The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop king pin wear test

I've in the process of replacing brakes on my '55 2nd series 1/2 ton. So I've been working in close proximity to the kingpins, tie rods, and drag link. I got to looking at them and wondering if there is any test or measurement that can be done to assess wear in each of these joints. Any ideas?

I had a 54 that used to change lanes on a bump even on a 2 lane road. I changed the 16 " to 15" radial and changed the pin as well as adjust the stearing box. Night and day.

Check for play in the kingpins by jacking the truck up by the axle and trying to shake the wheels vertically. No play, no wear. Mine were quite worn without much drivability problems yet. The tie rods are checked by having someone turn the steering wheel while you watch for play with the wheels on the ground. If you have worn king pins and tie rods chances are that the spring pivots and shackles are worn out too and you should replace everything that you can all at once. My truck drives quite nicely and rides fine with new king pins, shackles, spring pivots, tie rod ends, and shocks. I have no need for a steering damper. I may add a swaybar eventually.

Lt: If I remember right (I'm old and memory cells have died) the book said .004 to .006 play take tire off and slide feeler gauge into knuckles and see what you got. I had shims that I used and I'm right on the money. popcorn The Truth is Out There (Hope this helps)

Josiah,
What are spring pivots ? Sounds like something you would collect from your garden on a beautiful Sunday morning in order to decorate your breakfast table.

Actually the question was legit. Is this part of the shackle assembly?

It's the bolt that the rear, fixed part of the spring gets attached to the frame with.

Last weekend I installed new pins and bushings in my '53 assembly and have basically no play. Can't even get the thinnest feeler gauge in to check for slop, yet when sliding the knuckles into place I only needed a slight tap with a tiny hammer to line at the very end to line everything up.

Thanks for the help everybody. I tried jacking under the axle below the leaf spring and checking for vertical movement. No movement, so maybe I'm ok on kingpin wear.

I'll try the feeler guage in the knuckles right after I clean off the 48 years of grease and roadgrime buildup!

LT

I think that we missed something here. Wasn't the original question about kingpin wear? The discussion has been about vertical clearance with the bearing and knuckle. The kingpin wear shows up with the knuckle unloaded when you grasp the wheel top and bottom and try to tip it in or out.

truckernix,
Perfectly put. It's always interesting watching original subjects get lost.