King Pins

[DollyDodge]

When we replaced the tires last week the tire guy said the wear on one front tire indicated the king pins might be lose. I checked and the driver side has about 1/8 in slop in it. where can I buy a tool for removing the king pin bushings? I see Roberts sells a king pin kit (bushings, pin, etc) for $55 (includes both wheels). I have never taken bushing or king pins out. I appreciate any help.

[Merle Coggins]

I got my king pin set from Napa (watch for axle size and serial # breaks). They come apart fairly easy with wrenches, hammer, and punch. Then find a local shop that does king pins. They'll be able to change out the bushings and ream them to fit.

I had the tooling I needed here at work to replace the bushings but we didn't have the proper size reamer. I called one of my local Napa stores that has a machine shop and they had the proper reamer. If I remember right it cost me around $30 to have them reamed.

Here's a thread discussing king pin p/n's and serial# breaks. http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=19767&highlight=King+Pins

[Fernando Mendes]

I think here they are.

[DollyDodge]

Thanks Merle

[Tony_Urwin]

I just dropped the whole axle, took it to the machine shop. Picked it up the next day, paid the man $75, and bolted it back in place. Lazy, yeah, but it didn't cost me any more than if I had removed the kingpins myself.

[ggdad1951]

I paid a guy in town $20 to press out, press in and ream to size...

[Fernando Mendes]

the wear on one front tire indicated the king pins might be lose.(DOLLYDODGE wrote).In my case that was more clearance in the steering arm.

[DollyDodge]

Fernando makes a good point, maybe I should describe the wear. Only one tire had excessive wear. It was on the outer edge of the tire on the driver side (same side as where I have the king pin play). The out1/4 was almost completely worn off (the outer tread was gone), but the inner tread was fine.

[greg g]

outer tire wear usually indicates to much toe in. Worn king pins will usually exhibit as a scolloped pattern as the wear allows the wheel tire assembly to move in and out at the top or bottom as the spindle moves through the arc allowed by the wear.

The one on the right is atributed to worn struts, shocks or ball joints, which have taken the place of king pins but the wear pattern would be similar, the left one is an alingment problem and since these days about all thats adjustable is toe in or out, it would stand to reason that is what they are refering to.

[old stovebolt]

Nice photos, thank you.

[Fernando Mendes]

DollyDodge,then I guess your problem is left king pin.Change both.*PS:When I changed the steering arm I changed too the two end package of drag link(not original).

[Fernando Mendes]

Speaking in TOE-IN case,we have still CAMBER and CASTER.

[DollyDodge]

I will have my truck's alignment checked, but I also will do the king pins. I went to the Napa site to look at the king pin kits. How do I determing my axle wt? My choices on the Napa site were either 1) 2500, 2800, or 2) 3700, 3750, 4000 and either metal or nylon for each axle choice. Also, what are the differences in bearings they list TW or TB bearings. I just went back and looked at the tread Merle told me to look at and I see that the 2500, 2800 axle is for 1/2 and 3/4 ton

Edited September 22, 2010 by DollyDodge

[pflaming]

Tony, your method might be a good way and time to put on disc brakes, put that axle on a good stand and go work. Does that make any sense?

[Fernando Mendes]

A nice figure about Toe-in,Camber & Caster.

[greg g]

I don't believe on a solid front axle you can adjust camber without the use of big torches and big hammers or levers. Caster is preset through the use of wedges between the axle and springs. There would be no wear there other than perhaps a wedge rusting out or being lost or damaged by an accident or something.

[Fernando Mendes]

I think the same manner that you.

[Dave72dt]

When I was doing front end alignments, we used hydraulic pressure from rams placed according to the direction the axle needed to go. No heat.

Edited September 25, 2010 by Dave72dt
spelling,... sorry, big fingers

[greg g]

not having access to proper hydraulic shop tools, we improvised.

[TodFitch]

I don't believe on a solid front axle you can adjust camber without the use of big torches and big hammers or levers. Caster is preset through the use of wedges between the axle and springs. There would be no wear there other than perhaps a wedge rusting out or being lost or damaged by an accident or something.

The manual for my car specifically says that the axle should be straightened/adjusted cold. The truck alignment shop that did it for me used chains and hydraulic jacks... It was a bit scary to watch, especially as they admitted that they had not worked on a tubular axle before. But the result was good and between that and getting the toe-in corrected made a big difference in how the car handled.

[Tony_Urwin]

pflaming - Sorry, I just saw your post today... like you suggested, I am adding disc brakes as part of the suspension rebuild. New kingpins, new tie-rod ends, new disc brakes. The machine shop that did my kingpins has a sandblasting cabinet and a beadblasting cabinet, and they cleaned up the spindles and axle for me when they did the kingpins. I bought Charlie's disc brake kit, and I'm putting it together over the next week or so. I'll just mount the axle and do it in place though. Charlie's kit looks so easy that I don't think there's any need to do it on a stand.

The machine shop blasted the old drums and backing plates for me, too. I'll probably put them on eBay after I paint them. If any forum member wants them and will make a nice donation to GTK, I will donate them for the cause! Nice thick drums, clean as a whistle. The bearings and races would be included, but might need to be replaced.

[DollyDodge]

I got my king pins out and took the knuckle assembly to the machine shop to have the bushing installed and reamed. I have a question about the shims. How many or how do you use them? When I took the bearing off only one side had a shim and it was on the bottum of the bearing. In the parts manual it shows a shim on top of the bearing. My kit has 6 shims.

Second, on the passenger side someone had put a flat washer on each bolt between the knuckle assembly and the brake support (on the brake adjuster bolts on the bottom two holes). Any idea why they might have beent there? Those washers cause the brake support not to fit flush against the knuckle assembly.

Third, is the drag link on my truck (B-2-C) suppose to be bent? It looks like it needs to be, but the pictures in the shop manual show it as straignt.

[Merle Coggins]

Use shims as needed to remove any and all extra clearance on reassembly.

Extra washers? Sounds fishy to me. Someones "fix" for something?

Drag link IS supposed to have a bend in it.

Merle

[DollyDodge]

Thanks Merle: I kind of wonder if those washers were someones way to fix the alignment of the wheels or something. Guess I will find out when I get the front end aligned. I will leave them out when I put it back together. I hope the axle isn't bent, but I will find out soon enough.

[ggdad1951]

on mine I ended up with one shim on one side and two on the other...just a spacing issue and wear issue IMO. My kit came w/ 4 or 6 shims.