This is what I have:
1987 Ford F-250 Diesel... 2 wheel drive...

I've been running into a problem. I hope I have the terminology correct (been doing a lot of reading today).

The Chilton's manual for this truck says all 2 wheel drive models have an upper and lower ball joint on the front wheels connecting the spindle assemblies to the front axles.

However I am pretty sure that is NOT what I have. Everything else in the manual's diagrams looks the same. Radius arm, twin I-beam front axles, springs, tie-rod, etc. all look the same in the manual as what is on my truck.

However the spindle assemblies are attached to the twin I-beam axles using kingpins (I think that is what it is called, correct me if I am wrong) and not ball joints...


I thought maybe the Chilton’s manual is incorrect and left out some info, however I have not even been able to find parts online for kingpin assemblies. The Ford dealership in my area is closed at the moment and I can not call them.


Has anyone seen kingpin steering on a 1987 F-250 before? Did the Chilton’s manual just leave out some info? I am kinda worried cause when I tried looking up parts for this online I couldn’t find anything about replacement parts for a kingpin.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.


BTW the original problem I have is the wheel on the passenger side. There is a VERY LOUD grinding noise when steering coming from the passenger side. I put the truck on jack stands and removed the tie-rods and I can easily move the driver wheel along the steering axis by hand. However the passenger side won’t budge.

Thanks in advance.

 

While you may have the twin I beam suspension, its probable that the knuckle is attached to the I beams by ball joints....go look at your truck and see what you have... look at autozones website and see if your trucks has ball joints-you will see the two large nuts holding the knuckle onto the I beam...a king pin will be just a large pin that goes through the I beam which has a notch cut in it to hold it in place....look at these kingpins... http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=46-0
these king pins has a screw-in cap with a grease fitting to keep junk out...

 

If it is a F350 4x4 it has king pins. If it is anything else it has ball joints

 

it might be possible if your 87 is a early production truck(1 / 2 / 3 / of 87 ),if could have been fitted with leftover 86 kingpin I beams

 

Here is a picture of the back of the spindle.

I do not see any ball joints. There are just two caps with grease plugs, one of top and and one of bottom.

 

That is a king pin

 

That was what I was thinking.

I definitely have a 1987 F-250... I thought maybe the vehicle registration was wrong on the year model. So I typed the VIN number into a ford website and it confirms it is definitely a 1987 model...

Now how the hell am I supposed to get parts for this thing?

 

Ford strikes again.

Just tell them you have a 1986 2wd F-250 and need kingpins for it.

 

Is it just "tight" at the bushings due to lack of maintenance? if so you might be able to free it back up without tearing it all apart. I've done a few of them over the years.

Will it take grease? doubt it will, can't quite push that grease gun handle down huh, can't force any new in?

Heating those bushings up with a torch, just as hot as you can but without melting or burning the dust boots mind ya, don't need to be red hot, no where near it. Softens the old hardened grease you can usually get them to take new grease without to much effort. Once they take some new grease forcing the old stuff out, top and bottom bushing, they useally start moving much easer. Just a little at first then nicely once things get moving again.

The bearing in there is another story though, if its shot nothing will help but a new pin and bearing. The weight of the truck sits on those and if its shot it won't improve much if at all. Good news is that bearing is rarely the problem with stiff king pins.