if it's not broken, why am i fixing it?

[cybermca]

starting to go through my kantor rebuild kit and just wondering if there are any pointers out there before i get frustrated. i plan on making some steel spacers so the ends don't bend in when i crank down on the knuckles.  

 

any insight would be helpful. thanks

[cybermca]

the only thing have left is to replace the king pins.    i tapped out the pin on the side, now how do i get the dust caps out?   they appear to be pressed in with the knuckle casting metal bent or hammered over the edges.  was that a factory thing?

[cybermca]

in the process of replacing my king pins on my 1950 suburban because they came with the front end rebuild kit.   they both seem to be perfectly fine.  movement is smooth throughout swing and there is no looseness or knocking at all.   they are very tight.   should i just leave them alone or is it really worth taking them apart if i don't have the installer tool and the reamer?

[Plymouthy Adams]

what are you? previous US Navy....they destroyed more with preventative maintenance that had they just left it alone to begin with with..I know, I spent 16 years coming behind these sailors fixing what they broke...

[Bobandy]

I've never done this job but I've watched it done by Dad during my late teens.  He always jacked the car up and then grabbed the top and bottom of the tire and tried to move it IN and OUT (top in, bottom out and viseversa). If there was no or very little wiggly, leave it alone until another day... 

[TodFitch]

I've never done this job but I've watched it done by Dad during my late teens.  He always jacked the car up and then grabbed the top and bottom of the tire and tried to move it IN and OUT (top in, bottom out and viseversa). If there was no or very little wiggly, leave it alone until another day... 

And if it does wiggle, tighten up the bearings to verify that they aren't the issue. Not good to run them tight but you can certainly do that to remove play there when checking for play in the king pings.

[Jerry Roberts]

Just make sure that they have grease , that is all . 

[BigDaddyO]

If memory serves correctly, you should jack up the car under the lower a arm so the suspension is loaded, then check for free play, preferable with a pry bar under the tire. I forget what the allowable movement is. 1/8" to 1/4" or so.

Like Todd said- don't confuse wheel bearing play with the kingpin.

And if they don't take grease (Like Jerry said) you can usually heat them up to coax the grease in.

Personally, I wouldn't change them unless they were real bad.

When I was a kid, my first car was a 48 Plymouth that needed king pins. If I hit a bump, the front would start to shimmy so I would hit the next available pot hole and that would usually knock it back in line. Then I put my snow tires on the front. That worked well enough until I got my next car.

The next opportunity I got to do kingpins, was on my 1952 Dodge pickup and what a pita that was. One side was fairly easy and the other, busted my chops.

[Don Coatney]

If you do replace them do not toss the old king pins as they make excellent drift punches. Same with used wrist pins.

 

 

[Andydodge]

The dust caps are generally just wacked out when you use a drift to remove the kingpins themselves......or you should be able to get a sharp screwdriver or cold chisel to hammer into the dust cap and then just lever the top one out, by wacking the old pin thru the bottom the dust cap will come out with the pin......I've seen that most if not all stub axles have a stepped shoulder on the top & bottom of the kingpin hole to allow 2 different sizes of dust caps to be used.............with the correct size to suit the stepped hole you should be able to hit the dust cap in the centre to flatten and expand it like an engine block welch plug to have it held........the bottom one is always fun.............lol........andyd  

[cybermca]

i guess i will leave them and grease them up real good