Replaced king pins on my 64. New bearings, brakes, leaf springs, drag link, used brass bushings. about year later - 1500 miles - it is all loose again - the side to side wobble that indicates kin pins. (right?). The shop tells me that they can pull the axle - resleeve it and reinstall and that would fix it. They did the work - brass bushings again. I got a few months out of that - and it is loose again.
So...
I have a line on a replacement axle - (Uncle Skip down in Texas). Is this 'out of spec' axle hole something that can be measured? eyeballed? evaluated without installing and waiting and see? After all -this replacement axle - like the one I have is 44 years old like the one I have that is 'bad'.
Monty

 

You can measure the king pin holes with a hole guage or dial indicator set up for it. The normal procedure for fixing the worn holes in the axle is to over size them then bush them down to the right diameter. Also are you sure the shop didn't use plastic bushings since they are much cheaper and easily hidden from plain sight?

Now when you say "side to side wobble" you mean as you hold the wheel and pull up and down on it (the same way you do for balljoints)? This is worn kingpins or a loose spindle nut.

While you are driving you can feel the truck drift side to side slightly? Normal for leaf spring equiped vehicles.

Or while pulling the front and aft of the wheel side to side? Steering linkages are worn, the sector shaft in the steering box is worn, or again a loose spindle nut.

To check for loose spindle nuts jack the truck up and take the wheel off. Take the dust cap off, tighten a lugnut hand tight and pull on the drum. If you see the hub move indepentant of the nut you need to pull and inspect your bearings. If they are fine repack them and tighten the spindle nut until you have a slight rolling resistance. Check the in and out movement again and then try to tilt the hub up and down. If that moves then your kingpins are going bad. To check the steering linkages you will need a helper to look and feel all the linkage joints. It helps to touch the pivot points since a little bit of play here and there adds up. Next have the helper rotate the steering wheel back and forth while you feel the linakges. If the linkages aren't moving then the steering box needs adjustment or rebuilding.

 

Forgive me for asking(some people really don't know), but are your wheel bearings tight?

(oops, I see Airharley beat me to it. I need to learn how to type!)

 

I've been told that anti-seize lube is pretty important or else stuff will come loose.

Next weekend I'm actually going to be replacing the king pins myself, so this thread should be of great help.

 

You can check the kingpin holes in the axle by taking a new kingpin and inserting it up from the bottom about half way into the hole. If you have any movement, it's loose. Also, the surface area on the bottom could be tapered where the thrust bearing rides. If it is, than it will need to be resurfaced. There are some people that have a portable machine that can line bore the holes and press a sleve in them without removing the axle. My brother does that for a living. I will be soon as well. (Mostly semi's but he has done some sprinter vans for UPS.) If you are interested in finding out if there is someone in your area, you can send me an email and I will give you number to call.

 

There is no way you could have possibly worn out a set of King Pin bushings in 1500 miles. Dosen't matter if they are metal or plastic. You need to inspect and determine what is the cause of the problem. Check the wheel bearings. Raise the front wheels off the ground and support them on jack stands. Wiggle the wheels and see where the slack is located. The bushings are in the spindle not in the axle. Plastic is easier to work with and usually last many years. I have over 40000 on a set in my truck and no problems. If it is indeed a King Pin bushing problem the shop that installed them should warrenty their work. I would.

 

William is right, assuming they were installed properly, and the axle eyes are not worn. My brother has installed kingpins within 2 months after a shop has installed them only to find that the holes were worn in the axle. A little movement in the axle will ruin the bushings in the knuckles too. They call him to bore and sleve the axle once the problem has been identified. Sometimes they call him because they don't know what the problem is. Sometimes people install bushings in a knuckle that has been worn and the bushings don't fit properly. There are several possibilities, and the only way to figure it out is tear it apart and examine all the parts. As for how long they will last, it's hard to say. I grease mine every month, but I do a lot of driving too. I put a set of kaiser no reams (there are expensive) in my 3500hd and had over 100,000 miles on them when I sold it. They were still good.