The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop King Pins

KoolKar: Read your article on removing king pins don't quite understand paragraph 4, about bolt on tube jack, I have brass bar and was going to drive them down and out. Not much luck yet. Also in that paragraph do I use Firehouse language (I know real well) or I'm mad at wife language. popcorn

pop, I ended up having to use a 12 ton press to get mine out, it was a good excuse to buy a new tool. The 5lb hammer and brass drift only succeeded in peening over the brass drift. Once you loosen them with the press they practically fall out, though.

Koolkar is talking about jacking the truck up by the kingpins so that the weight of the truck rests on them (The bolt makes sure the jack is on the pin and not the knuckle) and then giving the axle a good whack to loosen them up.

I used a press on mine too, but I ruined a spindle when I got crossways in it trying to push the bushing out. Had it bent out of shape before I realized it wasn't moving. :o darn Cletis, don't you ever pay attention? Next time I'll cut a piece of pipe to fit to hold the spindle square. BTW you'll have to remove the axle from the truck to use the press method but since I was replacing shackles too it wasn't that much more work. Good luck.

Yes, if the king pins are worn usually the shackles are too and that can cause steering problems too. Wearing a hole through the spring eye can ruin your day.

sorry man-i wuz asleep at the switch. let's go alittle basic. the ends of the axle are drilled vertically and the spindle is held on by a pin--a king pin. these are usually slightly tapered. the end of the king pin are exposed at the top and bottom. what i do is take a bolt that is slightly smaller in diameter than the kingpin and place it on the top of a bottle jack and raise the axle just slightly off a set of jackstands. i then turn the spindle so i got a clear shot at the axle---take a good look at where the grease fittings are-----------then knock the sh*t out of the axle as close as possible to where the kinpin is. the weight of the truck, the taper of the kingpin, and the shock of the hammer blow forces the kingpin to pop out the top. and the truck falls back on the jackstands. oh yeah----it also scares the hell out of the dog, he pees on the garage floor, and won't talk to you for days. i've done this several times, although mostly on big trucks, and it has always worked, and instead of buying a puller you buy beer. a man must have his priorities. if this still don't make sense sent me a private message and i will make you a diagram and e-mail it to you. remember----hammer---bfh--------get yer mind right and WHAM---------WHAM--%^#$&%^&$%^&%^@@%&** KINGPINS!!!--WHAM-------tink!

I wasn't much of a believer in the 'beat the **** out of it' approach until a couple of weekends ago.

A friend of mine was changing a lower ball joint in a mid '80s Mercedes Benz sedan. I thought he was going to destroy the spindle arm but after about 10 minutes of hammering....tink and it fell apart and nothing was broken.

Just got in from outside another snowy day at the hospital nurses hate to get their shoes wet. Anyway I needed you're guys sense of humor!! Can't scare dog (Maws had stroke 3yrs. ago) dog won't work for her and I would have to stay home! OK< scare dog stay home and knock crap out of King pin, frame, spindles, whatever> Recieved new spindles yesterday from J. Carter's they look in really good shape. Hey maws caan I borrow dog for awhile!! popcorn