I'm almost afraid to hear the answer to this question, The King pins on my F-5(new and old) can wiggle in the axle about 1/32" of an inch. Bad?????
Do I need to pull the axle and have it sleeved at $250 a side????

I was gearing up for a good therapy session as Oilleaks mentioned. But the problem I have with the king pins is they came out way to easy. Just a slight tap and up they went.

Figures,....The old pins fit snug in the spindle.
Reamer

 

Ron,

I think we hit on this in an earlier thread, but I can't remember for sure.

It would be best if the king pins fit like a glove in the axle holes. That said, remember that the tapered retaining pin holds the king pin in place in the axle hole by pressing it against one side of the hole. If the pin is solid with the tapered pin tight, it might not be a problem. That's how your old pins were held in place. On the other hand, there is a lot of sideways force from the spindle on the top and bottom of the king pin. I guess if it were me, I'd bite the bullet and have them sleeved. I know you didn't want to hear that.

I would never suggest that you do something unsafe. It's always safer to have a tight steering setup if you can make it happen. Not having the axle holes sleeved, however, is highly unlikely to lead to a catastrophic (dangerous) failure mode. Even if the pins work loose, they aren't going to suddenly let go and leave you at speed without any control of the vehicle.

You can always try the unsleeved axle and recheck the retaining bolt and king pin fit regularly to see if the pins are working loose. If they do work loose, your steering will get sloppy again and you will definitely notice it. It's your choice and depends on the amount of work you are willing to do/redo. I should also note that you might have to buy another set of king pins if they work loose and are damaged by being loose in the axle holes. Good luck whichever way you go.

 

If it were me and I were going to fix it I would look for an oversized king pin and have the holes machined to fit the new pin. I would also look for another machine shop. The bushing can't be over $50.00 each thats $200.00 labor per side to ream a hole oversized. Take a few measurements and go to www.mcmaster.com and look up bushings. Heck I can buy a new front axle for $350.00 for my F3.

 

Chris,

The oversize king pins are a great idea. I remember seeing them for the smaller trucks (F-1, F-2) from at least one vendor. I didn't remember seeing any vendors with oversize pins for the big trucks, though. Maybe JobLot Automotive? They seem to have a lot of stuff for bigger trucks.

Ron,

If the play is only 1/32", you should be able to have the spindle bushings reamed out for oversize king pins, as Chris suggested, without losing too much bushing material. I remember that I pressed in my spindle bushings, and then got both sides reamed for $30 - that was maybe 4 years ago.

Assuming you find oversize king pins, if the axle holes are out-of-round, you'll have to have some boring done to get the oversize king pins to fit properly. I don't know how much that would cost. I imagine it's a little harder to do the machining set up for each end of the axle, compared to the much smaller and lighter spindles. Good luck!

 

Earl is right we did just go over this, as I said then the wedge bolts are soft and even if it tightens up some pot holes and 6 months and you'll be doing it again. I saw an F3 which had 17.5 wheels on it, if I'm not wrong, pull the outside of the axle eye out because of it being loose. Driver darn near lost the wheel, however isn't your F5 set up with the same axle as the P500 was in the 60's and 70's. Pin was approximately 1 1/8 inches in diameter.
I know they made 10 and 20 OS pins for that.