I hate kingpins. I. Hate. Kingpins! Oh, did I mention, I HATE KINGPINS!!
1990 Ford E-150 (1/2 ton) Club Wagon with IFS. Probably the last 1/2 ton truck to have kingpins. (Late model 1/2-ton, most 3/4-ton, and some 1-ton trucks have ball joints.)
Started the job yesterday, with the right (passenger) side. 24 hours, 1/2 can PB Blaster, heat gun, 5-pound cross-peen hammer, pneumatic (air) hammer, steel drifts, heavy duty clamps, etc, ad nauseam later, the kingpin finally came loose from the axle knuckle.
Had to dig out my 16X long stroke air hammer, that I normally only use to set 1/2" steel rivets.
Bushings don't look all that bad but thrust bearing on bottom is shot.
Now to drive out the old bushings, drive in the new bushings, and align ream them to 0.8593" ... kingpins measure 0.8592" so 0.0001 clearance.
Hopefully, these will last 20 years and 400,000 miles like the last set.
P.S. Have everything except the right size adjustable align reamer for doing the kingpins on MLP's RM350 front axle.
