King pin causing alignment issue

Jack the front tires up off the ground. With the engine off you should be able to turn the steering shaft above the box by hand. If that cannot been done you need to go back to the shop that replaced the bushings.
When you start to thank you know most everything something usually kicks you in the shorts. Some tie rod ends do not have grease fittings anymore. They are prelubricated, sealed and good for life. When they are binding up, making it hard the steering wheel their life is over.

 

I’ve seen lots of times one of the shims didn’t line up with the king pin and the corner of the shim is pounded down into the axle with the king pin making things tight.

 

this whole post equals thumbs up. from start to finish

 

If the steering wheel went off center after the pins were replaced ( and 9 out of 10 times it does) that can sometimes be an indicator of what side was the worst and where the correction needs to be.

Just a thought and not necessarily the problem but new tight pins can make an older higher mileage lazy steer box act funny and they can also amplify a weaker front spring sag.

 

one things for sure, i dont care how tight the pins are now, the old pins must have been shot to hell if it affected this guys alignment that bad. thats a lot of dang play he must have had and must have needed pins years ago

 

I’ve seen a lot of old iron in my time of messing with the “obsolete” that have had some badly worn pins without cutting up a tire or wondering in a lane too bad. My guess is that due to the different pin angles that were used and both manual steer boxes and no extra weight from brakes hanging off of them they are more forgiving. Sometimes you can’t tell they are bad till you jack ‘em up and put a 6’ bar under tire and you see a crazy 1/4” or more of play. Lol

 

At one time a major company I worked for checked kingpins at each service. Before greasing them. On their PM sheet it listed maximum play 1/4, that was measured from the top of the tire to the frame or engine, while using a bar under the tire or through a wheel hole. If the assembly has play grease the kingpin. If it still has play that is the wheel bearing.They also had toe checked and adjusted on a schedule so it was adjusted to match kingpin wear. If bushings are ran to that limit toe changes a lot when new bushings are installed.