king pins

[ChrisCoccia]

I am having trouble with my king pins. I have 2 front axles. On the best one the the hole where the pin goes through the axle on the driver's side is wallowed out, so it wobbles even with new pins. On the other axle both sides are like that. I am not a machinist, but it seems to me there must be a way to either put a sleeve in there, or use a bigger king pin and drill it out. Has anybody tackled this problem?

[oldmopar]

What year and model is your truck and what are the axles from some of the eariler 48 - 49 used a larger diamiter king pin (spindles and axle diamater should match) maybe you have the wrong Kin Pins or are tring to match parts from differnt trucks

[4852dodge]

A new pin set comes with replacement bushings that have to be pressed into the axle. The old ones need to be removed first, if the bushings are worn through and the axle is damaged, then you will need to ream it round and use oversize bushings.

[Jerry Roberts]

Chris , If your setup is like mine on a slightly older truck ; There is no bushing in the kit to go into the axle , the bushings go into the other other parts . Unfortunately I think you need to pull your axle and bring it to a machine shop to get the slop out of the wallowed out hole . While at the machine shop , they can install the bushing in the other parts and ream then to the correct size .

[ChrisCoccia]

Mine is a '48 1 ton, it has the smallest size pins, like 0.768etc.. The only bushings that came with the pins gets pushed into the spindle. it has a ball bearing type spacer/bushing between the bottom of the axle and the pin.

[ChrisCoccia]

Sorry, I meant to say the balbearing part goes between the axle and the bottom ring of the spindle.

[Jerry Roberts]

I think your king pins are meant to be locked into the axle by a bolt , no movement there . And the movement would be on the other parts with the bushings . I can't remember the name of the other parts , perhaps steering knuckles .

[ChrisCoccia]

There is a bolt there, but it doesn't seem to be enough to hold it down. I had the new set of pins put in by the local machine shop, and he told me and showed me the play was in the axle , not the steering knuckle/spindle ends. I was thinking of taking the axle to a bigger shop in Birmingham to see if they could drill it out and use a set of the 0.8xxxx kingpins instead. Either that or maybe they could ream it out to 7/8", press in a piece of round stock, then drill that out to the 0.76xxx size. Any machinists out there know if that is doable?

[Merle Coggins]

A good machine shop should be able to bore out the axle and sleeve it back to the proper size. I would think that would be the best possible repair. The trick would be getting it set up right to keep the proper angles when it's bored.

Merle

[rustyzman]

I should think a full service machine shop could bore out the axle and fabricate a sleeve that would be pressed in. Then ream the sleeve to the king pin size for proper interference fit. Being a reverse elliot type axle, as you said the only bushings are in the knuckle/spindle. Since the bushings have already been installed and reamed, it should all fit like a dream after that. The axle beam itself should not be loose on the pin. The bolt really should be more of a locating device than anything. Old age and not enough grease perhaps.

[ChrisCoccia]

I found a shop in Birmingham that says they can do that. Thanks for the good advice.