The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline King Pins

54 Chevy 3100-
Should there be any play rocking the front wheel in and out with the wheel off the ground. I have some looseness. I was going to replace the bearing with roller style and thought at the same time I would do the king pins. I have never done king pins, is this difficult?
Thanks,
awk

They can be difficult. Sometimes they will drive right on out & other times you pound, heat & press & they still don't want to come. Sometimes you have to pull the axle & take it to a machine shop. One good thing about that model, they have floating bushings & don't have to be reamed. Make sure your play is in the king pins before you tie in with them. They have to be greased real good.

So there should be no play at all. I have 80K original miles on this truck, so maybe it not the king pins. I will check the bearings again and maybe just replace the bearing.

Thanks,
Art

80,000 miles, if those are the original king pins they probably need replacing. King pins don't last as long as modern ball joints do.....

John

When you get it all apart there is something to look for. Check the fit of the new bushings in the spindle. Mine pressed in too easy and now I need to get an "over sized" bushing, Knurl the ones I have or find another spindle. Axle was good after I cleaned the rust out. I used a brake hone to clean it up and the new pin was a hand press with no wobble. The bushings were a simple press into the spindle and I thought all was well. After about 500 miles the loose feeling came back and so did the one loose spindle. Bummer. Use an anti seize in the axle when you put it back together so it will come apart if needed. No play when reassembled with a little drag when moved by hand. Should be nice and tight.

The four different 1/2 ton kingpins I have replaced had wear on the outside circumference of the bushing and the axle hole, while the kingpin itself looked like new. There are oversize kingpins available but that doesn't help with the fit of the bushing in the axle hole. Someone needs to offer oversize bushings (measured outside).

Like-new bushings in wallowed-out spindle/knuckle bushing holes/journals are most likely from a quick-fix repair - shops/people could not easily find good spindles/knuckles, so they just put in the replacement parts (maybe using an over-sized king-pins in worn holes in the axle).

Sadly, once there is wear in the system (wear would first take place in the softest component), the resultant looseness-movement wears/wallows the spindle holes and the axle holes.

Does anyone have a good MOOG king-pin catalog with parts-dimensions? You might be able to find a kingpin/bushing set for a standard or over-sized kingpin and a larger outer-diameter bushing.

This topic comes up regularly. If anyone has part numbers for over-sized bushings, please post them and forever be remembered/praised.

I know I had one eye in the axle on mine sleeved one time. Are those bronze or brass bushings?? I wonder if oversize bushing could be made, of course the eye in the spindle would need to be trued round also, couldn't be out of round.

John

I always use red Loctite on the OD of the new bushings.
I then slide the pin in through both bushings to keep them inline. I then warm the spindles in the oven to set the Loctite.
I have never had any come back from looseness.
Loctite will fill quite a bit of clearance between the bushings and spindle.

I don't believe oversize bushings are made with an oversize OD. Someone can correct me but I believe the oversize bushings are made with an oversize ID for to fit oversize king pins.

You are correct.

Someone with a MOOG (or other king pin) catalog that shows dimensions, might be able to find a set with larger bushing-OD and appropriate standard or over-sized king-pin diameter and length?

I have done like Dave has. I take a sharp center punch & punch a bunch of places on the spindle where the bushing goes. Then I put Permatex Shaft & bearing mount on it & put the bushings in and align them with the king pins like Dave says. I have used this methed on brg. races in front wheel hubs with success.

The whole worn spindle problem is accelerated by failure of frequently lubing them up. It would probably be a good idea to loctite the bushing to the spindle hole even if it fits tight. Then if someone neglects to keep it lubed, the wear will occur where it belongs, on the inside of the bushing where it meets the kingpin.

Correct, the outside of the bushings stay the same, the inside diameter is increased for oversize king pins.
John

I just went through this same situation. Moog part # 8451B is a standard .866" diameter kingpin with an oversized OUTER diameter bushing. My problem was I had a resized axle and worn spindles. That set took care of the problem. Finding a shop that would ream the spindles to the right size, now that was a whole 'nother issue!

coffeeman,

Thank you for the information.

A search on Moog part #8451B indicates it might work also for all 41-54 1/2 ton trucks(my guess it would work to 1959?).

What is the outer diameter of the over-sized-OD bushing?

What is the outer diameter of the regular bushing?

MOOG does not seem to show the dimensions on their website. $60+ from MOOG, about $38 from Rockauto & Amazon.

I will have to go back and look. I think the set was originally used on Oldsmobile cars. I know it will work, I just installed them last week on my burb.

The OD on the standard bushing is 1.056".

Thanks, do you know the OD of the over-sized OD bushings?

Oldsmobile? Who would have thought that? I love the information that is on this site. So lets see, get the set for that Olds, get the spindle to a machine shop, .....hum this is gonna take a bit of money and time...don't you just love working on your truck!

Be kind of useless to offer oversize OD bushings without knowing
what the finished OD was going to be. The size of the bore and
how much you need to take out can vary depending on how much
wear is in the part the bushing will be used in.

Denny G

Good point Denny. It just rubs me when you order an over-sized kingpin only to find out that the problem is the worn OD of the bushings/spindle hole. And you live too far away to make me one.

Tim, is that MOOG catalog an on line item???? Or is it
a hard copy that you have on the bench????

Found this site but the catalog listing doesn't go
back to the AD's. Also there is no dimensions given
for the parts.
http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/default.asp

Denny G

I was referring to the wimpy MOOG online catalog.

But, "MOOG does not seem to show the dimensions on their website."

That is why I asked: "Does anyone have a good MOOG king-pin catalog with parts-dimensions? You might be able to find a kingpin/bushing set for a standard or over-sized kingpin and a larger outer-diameter bushing."

I was/am hoping someone has an old or new catalog with dimensions.

Working on getting the OD of the oversized ones. I already installed them and have misplaced my measurements. I found a set online for $47.00 and paid the machine shop $100.00 to do the spindles. Not too bad. I have a bunch of money tied up in this straight axle and I still don't have it on the ground. I could have installed IFS for what I have in it. Just a matter of what I wanted!

Denny, I agree with you on knowing the OD of the bushing. I always encourage folks to take things apart and measure BEFORE you buy replacement parts. Because these bushings "float" in the spindle it's hard to determine what "worn out" is. The only way to know for sure is to measure and make sure the spindle bore is way too big or mishapened. Saves a lot of frustration AND money!!!

It only took me four kingpins and this thread to finally come to my senses. I'm not very good, but I am slow.