The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline king pin size and help

Hi

I have 1953 panel truck half ton, and two years ago replaced the king pins (standard size)

Im now two month into a full body off refit and have the front end all apart.

The wheel bearing ive managed to get NOS at great cost and now looking at my spindals. ( will come to that!)

I have some rocking in the king pins and have taken them apart to investigate what to do best.

As they have only had around 10 thousand miles put on them im thinking that they cant be far off original specification. and when originally fitted where a louse fit, I had to just fit them as they where better than original and when full of grease no knocking and passed what we have in the u.k a test every year to make sure vehicles are road worthy.

If I buy 10” over size king pin set what is it that is over size? Is it the bush or bush and king pin?

Can I get 20” overs?

The manual states that I do not need to ream for 10” overs?

The axil when I put my pin in also has a small amount of play? (this is without the lock pin in) will over size king pins fix this?

The spindle bushes push in and out with finger pressure!?

I’m not sure what to do.ive read loads of post on here but nothing that gets it clear in my head.

Hy Daniel-Rose, lots of questions, the .010" oversize pins are .010" larger in diameter than the standard size kingpin. I don't see how you could install the oversize kingpin in the axle without reaming the axle to allow the pin to fit into it. The bushings in the 1/2 tons are a slip in no ream setup, so if you bought an oversize kingpin kit it should include the correct size bushings for the oversize kingpins. If your truck passes your annual inspection, and doesn't have wandering or uneven tire wear issues, then I would consider it not to be broken, and therefore not require repair at this time, hope that helps.

I guess my question would be, is your panel a 1/2 Ton? There were 1 Ton panels too. The 1/2 Ton bushing were a "floating bushing and they would have a groove around the outside surace to allow grease to enter.

If you have an wiggle at all between the pin and the axle, you will need to correct it. Any play will cause wear in the hole. The .010" kingpins are made for this problem and the axle would need to be reamed to fit.

hiya 3B, thanks for your input,

terrible wandering over the road, but is also down to bad tie rod ends..which im also changing out.

as for reaming..this is what im not sure of..as in shop manual it states "bushings used on all 1/2 ton vehicles are the floating type and when replaced in service, either standard or .10" oversize, they need not be reamed to size"

2012 it got pulled on annual inspection but tester sympathetically told me to adjust my wheel bearing!!...but it was both wheel bearing and king pin that made it look together prity bad!

hi Truckernix 1/2 ton panel truck

Correct, the bushings won't need reaming.
The axle will require reaming to fit an oversize kingpin.

thanks Grigg, this was not over clear for me,

now with the spindels (steering knuckle bushings)

as the current original size just push in and out with little presure from my finger...010" over size may not make up the difference? i take it the bushing are over size as well.

im not sure if that would be enough to make them a firm fit?.
0.020" overs?
the original and replacement ones i fitted last time both have the groves in for lubrication.

The king pin itself is what is oversize (0.010 or 0.020 wider diameter pin). That is why the axle needs to be reamed to fit the over-size king pin.

The1/2 ton bushings "float" in the spindles/knuckles. The bushings have over-size holes in them for the over-size kin pin. The 1/2 ton over-size bushings do not need to be reamed to fit the 1/2 ton over-size king pin.

If the bushings are real loose (loose side-to-side, not loose up/down) in the spindle/knuckle, the holes/seats in the spindle/knuckle might be "wallowed out" - this is a difficult problem to deal with.

Hi tclederman, your got it explained well.

the bush (they are only two year old) are real loose up and down
to the point where the worst is only held in place by the resistance of the grease. the others take a little bit of pushing. (finger only)

i just cleaned the worst one up real well, and set it in place, with some light lubrication it fell straight through the hole and out the other side with little to no holding.

trying to see how much side-to-side movment is hard to measure, but you can see it and feel it.

i dont have brand new bushes to try.

maybe im just looking into it to much and would be normal,im just trying to make the best job i can. i really thank all of you for your input.

A modification that I like for the 1/2 ton king pin bushings is to fix them in the spindles as they are on larger trucks. This eliminates a wear point and can correct a little bit of a sloppy fit.
To do so I use Loctite 660 to fill the gaps between the bushing and the spindle bores. Be sure while the goo sets the kingpin is inserted in the bushings to properly align them.

More reading on the subject, with more links in there
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=877454

Grigg