I know I’ve seen a post on here on the same topic, but I couldn’t find it, so here goes…

My tractor (2006 Pete 387) is no spring chicken (858k miles), and as I’ve been experiencing some unusual steer tire wear (yes, it is properly aligned and I have Road King shocks and Centramtics and Tru-Balance wheel centering sleeves), thought I might try replacing the king pins. My problem is that I’ve never done this before and don’t want to turn a minor problem into something major and very expensive. Given that I have my own shop and, while I’m no mechanic I am a pretty accomplished parts-swapper, should this job be easily within the scope of my abilities, or should I go down to my local Cummins dealer and let them rape me like they usually do?

If I embark on this adventure, how much time should I plan on it taking? Any suggestions on where I might get more reasonably prices parts than what Peterbilt will offer? Any non-standard tools I might need? Any tips, tricks or suggestions anybody can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

I just did my kingpin job. Keep in mind it is a decent job. Have you done wheel bearings and wheel seals before?

Special tools:

- Wheel nut removal tools, preferably air
- Large nuts to remove outer bearings
- Pickle fork
- Kingpin installer tool
- Kingpin bushing installer tool (kaiser makes one for their spiral bushings if you go that route)
- Brake shoe removal tool (or large pliers)
- I highly recommend Kaiser qwik-kit kingpins
- Dial indicator for setting up wheel bearings
- Wheel seal driver

Parts:

- Kingpin kit
- Wheel seals
- Outer wheel hub gasket
- Lots of grease (two tubes easily)
- Some oil to fill bearings

Optional parts if you want:

- Tie rod ends
- Drag link
- Brake shoes
- Brake drum
- S-cam
- S-cam bushings
- Slack adjuster

Remove:

- Wheels
- Drums
- Hubs
- Brake shoes
- Drag link (steering knuckle end)
- Tie rod
- Brake chambers to make it easier to take the knuckles off, but not necessary

At this point I would recommend a new drag link, new tie rod ends, Check your s-cams and bushings/ replace if necessary. Also check your wheel bearings/races and replace if necessary.

To remove the steering knuckle you need to remove the upper and lower kingpin caps. Depending on style they can be a real bitch. I had screw in ones and had to put 800 + ft lbs on a very shallow nut. Eventually the nut broke and my dad welded a rod to the kingpin cap. After the caps are removed you remove the draw keys and should be able to pound the kingpins out. This can take a lot of work.

After the knuckle is removed you take the seals and the bushings out (with previously mentioned bushing driver). Clean everything up real nice, including the axle eye. Now we're ready for installation. The Kaiser kingpin set comes with good instructions. You also have to load up the bearing with grease. This can take 20 minutes per bearing. It can also be tricky putting in the spiral bushings, but once you get the hang of it you'll be fine. Don't forget to shim everything fairly tight. You want to be able to tap in the bearings with some resistance. You'll know what I mean from the instructions and the parts in front of you.

After installation the knuckles should move freely with very very little resistance. From here it's installation of all the parts. Don't forget to do the toe in if you did the tie rod ends.

 

Allan, I'd heard it was quite a big job. Thanks for such a thorough reply. I don't know if I'm that motivated or not. Maybe I should just take a tub of grease, my truck and my ass down to the Cummins dealer and bend over. If you were going to have the work done and didn't have a local shop that you actually TRUSTED to do everything correctly, would you gamble on the local Cummins dealer or go to Peterbilt. The closest Peterbilt I trust is over 120 miles away. My Cummins dealer is hit and miss. The guy who works on my engine is top notch, but when I get lazy and take my truck down there to have lesser things done (things I could do myself but don't feel like it) I never know what I'm going to get. I wish I had a place I could trust here in Southern Illinois.

 

If you've done wheel bearings and wheel seals give it a shot. The biggest problem may be the kingpin caps, go and look what style you have. It may be 3 small bolts or a nut in the middle that the grease nipple screws into. The latter style can be a bitch.

Even try getting them off before doing anything else. If they don't come off easy maybe take it in. If you can get them off go run and get parts. If you get regular kingpins you may need to ream out your knuckle to get the new bushings in. I highly recommend the Stemco Kaiser Qwik-kit.

How far is your closest parts place? Do you need a brake job on the front? Either plan on doing a fast kingpin job and get minimal parts before hand, or take it all apart then decide what parts you want. The s-cams and bushings are super easy to do on the front. Any wear affects brake balance (the truck pulls to the side during braking).

 

kingpins arent that hard.just like anything else-clean every thing good and put it back the way u took it apart.

 

Tim, you're welcome to Marion, IL and show me how to do it. I'll watch the first time around. I kinda figured it was like most other jobs, as you've said, put it back the way you found it; but it really does sound like more than I'm willing to do. At least Allan scared me off before I jumped in and started taking things apart. I’ve never gotten into anything that I couldn’t get myself out of, but there’s certainly been times when I spent a lot of time cussing myself for thinking a job was going to be relatively easy and then it turned into a multi-day ordeal. This sounds like a multi-day ordeal to me. I like tinkering and doing the easy stuff because it saves me money, but if it’s going to be a long involved process, I don’t mind paying to have it done.

 

I got uneven wear, decided to change tie rod ends before doing kingpins. That cured the problem. Don't forget them!

 

We had kingpins put in on one of our trucks about a month ago it was about $1,400 from the local tire shop.

Also how are your tie rod ends? They can cause allot of wear issues.

 

Luckily, everything in the front end checked out okay. There is a small amount of wear in the spring hanger brackets and that's it, so the problem has to be either alignment or shocks, though it's hard to believe my Road King shocks could've failed already. I had the front axle aligned (the drives were perfect) and threw two new steer tires on so now it's just going to take some miles to tell if the problem is still there.

 

how to quickly and safely remove kingpins on the truck
It is spechial hydraulic press mod. KPP 80-125 for pressing out and pressing in the pins of trucks and buses, without dismantling the vehicle axle.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/xXNjdrCSzZg