King pin replacement instructions

[sargentrs]

Anybody got directions or a technical reference or something? Gotta do it, don't know diddly.

[RTG_RACING]

Anybody got directions or a technical reference or something? Gotta do it, don't know diddly.

call they shop they know how.

[Redcap]

Anybody got directions or a technical reference or something? Gotta do it, don't know diddly.

call they shop they know how.

[kaptnkaos]

Personally, I would would take it to a shop...
The old king pins either need to be pressed out or beaten out with a big hammer (which I've heard is a real PITB to do).
The the new bushings need to be pressed in and reamed to fit the new king pins.
You can remove the I beam units and take those into the shop and have it done.
I'm not sure if you have to remove the drums / disk brakes or not...
Good luck... I'll be watching as I plan on doing it as well some time in the future...

KaptnKA S

[OLE69F100]

I just had mine pressed out at a shop the guy told me one side just about fell out and the other about wore out their 5ton press The $37.50 I spend to have them pressed out was well worth the hours I would have spent trying to get them out. The new kit ran me another $70 plus another $40 to ream the bushings.

[RTG_RACING]

Anybody got directions or a technical reference or something? Gotta do it, don't know diddly.

call they shop they know how.

Man I had a friend who was doing this. I said I would help. NEVER again. I have never had to fight waith anything as much as we did with the king pins.

[cdherman]

I would agree that if you can find a reliable shop that works for reasonable prices it might be money well spent. For just king pin removal and re-bushing, taking the whole truck to a shop might be easiest.

But on the other hand, part of the reason you are driving an older vehicle is that you must appreciate the simplicity and possibility of doing some things yourself.

Moreover, don't fool yourself with the prices up there -- if you drag a pair of disc brake spindles to your average shop and ask them to install them on your 65-69 truck with drum brakes, and while they are at it, please mount and plumb the proportioning valve and drop in the correct master cylinder for front disk brakes, you will get SOAKED.....

I agree that taking the spindles to a shop and having the bushings pressed in and then reamed is money well spent, although the reamers are on ebay intermittantly for about what the fellow up above paid......

[sargentrs]

Oh, I didn't intend to do it by myself. Got a friend who's got all the tools and equipment and machining experience. Just need the technical stuff. Removal/installation, bore/bushing tolerances, torque specs, etc. He's got a pretty complete shop with a 20 ton press and machining center. Lot of other goodies too.

[cdherman]

Ok, so get your spindles. Preferrably, get the ibeams, radius arms and springs while you are at it. Get the proportioning valve, master cylinder as well, but don't pay a bundle for the MC as you will likely use it for a core anyhow. Ditto the brake booster if you are going power brake route.

If the donor king pins are OK, then simple solution is to remove your current ibeam.radius arm/spindles and just swap over. Replace the radius arm rubber bushings for sure. The ibeam pivot bushings can be a pain in the backside, and I don't see why you should replace them if they are OK.

If you desire to keep your orignal ibeams and radius arms, bear in mind that the spindle stops changed through the years and your later spindles may not hit the axel at the right place.

If you have to replace the king pins, get the pins for the year of ibeam/axel that you have. That assures that the keeper slot is in the correct location. The diameter and lenght changed slightly through the years too.

Once you have the old bushings removed and have the new pins in your possession, you have to press or drive in the bronze bushings in. Then they are reamed with a correct reamer, or if that is not avaliable, machine shops will just use a hone and keep honeing till the pins pass through, NO MORE.

There is more information in the tutorial as noted above, but I threw in some little details that are often missing from some instructions out there in cyberspace.....

[sargentrs]

OK, so it's just pretty much:

Take it apart.
Buy the pieces.
Get the old bushings/rubber out, however you can.
Press the new bushings in.
Ream/Hone so the kingpin JUST slides through.
Replace the rubber parts.
Put it back together.
Tighten to two grunts.
Hope you don't break anything.

Man, I like this technical stuff! Gotta love these trucks! YeeHaw!

[cdherman]

aside from the "rubber parts" which I don't think there are any, I think you have it.

[sargentrs]

I meant the rubber bushings in the radius arms, drag links, and I beams if needed. Thanks!

[Banjo]

I wish I'd had a buddy when I was reassembling, but I work alone. I had to use two floor jacks at once to get things back together easier. And, I had to reloosen some bolts to get some slack and retighten them later. It was tough to get those radius arms back in with ibeams attached.