The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline King Pin Question - Not about pounding!

So I have play in my king pins. Started looking at taking them out earlier tonight. Had searched the forums on how to do it and read what was in the tech tips. The question I have is this.

The tech tip shows a retaining ring above the dust cap that needs to be removed. I don't see any such retaining ring (pictures attached). In fact, it looks like the spindle casting is holding the dust cap in place (like it's been hammered). Is this normal?

I did read on one of the tech tips that you could drill a hole in the dust cap in order to use a punch to pull it off. Is this the way to go if there are no retaining rings?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. The front axle is out of the truck, so I can take it to get the king pins pressed out, but would like some insight into the lack of retaining rings.

Thanks in advance,

Mark K

Mark,

Is this for your 1952 Canadian Chevy 1300???

It will help folks to know what you are working on to offer the best helpful info.

If the answer to my above question is yes, have you checked the Shop Manual for procedures?

In answer to your questions:

No, there are no retaining rings for your caps. I believe retaining rings only applied to some of the larger commercial sized trucks. Another Bolter with more info will come along and hopefully clear that point up. Yours are in fact concave caps (at least they started life that way) that are secured in the opening by dimpling the center to expand the cap and lock it into the spindle. Kind of the same process as installing engine block "flat style" core plugs.

Removal is usually done as you mentioned by drilling a small hole on the cap and then prying it out. I have used a large sheet metal screw inserted into the drilled hole and grabbed by a pair of vise-grips to pry them out. Works better (IMO) than trying to pry out with a punch.

Hope this is helpful.

Dan

I replaced the king pins and bushings on my '57 2 ton within the last year. The dust caps do not have any clip or ring holding them in. The king pin is held tight with a tapered pin through the axle bore. I did not have any trouble disassembling the components, dust caps came out with a little careful punch work, the only thing I farmed out was having the new bushings pressed in and honed to fit the new pins. I did all of the work with the truck on cribbing and the axle in the truck.

Thanks guys, that helps.

Dan, yes it's for my '52 Chevy Canadian 1300. Sorry, always forget to mention.

Thanks,

Mark K

I just replaced the king pins on my '42 1/2 ton and the above comments about removing the dust caps are correct. They are made of a very soft metal and to replace them you smack the new ones lightly with a hammer right in the center. This deforms them and locks them in place in the shallow detent. You can also stake around the perimeter with a punch.

The tech tip pdf is excellent;
https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/kingpin.pdf

The tech tip points out that the 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks have floating bushings. This makes removing the old hardware easier and may not require a press. Try tapping them out with a brass punch. Please note the safety precautions so that the truck does not drop on you!!
Good luck,
Kent

Can you buy the 1/2 ton dust caps without buying a whole new king pin set? Or just substitute freeze plugs?

JW,

I think the short answer is - Yes.

I took a peek at the box of my yet to be installed TRW K354 +10 oversize king pin set (pic 1 below) to see what the expansion plugs included in there are. Pics 2 through 4 are close ups of the 1-1/8" (1.125") steel concave expansion plugs that are part of the kit for my 1951 3100 1/2 Ton. According to info found in one of the Chevrolet Master Parts and Accessories Catalogs (the 1968 book in this case - see extract in pic 5) the king pin set for my 1951 3100 also fit 1946-55 1st Series 1/2 Tons. The book also indicates (see extract in pic 6) that the Plug - knuckle expansion Group 6.223, GM# 3657337, fits all 1946-1959 1/2 Ton trucks. Pretty sure these will fit same year GMC 1/2 Tons as well as Mark's Canadian 1300???

Anyhow, now that all that has been established, I found the following sources for "1-1/8" steel concave expansion plugs that should fill the need as the dimensions and pictures of the products indicate they are basically one and the same for my TRW expansion plugs:

1-1/8" expansion plugs purchased individually

1-1/8" expansion plugs - order in packages of 10

1-1/8" expansion plugs - order on packages of 100

Hope this answers your question and maybe provides some current info to help anyone needing just the expansion plugs.

Dan

As others have said the cap is just there to seal the grease in and dirt out. The cross pin secures the king pin in the axle. There are caps on botht eh top and bottom. I found the easiest way to remove thr king pin was the remove both the top and bottom caps, the cross pin, and then use a large diameter punch to drive the king pin out the bottom. Once I cleaned everything up the king pins would slide into the bushing in the spindle and the bore in the axle with little resistance.

For my 1950 3600 the dust caps were not 1 1/8" and I ended up ordering 1 1/16" caps from NAPA as my king pins were okay and I did not need to order the kit just oget the caps.

WICruiser,

You are very correct on what they are meant for!

Interesting info on your smaller sized cap needs. Resource info shows the 3/4 Ton king pins to be a larger diameter than the 1/2 Ton. Now you have me wondering if my K354 +10 oversize kit has larger than standard dust caps, or maybe the caps in the kit (was open when I got it) may not be the right ones??? Will have to go measure my spindles to see.

Perhaps other Bolters will chime in and provide their knowledge and experience???

Dan

Well, thanks for all the advice guys. Drilled the holes, pried off the dust caps on one side and got the king pin to move. Just wanted to solve the problem before it got dark tonight. Will finish the rest later. Full account with pictures on my project journal.

1-1/8” looks like the right one for an AD axle. According to my measuring tape, anyway.

Thanks JW!

Hey Mark,

I see you got the dust caps out last night in your Project Journal entry.

Would you mind measuring the ones you removed to let us know for sure what you have???

Thanks and keep up the great progress!

Dan

Dan,

Took 2 caliper measurements on each of the two dust caps I took out. They ranged from 1.121" to 1.134", with 2 measurements closer to 1.125" so it looks like 1 1/8 it is.

Thanks,

Mark

Thanks for the feedback Mark!

Let us know how the king pin replacement progresses.

Dan