The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Whatcha putt'n off & King Pins and bushings and motor mounts, just do it.

By nature, I'm a procrastinator. Been that way pretty much all my life. That said I finally got off my lazy rear what with winter weather making it nice to work in the shop, rather than on any of the truck load of outdoor projects. My recent distasteful projects are in the thread title, yours are likely something else. But I just finished the king pin project today and the results were even better than I imagined.

John (the boss) has been saying for a while that with a freshened up front end under his '49 one ton, he can't see why anyone needs power steering. I now agree. I've been grinning since I got back from a test drive after replacing king pins, bushings and cleaning, greasing and adjusting the still serviceable tierod ends and drag link. Along with flushing the steering sector and filling with TSC 00 grease.

The old '51 drives GREAT. Easy to steer, no slack and an unexpected bonus, it seems to be quieter on rough roads.

The above along with new motor mounts recently (that solved a pretty bad take off shudder) have taken a reasonably decent driver and made it a pleasure to drive.

I'm betting most have similar projects that are easy to put off. As my ex VP boss said when I put off a complicated report he wanted (but really didn't need), Just Do It.

So whatcha putt'n off?

You can thank me later.

RonR

I absolutely agree with you about the joy it brings, even some small issue that has bugged us for a while brings a smile when we get it fixed.

I replaced my kingpins on my 54 3100 last year. I had the same experience. I couldn't stop grinning and wondered how power steering could be any better. I did not know how bad it was until I had them replaced. If anyone else is planning to do here is a couple things to consider. I tried to do it myself. I beat, I heated with a torch and I cussed. I could not get the old kingpins out. I finally pulled the entire front axle out. It was much easier than I thought it would be. Even after I had the axle out and better access to swing a hammer I could not knock them out. I took the entire axle to a local machine shop and had them replace the kingpins. It cost about $200 but was well worth it. My suggestion, if they don't come out with a little persuasion don't waste your time. Pull the axle and take it to a shop. Well worth it. Your time and frustration has value.

Yep, still putting my king pins off.

But good to hear it was worth the effort when you finally did it.

I'm putting off electric wiper conversion, but I justify my procrastination by never driving it in the rain!

I guess what I'm really putting off is buying a 2nd stovebolt....

Also putting off fixing what appears to be a pretty significant leak at the front pinion seal.

When I got my 56, I replaced or repaired most of the moving parts on the suspension, except the king pins. They are original, but they take grease and when I push and pull on the tires, they don’t move at all. So I’ll keep putting that job off for a while longer.

Lee.

I had the exact same experience except a buddy has a hydraulic press. He popped the kingpins out, I did the rest.

I am putting off (dreading) replacing the steering box. The truck is a little floaty. (47 GMC)

Just Mark, have you tried adjusting the steering gear, it made a huge improvement on mine and I only adjusted the sector. When I tackle the king pins I'll have the drag link off and plan on going back through the gear adjustment. With a small amount of slop in my king pins it multiplies to a noticeable amount of movement at the top and bottom of my tires since they are about 39" in diameter.

You can put that off as long as you don't have any kingpin movement (I'm guessing that you already knew that).

Apparently someone has greased them on schedule throughout the kingpins life.
The operators manual suggests every 1,000 miles. With the vast improvement in road quality, especially very few dirt roads these days, every 1,000 miles is overkill. I do mine every oil change at 3,000 miles.

I'd like to do that but don't know how. Know if there's a tech tip on that here or elsewhere?

"I'd like to do that but don't know how. Know if there's a tech tip on that here or elsewhere?"

Do you have a GMC Truck Maintenance Manual for your year truck?

Just Mark, on the steering gear on the side or top of the gear opposite the pitman arm you should see a slotted screw and a lock nut, that is the slack adjuster for the sector shaft. I think there is a tech tip or some info on adjustment here but you should be able to get something from the net.

Thanks guys. I do have a manual. I read through that section a couple years ago. Sounded challenging so I put it off. Time to reevaluate.

The other thing I've been putting off is replacing the bushings where the clutch and brake pedal pivot.

Well, since the confessional is rolling........I need to pull the front springs, break them down, clean, sand and paint. Then put liners between the leaves or perhaps graphite.

Anyone have a good source for rebound clips (AKA spring clamps)?

I've got new u-bolts stuck back, just need to get started and get busy.

RonR

I found theses on 4Wheel Warehouse, their from Rancho



https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...er/23464/filename/Spring%20Clamp%201.jpg

moparguy I just make my own rebound clips,heat em up and bend riight around there. Have to get a rivet to hold em in place,my predesessor gave me several rivets over 43 yrs. ago that came from his Dads shop 40 yrs. before that. Handy at times.

JustMark Might check toe-in,I just take 2 yardsticks inside tires at spindle level get tires about 3/16 closer in front,that can make em a lot better.

moparguy On spring liners when I was a kid our local gas station had a pit,that kind where you had to have enough sense not to walk off in there. Iv'e seen em get down below and pri the springs open and put inner tube in there for liners. Then they would butcher it off with a pocket knife. This would be in winter when chuck holes were bad,lotta gravel roads !!

Interesting.....my guess is those inner tube liners would make a nice improvement and last till summer.

RonR

I'm strongly considering doing the same. I think there's a couple sticks of 1/8 x 3/4 flat stock hiding in the shop. cut to length, drill a few holes, heat and bend. What could go wrong?

Now to find rivets and........wait, most flat stock is about one step above gum wrappers when it comes to tensile strength. Is that a real concern, or am I once again overthinking things?

RonR

I did the kingpins in my 3/4T GMC and I believe mine had the originals in it. Only one had a very slight about of slop. I fixed them and greased up everything and it was zero difference from how it was but I think it was good before. Now the BIGGEST improvement I made was doin a very careful tape measure alignment. Set the toe in to specs and it just floats down the road with 1 finger on the wheel even at 65mph. I have radials on it so im sure it steers a little stiffer than stock but im still young a d Im not a small guy so it dosent bother me at all. You know your driving a old truck.

Ahh, good idea. I do know a similar trick I've used on our jeep yj.

You can buy rivets from Big Flats Rivet in NY. When I did my Willys Jeep springs I think I used 3/8" diameter rivets, cut them to the correct length, heated them with a torch, inserted the rivet through the U clip and the spring and peened it flat. The hole in the spring is tapered so the rivet won't pull through. Not a hard job, the only tricky part for me was getting the U clips all the correct size and allowing room for the bolt spacer tubing...I didn't have anything to use as a sample.

Mike B

I just use a tape measure and go to the center tread rib to do my alignment. Just double triple check it and move the wheels back and forth and spin em to make sure your still in spec. When i first assembled the truck it was almost 1/4” toe out and the thing drove terrible.

Ok, my passenger side king pin is terrible. I didn’t realize how bad. Is there any chance of ordering the right parts BEFORE getting stuff apart to measure how wollered out stuff is?

Rock auto sells oversized king pins. Is it the pin that’s oversized? Or are the bushing ODs oversized as well?

My kingpins were in horrible condition when I was building my 3100. The big nut was swapped out with a coarse thread one, almost impossible to remove. I was fortunate to find a very good axle nearby for $40.-

You only need oversize king pins if the hole in the axle is worn. That rarely happens. I guess if the wedge pin where to fail somehow, or someone forgot to put it back in.
Whenever I replace kingpins in 3100s, I find that the kingpin itself is in perfect condition. They are hard as south central Tennessee woodpecker lips, while the bronze bushings are worn out on the inside and the outside.
One thing to look for is excessive wear on the spindles where the bushings ride. The new bushings from the rebuild kit (standard or oversize) are supposed to be pushed into the spindle with light thumb pressure.
I recommend that you buy the standard kingpin kit so that you will have the new bushing to use as a gauge to check your spindle.
(98 of of 100 times you will not need an oversize kingpin kit.)

That’s good info. Moog or Delco?

We have three different species of woodpeckers at our place and I agree with 52Carl, that pin is a good bit harder than the bronze bushings and the birds lips. Unless the axle bore is worn you should be good with a new kit, I ordered a Delco and could not get a shipping date, I found MOOG on fleabay and have it in hand, either should be good and will outlast the rest of the truck if maintained.

Rockauto has either ACDelco or Moog king pins for our 3100's. I used the ACDelco ones on my axle. One of the king pins was a bugger to get out. I got one out and ground it down a bit to use as a drive for the other side. Those rust molecules were holding on real tight.

Isn’t there a thing people do using the weight of the truck to push the pins out? Like stick a bottle jack underneath or something?

I put a heavy duty jack stand under the axle, so I guess you could say that I am using the weight of the truck. The jack stand gives you a good base to allow for more force delivered by the invaluable BFH.
Heat is your friend on real stubborn ones. There is little to no grease where the kingpin meets the axle hole so rust can lock them up close to solid.
A propane or Mapps torch should be enough heat to cause some separation, allowing you to knock the kingpin through.

I initially used my ball joint press, but it barely fit and the nose of the pusher screw was just a bit too big to fit thru the bushing, and actually got stuck for a while. If the pusher was a little smaller, it would have worked nicely. There wasn't enough throat depth to put anything (even just a nut) under the pusher and still have enough threads to work.
I suppose if I was to reduce the diameter of the pusher nose, it would be nearly ideal. At least it got that one started out, then needed to break out the BFH.

Are 3100 spindles specific to each side? Or can they be reversed?

It has been too long since I replaced spindles.

My guess is that the left and right spindles are different (at least in 54/55st).

Let's hope that someone posts information for your year.

One of mine was a bit stubborn. Started out with a 3/4" x 6" round pin and a 3 lb. shop hammer that worked on the right side. After about 10 minutes of hard hammering and 1/4" progress I sweet talked my bride into helping. With the drift firmly clamped with vice gripes, she held it in place. Then with both hands in play, it only took about 4 or 5 minutes to drive the left side pin out. Using the hammer with both hands made the difference.

A 5/8" (or was it an 11/16th ?) impact socket was the perfect size to push the bushings out on the 30 ton press.

RonR

A backup hammer or such device makes a tremendous difference.

ED

The spindles are not side specific. A check of the parts list shows only one number for both sides all the way thru 57 on half tons. They apparently are year specific though, with the ones for Huck brakes, thru 50 different than the later spindles.

Good info, thanks. I forgot about the Huck vs Bendix thing. I was about to start looking for a 47-53 spindle, and it would seem that I need 51-57 instead.