E-150 1987

Hello people!

I'm leaving for a long trip in 10 days. I have quite loose king pins. I have to change them. I can't pay a garage to do all the job. Here's my plan: dismount everything myself and bring the I-Beams to a shop were they will redo the bushings in them.

I was told I will need heat to remove some bolts. My question is: after I removed the caliper from the axle, how do I remove the radius arm from the axle? Is the spring still under pressure when the truck is supported on the frame? I assume not so I can simply unbolt everything.

About the pins: there is a part called a knukle. Is it the steele or cooper cylinder that goes in the caliper? Can I remove/replace it myself or will I need it to be pressed out or in? I also know I need them to be rimed so that the pin slide ultra-precisely in it.

So basically I need you people to reassure me and tell me that I'm diving in that job the right way. Any precision would be welcomed and also stuff like a step-by-step "how to" just to make sure I don't screw up. I've changed the engine in my van with one of my friend so I believe I can do that. I know drum96 did that.. can you help me again?!

Thanks

A stressed one

 

Seems like you are going to a lot of work here.

The basic job the shop has to do remains the same regardless of if the axle is on or off the vehicle.

The marginal time for them to pull the caliper wouldn't seem to cost that much.

You are going to be taking the whole thing apart....

Have you asked the shop what they charge on the vehicle vs. off?

Keep in mind after you put it all back together, unless you have a front end alignment system, you will be in the shop anyway.

I might be wrong, but I see a lot more stress in taking the whole thing apart....

 

Well I did it!

It took me about 4 days in the driveway. I was mainly slowed down by rain once and the shop making me wait for the axle to be refurbished. Taking appart the first side took me a day, and the other one 2 hours. I had a hard time kicking out one of the lock pin. The huge bolts that hold the radius arm and the axle together had to be soaked with Liquid Wrench (efficient product by the way) and the nut was heated. They came out easily considering that I didn't had long tork wrench. It was worst than going to the gym but it went pretty fine in the end. The test drive was my 6000 km trip. It all stayed there.

 

Babin,

Congrats on completing quite a job! What issues did you run into as regards the questions you asked in your original post?

DadVan

 

Well I was all wrong in my original post. I was messed up about the parts name.
Here's an approximate step by step of my experience:

- Remove the wheel, the caliper, the disk
- Kick out the king pin's lock pin (had a hard time on one)
- Kick out the king pin. Now you can go to a garage and have the new bushing placed it in and rimmed.
- Remove the top retaining bolt of the shock absorber. It's the only way to get enough loose on the spring so it can be easily removed. Tried a spring compresser tool but the spring on a van are too thick.
- Remove the spring
- Remove the huge bolt holding the radius arm and the axle.
- Remove the axle and bring it to a garage to get it refurbished
- I was told to change the axle end bushing if needed, no time for that, it's not a security compromising part.
- And place everything back in place and be happy
- Somewhere in the process you also need to remove a stabiliser bar bolt.
- You will also need a tie rod end removing tool.
- My van was well treated before I got it so I didn't have major issues unlocking rusty bots. But you need a good back. I found my self stabing my wrench with my foot to get more power and to unlock the huge bolt.
- I was told to be carefull when tapping on the new king pin to get it into the knukle. Use a rubber hammer, it's common sense. If not you can screw up the new pin.
- Be extremely carefull about jacking the front of the van. When everything is removed, it just hangs into the air with nothing to fall on.

That's about it, it was long. I was discovering a soon as I was running into a problem. I'm a little crazy I think. But that job I did it alone and it's 234329 billion times simpler than changing an engine with 2 people.