Here's a strange question!

[grey beard]

My B1B king pins were nice and tight - no play at all. Upon clsoer inspection with th4 backing plates off, I discovered that whoever replaced the king pins last time left all except one of the thin plugs off of the pin ends. I had to heat the spindles up with a torch to get them to take grease like they should, but of course most of the grease was coming out the ends of the pins.

I'm wondering if anyone has any of those thin 15/16-inch diameter discs that originaly came with king pin sets? I tried flat block core plugs, but they don't expand far enough to stay in place tight enough to hold grease gun pressure, and they are too thick to get a snap ring on the outside of them to keep them in.

Any suggestions? i can find nothing locally in parts stores between 15/16 and one inch in size for flat style welch plugs. Might it be necessary to buy a new set of king pins just to get these elusive devils? King pins and bushings themselves are fine, and now that they have grease in them, feel just right, but if I don't fix this poblem now they will be impossible to grease regularly, as they should be.

Thanks for your time

[Dennis_MN]

I will call my friend tomorrow morning to see if the front axle that I stripped the brakes out of is still in his junk pile. If it is I'll run over and see if I can get them out. Let you know tomorrow night.

Dennis Sullivan

Monticello, MN

[Dennis_MN]

So far so good! The front axle is now in my garage and now the problem is how to get those little plugs out. Any suggestions?

Dennis Sullivan

[greg g]

Plugs are tappered and should be driven out from the smaller end. They are also machined flat on the side toward the pin fitting against flat spots there. Soak them up real good before hammering on the. They go in for opposite directions on the opposit end of the axle. Sorry don;t know which end is which sitting here now. But look at the diameter of the ends and drive out toward the big end.

[grey beard]

The plugs of which I speak are on the top and bottom ends of the king pins - not the thru lock oins that are wedge shaped with a flat side towards the king pin. My best guess for removing them is to look for a thin snap ring on the edge or drill a hole in the center and pry the plugs out with a pick - this may not be possible without destroying them,

The part I seek is 15/16-inch in diameter, and not very thick. It is the piece that keeps grease from escaping from the end when you grease the king pin zerk fittings. Hope this helps.

Thanks

Dave Erb

[greg g]

Dave I believe thay are pressed in welsh plugs. Probably just pry em out with a screwdriver and replace with new ones.

[Dennis_MN]

This was an easy task because the top two plugs were missing and all I needed to do was to remove the retaining bolt and tap out the king pin and the bottom ones appeared.

Good news is that I got them out, bad news is that there are only two of them.

Let me know where to send them to.

By the way, the hole for the king pin measured .99 and the dia of the plug was also .99 but it has a convex shape to it so that by pounding it in on the crown of the convex shape, it will expand and be held in place. I did notice that someone used a compound like bathtub sealer to keep the bottom ones in place. Too bad there wasn't any used on the top.

I noticed that one was loose on the top of the right side on my pickup so next spring I'll pound it in place again and use some sealer on it.

Dennis Sullivan