King pins

The reason we always jacked them up was to grease them turned all the way right, then left, than center and with 99% everything back then manual steering it was easier to turn them. If you had power you didn’t need the engine running to do it.
You could also put a bar or pipe under the tires and give the pins a little test for looseness wiggle play and wiggle test the hub bearings at grease time.
It was inspecting and servicing 3 things at once and all it took was extra time to jack.

 

On old school mechanic told me to do it a long long time ago. Just have done it ever since

 

I truly believe that is why pin and bearing failures were not as bad in the past as they are now. Those little details go a long way for helping things last longer. I can honestly say the king pins and bearings and drag link ends have not been changed on my ‘67 in it’s 3.6 million mile life. Still solid. The wheel seals and drive axle seals have been replaced here and there.

 

Nothing detailed. You just jack it up. Turn the wheel right to lock. Pump some grease. Turn it all the way left to lock and pump some grease. Turn back to center and usaully one pump shows its full and all the crud grease is purged.
Get a long bar and put under tire while you lay on the ground. Look at the pins while pulling up on bar and see if play in pins is within spec. Wiggle bar back and forth to move tire in and out to see if the pins wiggle to much in and out.
Spin the tire by hand to see if you hear any clicking bearing noise. Wiggle tire back and forth sideways and up and down to check play in tie rods and bearing pre load.
It’s standard yearly state inspection stuff that nobody does anymore. Not even on cars.

 

My experience has mostly been heavy spec stuff (20k lb steer axles) that spent more time in the dirt and mud than pavement. Kingpins greased with tires on the ground every weekend. No issues.

 

The key to long life in anything is maintenance

 

I bought a 12 ton bottle jack from Harbor Freight for under $40 if I remember correctly

 

Newer king pin bushings do not need to jacked up to properly lubricate, about the last 15 years or so, new designs.

 

It all depends on style or brand, and which way the bearing faces. Stemco has one that you grease with weight on it.

But if you grease it on the ground, how do you check wheel bearing play?

A paid mechanic or technician better jack that mudder funker up or he should be fired.