The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline front wheel movement 1939 chevy 1.50ton

hello , on my 1939 chevy 1.5 ton truck , just had the straight axle rebuilt and new wheel barrings on the front , i have added grease to all fittings , wheel alignment done retorqued the lug nuts . i have the truck setting on jack stands i have vertical wheel play , when i grab the top and bottom of the front wheels they both move the same amount , very little but i can feel it . is this normal for that style with ball barrings ? any ideas ? thanks petep1

Should be minimal vertical movement, is it wheel bearings, king pins? If the king pins were not redone, that could be the problem.

Ed

Should be no perceptible movement in the bearings when properly adjusted. It does should like your description indicates worn king pins.

The truck should have round wheel bearings which if remember right, adjust a little different then the modern tapered wheel bearings we are used to. Not knowing the tire size, it could be normal to have just a very slight movement in the wheel bearings, the bigger the tires, the more you can safely have. Just for reference, in Missouri a 11.0 R/22.5 tire and wheel can have up to 1/2" movement at the outer most edge of the tire before DOT will reject it.

Tighten the bearings up snug so you know you have zero play, then check for kingpin movement.

If you have vertical movement, like straight up and down, then the rebuilder left out the shims in the king pins. These shims go between the axle and the top spindle bushing.

If you have slight in & out movement at the top and bottom of the tire ( with bearings snugged up tight ) then you are dealing with spindle bushing play or king pin to axle bore play, both of which should have been dealt with when the axle was rebuilt.

Try and get a better idea where the movement is coming from and get back to us.

Joe

hello everyone i did find the problem for the front wheel movement , the kingpins are bad after 2000 miles i took the axle back to the people who rebuilt the axle , they took it apart and could not understand why the axle failed . 1pete1

We’re they greased?
You mentioned grease earlier, but did it get to the pins and bushings?

Possible wrong parts were used, or improper workmanship, or hole in axle was worn to start with?

there was grease and it was hard to put the grease in. After taking the axle apart the holes in the bushings lined up for grease, the axle was great for 2000 miles after rebuild . the poeple who did the rebuild ordered the kingpins and bushings , i am a little gun shy if this is going to happen every 2000 miles . thank you for your input 1pete1

Sounds like the grease was inadequate for the road conditions , or too infrequently serviced .
I re-grease mine every 500miles (or less if I have done unsealed roads or river crossings) and the truck is still good after nearly 80,000 kms.
I use grease that has graphite (or Moly) as it seems to be slippery enough to work well .

Did the pins wear much, or just bushings? If the pins wore much in that short time they may have been defective.

for the king pins they where worn both bushings and pins , when i was putting grease to the king pins , grease was going in slow and had to use a lot of pressure . thank for the tip on grease every 500 miles i will follow that when i get my axle back .

1 1/2 ton king pin bushings are to reamed to fit the king pins are they not? Maybe your guy messed that up.