Kingpin fit issues

[yossarian19]

So, I've never had a vehicle with kingpins or worked on them before. Need some advice.
My '57 has play in the driver's side kingpin. With brand new bushings & pins, I'm noticing a slight amount of play between the top bushing & the spindle. I'm noticing more play between the kingpin & the axle (with the lock pin loose). Not gross, under a millimeter of gap at the top of the axle.
I am trying to slow the bleeding $$ for the moment...
So...
Do I put it together & run it for a while, then have parts machined & sleeved later?
Or is that inviting further harm / disaster?
The way I am thinking about it, hey, I'll someday get the axle bores reamed & sleeved to fit anyway. Why worry about it this very minute if it won't cause problems beyond tire wear?
Sound right?

[Speedbumpauto]

IF you installed new bronze bushings and had them reamed or honed for size and parallel, there should be no lateral movement between the bushing(spindle) and the pin. The lock pin takes out any pin movement in the axle, don't worry about that unless it's excessive which means the axle is shot(can be fixed with money). If you're talking about up-down movement, there should be shims that are added to the top of the axle, between the axle and spindle. They take up the space that is left over after the bottom bearing seats between the axle and spindle.(on some kits it's a bronze spacer instead of a bearing)

[mr48chev]

Vertical gap between the spindle and the axle? That is controlled with the shims that came in the package with the new kingpins and bushings. At least most every set I have installed came with several shims of various thickness.

If the spindle already moves from side to side on the new kingpin you may have the bushings too loose.

[yossarian19]

The bushings are manufactured to size, no reaming. They slide into the spindle, the kingpin slides into them, by hand.

There isn't vertical play, it is side to side / in line with the axle beam. When I had the wheel attached, i could grab the tire at 12 and 6 rock it a little (not grossly bad).

If I'm not going to do any further harm or risk catastrophic failure, I'll put it together & refresh the front end at a later time.

[Speedbumpauto]

Probably won't be any worse than slightly worn king pins. Have you greased them? That takes up a little space. The best sets are undersized and reamed/honed to fit after being pressed in but not too many old guys around that can do that any more I guess. I have a complete set of mandrels for my Sunnen hone and have never used them. Go figure.

[_Ogre]

when i drove a straight axle truck i always took out the axle and had a machine shop press in bushings and ream them.
when i worked as a bus mechanic in high school we had a press and reamer that we could use with the axle in the bus.
we always reamed the bushings to true up the bores.

[yossarian19]

Some day, if Porterbuilt builds a stock height C10 suspension for the '57, go IFS.
This weekend, though I'm going to put this one together & worry about machine work down the road. The local machine shops are, after all, local: no big deal to tear down the front end & bring them the parts if needed. For the moment, I just gotta get some parts off the shop floor & get something done.

[beanyard]

So should any play be expected in the king pin area when you wiggle the wheel at 6 and 12?
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[yossarian19]

I've heard "nope, no play at all" but experienced different.
The new kingpin, dropped into the bore, had a little space to move WITHOUT THE TAPER PIN.
Once I put it all together, though, and added grease - tight as a drum. No movement. None. Zero.
So, unless it's really grossly rocking back and forth, I'd assemble it with all new kingpin kit and see what you wind up with. I damn near shipped the axle out for reaming & sleeving for no reason.

[dicer]

The king pin should not fit the hole in the axle loosely. You should almost have to tap it into the axle. Maybe .004 clearance max between pin an hole, just guessing here since there is no specs in the manual.

[Green 1959]

On my truck it has only up and down movement, I would say less than 1/32. Should I replace the kinpins? I have only greased it once since I've had it but only have really drove 40 miles. There is no side to side play

[yossarian19]

Sounds like the last installer didn't use quite as much shim between bearing & axle boss as he / she could have.
I'd leave it alone until there's a clear reason to replace it, though.

[mr48chev]

One thing I missed or "we" missed on honing and fitting the king pins with brass bushings that needed to be 'fitted' is take them to an automotive machine shop that has a Sunnen pin hone or similar hone to hone them to fit. That way you can get a precise fit that will help give maximum life and better handling in the long run. I'm not a fan of the king pin kits that have the nylon bushings in them as they always seem to wear out rather quickly in comparison. They are quick and easy to install though.