king pin help wanted

heat and beat on the pinch bolts is the last resort, but usually a good 4lb hammer will get them started but if not, then I go to a good air hammer with a good chisel, then the old fashioned blue wrench and hammer. Hope this helps, also make sure to leave the nut on flush with the end of the bolt before yopu start trying to hammer it out, if you dont it will mushroom the end of the bolt and make it hard to come past the kingpin. just my .02, hope this helps.

 

you ever thought about using centramatics? I tried them for the first time & steer tires wearing perfectly even. $150.00 installed by some loves travel centers

 

I've heard good and bad about centramatics, I think some of it depends on the tire brand, but some of the best wearing steer tires were balanced with glass beads in them. dont remember how it was done because it was several years ago on my dad's truck but he would get upwards of 150,000 miles out of a set on a fld with a bunch of miles on it and the original kingpins. But good regular alignments and good tires will last, especially if it's a highway truck. just my .02

 

I'm really late getting to this so if this isn't useful....

Kinpins- Stemco makes 3 kinds of bushings, plastic, bronze, and stainless steel. Plastic is useless I think. The bronze is a standard for many people. The stainless ones are the twist in style and yes they are bigger bucks but they are the best out there for dumps and plow trucks or any trucks that run heavy on the front (above 14,000lbs) The state of Minnesota specs the stainless ones for their plow trucks because they can get more than 100,000 miles out of a set. Snowplows are really hard on front end parts.

Can a talented DIY'er do a set these themselves? Yes if they can get the old pin out of the axle. The stainless bushings twist into place and don't need to be honed for fit.

Some cautions are needed here though. The stainless bushings are harder than the pin so keeping them greased is a MUST. And getting them greased the first time can be a pain. Did a set last week and the one side wanted to lock up when I greased it because they fit #### tight when greased.

Tire wear on the outside of the right tire....I could write a book here.
Many times that wear is caused by the castor angle of the right tire. If the left tire looks good and the outside of the right tire is getting worn down then usually its a castor setting. Someone else described what castor does so I'll take it from there. The important thing to remember is what the cross castor is between the 2 sides.

So if the left is 3.2 and the right is 3.7 then the cross is .5 What that means is that on flat surface (truly level not a highway) is the the truck will turn to the left slowly because the cross is forcing the truck to the left. The physics of it mean that the wheels will turn to the side with less castor because as the wheels turn to the outside the castor angle rises. So the wheels will go the the weaker side until the angles even out.

Now think about what the toe of the front tires is doing at the same time. Normally tires are closer together in the front to toe them in slightly about a 1/16th of an inch. But when the castor forces a slight left turn then the tires will look like this l.....\ and now you can see how the outside of the right side gets cut off.

So in the real world how do you deal with this? I used the earlier numbers because they are a spec number on many axles as far as being in adjustment. And that number will cut some life off the steer tires.You want and need some extra castor on the right side to deal with the road crown. In a perfect world I like to see no more than three tenths of a degree in cross castor between sides. In reality I see as much as seven tenths of a degree and that on some axles thats still considered good.

Camber. Its needed and its good to have because it helps make a truck turn a shorter corner. Here I like to see it as close to even as possible but for the most part its not adjustable. I don't care if its low or high as long as its even because it makes the truck handle evenly from right to left.

Yes some people still bend axles but its really a bad thing anymore with insurance liability and lawsuits.

When you get an alignment get it done on a laser machine. The accuracy is the best possible. But ask this question first. "When was the last time the machine was calibrated?" The can and do go out of whack so they need to be reset every so often. We get ours done about every 6 months or so. The best tech in the world will give you a bad job if the machine is out of whack.

 

To Smalltruck

So much good info in your post. I had my alignment done in August last year.
Here what i have now:

Camber: Left 0.2 pos, Right 0.1 neg, Cross 0.2 pos
Caster: Left 2.6 pos, Right 3.5 pos, Cross 0.9 neg
Toe: Left 0.03 pos, Right 0.02 pos, Total toe 0.04 pos
The numbers are from a sheet I got after the alignment was done/

My right steer tire always starts wearing outside edge before the left shows any signs of wear. I would appreciate your opinion on this adjustment.

 

Smalltruck: Great post.... Thank you. I look forward to reading more on this subject, from you...

 

Well I sent one to a frame shop today with a bent axle on the left side. But, it came with,"Honest I didn't hit anything"...from the driver. That's why the camber is that far off on the left side. I don't like bending an axle but sometimes there is little choice

Beltrans...
Camber: Left 0.2 pos, Right 0.1 neg, Cross 0.2 pos
Caster: Left 2.6 pos, Right 3.5 pos, Cross 0.9 neg
Toe: Left 0.03 pos, Right 0.02 pos, Total toe 0.04 pos

Whats the truck and the application you're using it for?

What I see is that the caster is way too high on the right. Pull 1/2 degree out of the right and add about 1 degree to the left because should get them pretty close to equal. If you just add to the left the right will go up between .2 and .3 and the left will gain the balance. So you need to do a little to both sides. The camber is #### light to almost being non-existent on the right. Fix the caster and see how it drives. Did your printout list what the axle setback is? It should be a number like .25 or something like that, could be either pos or neg

I'll put up a post about setback later this weekend. Its a hidden setting most people ignore but its #### important. I'm into the first cold beer of the weekend after a long hot day....

 

Again, thank you S/T. Obviously, you are at the top of the class with this stuff....

 

Thank you for your responce Smalltruck, the truck is Pete 379 1998, used for a long haul. Mostly loaded up to 80K gross. I checked that printout list and found that the fron axle set back is 0.18 pos. Again thank you for your reply Smalltruck.