It's raining again so I'm less inclined to go out and work on the house. A lot of the stuff I need to do right now is under cover, protected from the rain, so I'll probably go and get a bit done. (A lot of the things I accomplish are actually done a little bit at a time, rather than all at once.)
More importantly, we're under an Areal Flood Watch for the Chena River basin. Steady rain is forecast through the week and, with all the rain we've received over the past six weeks, the ground is already saturated.
Pat and I are at a high enough elevation that it's unlikely we'll be seriously affected. However, the Chena Hot Springs Road does transverse low lying areas near the river so we may wind up cut off from town for a while.
So, it's back to kingpins, in order to do something constructive.
First, let's determine if your kingpin bushings are actually worn enough to require replacement.
Start by jacking up your front end and greasing the kingpins. If you don't have a jack strong enough to handle the whole front end at once, you can do one side at a time.
Block both rear tires and jack up one side until the tire is off the ground. Yes, you could rely on the transmission parking gear and/or the parking (aka emergency) brake but blocking the rear tires make sure the vehicle can't move while it's jacked up.
Place a jackstand under the frame and lower the jack until the jackstand starts to take the weight. (If you're jacking up the whole front end, use two jackstands, with one under the frame on each side of the vehicle.) If anything seems even the least bit unstable, repeat this process until you're sure everything is stable. (I usually leave the jack in place, taking a little bit of the load, in case the jackstand fails.)
Once the tire is off the ground and everything is stable and secure, grease the kingpin. There's usually there's two grease nipples, called zerk fittings, with one located near the top of the kingpin and the other located near the bottom.
Lower the tire on that side back to ground and repeat the process for the other side.
Normally, I'd recommend also loading grease into every zerk fitting you can find while you're down there. However, because we're trying to diagnose kingpin bushing wear, just do the kingpins.
Also, some people like to rotate the steering wheel back and forth, lock to lock, to help distribute the grease throughout the kingpins' bearing surfaces. However, ONLY do this if both front tires are off the ground or on the ground. If only one tire is on the ground, it could cause the vehicle to move back and forth enough to knock the vehicle off the jackstand. (I really, really dislike crawling into a vehicle when it's jacked up so I generally only do this when all tires are on the ground.)
Once you've greased the kingpins, it's time to take the motorhome for a test drive. Remove the blocks on the rear wheels and make sure you've removed the jack, jackstand(s), and any tools you left under the vehicle. (Unlike a friend who replaces at least one tool every year because he forgot and ran over the one he had.)
I assume you've driven the motorhome recently so you have a baseline for comparison.
You should be able to detect at least a slight improvement in the handling. The degree of improvement is important. A very slight improvement indicates the kingpin bushings are probably okay and just needed some fresh grease. Otherwise, the degree of improvement indicates just how worn the bushings are. (A significant improvement indicates you should plan on replacing the kingpins soon.)
If you cannot detect any change in the handling, and the handling is acceptable, your kingpin bushing are okay and you've simply refreshed the grease, which is a good thing.
If you cannot detect any change and the handling is still unpleasant, there are several possibilities:
1. The kingpin bushings are so worn that they should be replaced as soon as possible and definitely before you plan to go somewhere in the motorhome.
2. The kingpins are okay and you have a problem elsewhere in the steering linkage and mechanism.
3. The road you're using for your test drive sucks.
4. You're expecting sports car handling from a large truck with a solid front axle. (You're driving a large old beast and it will act like it.)
A motorhome with somewhat worn kingpin bushings can still be driven if greasing the kingpins improves the handling sufficiently. You'll simply have to plan on re-greasing the kingpins more often. (Eventually, you'll get tired of frequent re-greasing and replace the kingpins.)
Enough for now ... next, we'll look at what to do if the handling is still unacceptable and you still haven't identified the problem.
