replaced as the lower one on the passenger side had some play. I did think about doing it myself but I thought they would be much faster than me doing it and I would be without a car for more than a day. But there’s a crack in one of the steering knuckles which I think they’ve caused when trying to remove the upper ball joint and it’s costing me a lot to pay for a new one. Is this a common occurrence?

 

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If the crack is around the ball joint you can bet they've done it being ham-fisted with a hydraulic press... Not that you'll be able to prove it without a before/after pic.

I know when I did mine I fabricated an array of drifts and supports to alleviate any stress on the aluminium knuckle. I used a hand press and still needed a little heat and grease to slide the new ones in smoothly.

If they had to buy a new knuckle it probably came with a ball joint so ask for the other one back and sell it on to recoup a few quid...