Manufacturing Time Investigation for Double Wishbone Steering Knuckles in LCVs

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) need to be manufactured faster than ever, placing immense pressure on engineering teams to shorten development cycles. The double wishbone steering knuckle perfectly illustrates this challenge, as it must endure massive dynamic loads while keeping unsprung mass to an absolute minimum. In this paper, we explore a digital-to-physical workflow that drastically cuts down the time required to design and validate such critical suspension parts. We started by building a parametric baseline in CATIA, ensuring all kinematic hard points and packaging limits were strictly met, and to avoid the expense of immediate physical testing, we validated the design virtually using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). By subjecting the model to extreme LCV scenarios, including maximum braking torque, severe cornering, and harsh vertical impacts, we confirmed the structural safety factors. The article reflects that instead of waiting weeks for traditional CNC machining or sand casting, Additive Manufacturing (AM) can be used in the prototyping phase. Printing a polymer mock-up allowed us to instantly check for spatial interferences with the brake caliper and wheel hub. Finally, this approach proves that combining CAD, FEA, and 3D printing can reduce the automotive engineering cycle, turning digital concepts into physical mock-ups for packaging verification within hours.