Steer kingpin movement limit?

Wheel bearings aren't loose. Not to where it's measurable on a tape measure. And besides, there will be lateral that can be felt prying on a wheel in one of the holes with a 48" tire iron. No irregular tire wear either. Again, I was just checking while while the front end was off the ground. I still might replace the kingpins while freight is down, guessing they will need replacing before I'm done with the the truck in 5-6 years.

 

There was vertical movement. 1/16-1/8 inch on both wheels. I did check for lateral movement, and none.

 

Set your phone up to capture that movement. Around the king pin bearing. When it's on the ground, is there a gap between the top of the axle and the spindle?

 

You have to lookit up for the exact truck your working on, but if your measurung in inches, I'm sure it way out, Kingpin shims are .005 to.030, and your asking about 1/4 inch.

 

If I’m understanding you correctly then someone did a poor job of shimming them. You’ll have a bearing on bottom and shims on top of the axle eye. If they are shimmed loose you will get some axle “bounce” if I’m understanding you correctly yours are definitely too loose

 

It may have just spit some shims out IF it is all up and down movement. If it is 1/4 inch up and down I would be looking at the lower kingpin bearing really close.

 

The fact that you think measuring end play with a tape measure is acceptable shows you don't know what you're doing. Compounding this issue is you refuse to research what's needed to properly adjust bearing end play.

It terrifies me that guys like you are responsible for equipment maintenance. A wheel off situation is often deadly to others who share the road with your equipment.

Just take it to reputable shop because no matter what we tell you, you'll just ignore it anyway. I mean; why even bother asking questions if you've already decided the answer in your head beforehand?

 

Iamoverit, if you read all the posts carefully, you'd know I only checked kingpin play with a tape measure for vertical movement. I did say I do my own wheel bearings (with a dial indicator BTW) to make the point that I know when a wheel bearing is loose. Powder Joints gave the information closest to answer I was looking for, because I know how much vertical play there is on newly installed kingpins. So I'll just keep the old kingpins packed with grease until I get them replaced soon-by a reputable shop BTW, the same one mechanic shop who replaced them a decade ago.

 

I had a spindle replaced. They re-used the same shims, instead of properly adding new shims. It was loose. I finally got around to fixing it about 7 years later. Expected to find it wore out. Surprisingly it wasn’t. Bought a shim kit, for a couple bucks. Was able to drop the pin enough to add proper shims. Also had to properly re install the pinch bolts. They were installed backwards from original. Didn’t even take the wheel off. Wheel kept the pin from falling completely out. A little time, and a couple of jacks, no big deal. If play is only up and down, not side to side, you may just need to properly shim it.