removing king pins

[wally426ci]

did you take any pictures of the dissassembly?

[rd200]

Here are a few shots of the very fun king pin replacement vacation.... View from the bottom up in order....

[wally426ci]

So theres no machining needed on the axle, just the spindles. Doesn't look bad. Thanks!!

[jarrod1964]

before you install your kingpins, it is a good idea to lube the pin and check how it fits in the axle, i have rebuilt truck suspensions and in our truck shop we have ran into older trucks that have kingpins bad enough the axle is ruint/or have to bushing the axle, sorry for responding so late haven't been here in a while, just thought i'd throw in a comment,

jarrod1964

[bean]

When fitting th bushings to the pins I found that often reamers leave little burrs and roughness. I found a machine shop down the road in meridian, ms that will HONE the bushings in parralell to one another. they use a long hone that goes through both bushing at one time. shop only hit me $35 and the fit was PERFECT nice and smooth

[wally426ci]

Man, I don't know where you guys find these shops. My first quote was $185, then another was $165, and now my lowest is $125-$150 @ Fisher Auto Parts.

I really wish I could find a $30 guy!!

I pulled mine yesterday and it was incredibly easy!! Its basically 4 bolts after you pull the drum and its over. Now, if NAPA could only get a set that had all the parts..... I might be reassembling right now if that were the case.....

PS: I found a 2800lb axle diagram in the 67 Book. I cant locate a diagram of the 2500ib axle. I assume its the same? They make it so small, I wish there were a larger scaled diagram.

[rd200]

You are right. The king pin set from NAPA came with all the parts. The bearing was an updated verson. On my 65 D-100 the bearing was a washer type. It had about 4 washers together and they all slid on eachother. The new set actually had ball bearings. The truck seems to have a little more response in the steering. Or in my mind I am making it up because because the package came with new parts. Its like the engine running better when you change the oil. Anyway it is good to know all is new on the front end....

[wally426ci]

Man, I was trying to decide which kit to go with. I ordered the stock replacement with the washers. I wonder if I should have gone with the ball bearings..

Is it easier to steer now?

[rd200]

the parts store never gave me an option. It just showed up that way... I cant see washers being more dificult to steer with. It might even be better than the bearings....

[Trailmaster]

I've driven trucks set up both ways. More important to good steering than washers or bearings is the regular greasing they get.

[wally426ci]

Thats what I'm hoping. I'll do a full report when its all back together, maybe take some pictures.

[Oldodge318]

Gentlemen...
Forgive my ignorance of king pins in advance, please.
Whenever I go to order the king pin set, I am presented with options for different axle weights, and sometimes with a varying...diameter?.. of .8730 or .8725.
Now, I DO realize that the measurements are very close to one another indeed, but I intend to do the job properly. If the axle weight is irrelevant, then I am OK with that. I just don't want to order the wrong part.
I am working on a 1964 Dodge D100 Stepside, originally had the 225 and three speed on the column, manual steering, if that information is needed.
Thanks in advance, I love the resources on this forum.

[wally426ci]

Your axle weight is on the door tag. Someone may chime in with what diameter you need but I was not given that option. Maybe try searching NAPA and then using the diameter that they show in their kit?

[Oldodge318]

I will just order the parts from NAPA, LOL...I tend to overthink

[hitparader]

I got the ball-bearing type from NAPA, other places (like rockauto) only seem to carry the washer type. They all seem to be made by the same mfr, Clevis or someone like that. One thing I noted is that the locking bolts they supply in these are too long and the head is too big (at least for my D100 reverse elliot axle). They work fine (all they have to do is lock the pin in the axle), but they looked butt-ugly. Unfortunately the original small-head 1/2"-20 bolts haven't been made since the Nixon administration I doubt. I cleaned mine up with a die and retapped the axles (they were galled badly) so I could reuse the originals.

On machine shop prices, yeah I think $30-35 per spindle is fair. Honing instead of reaming should be fine as long as it is a line hone and not just some yahoo running a brake hone on a drill down them one at a time.

My axle is apart right now if anyone needs pics.