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d60 front..

I've heard the ball joints knuckles are stronger.

I don't think there is too much strength difference between ball joint and kingpin 60's. I believe they went to ball joints to make replacement easier.
 
imo, if big tires eat bj's in reasonably short order on a 10b, then the same will eventually happen with a 60..

kingpins all the way...

buying mine sat! *dances the jig*
 
ryoken said:
imo, if big tires eat bj's in reasonably short order on a 10b, then the same will eventually happen with a 60..

kingpins all the way...

buying mine sat! *dances the jig*
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What makes you say that? The ball joints on a 60 are MUCH bigger than those on a 10 bolt.

Every kingpin 60 I've bought, sold or dealt with (5 or 6 maybe?) had kingpins that were badly in need of repair.

I would say that the kingpin design is probably somewhat stronger but you don't see very many kingpins or ball joints break on D60's.
 
Repairing kingpins is easy unless you have to pull the actual pin. It can be a pain in the @$$. Kingpin are much better IMO. I've probably bought and sold 15-20 in the last year and only did kingpins on 2 or 3. Out here they didn't have plows hanging on them though.
 
But what wears out on the kingpin stuff??? A plastic cone. $50 a side to rebuild a kingpin, how much is it for the balljoints?? Never looked at one close, but it didn't look like the b/j's were that much bigger.....

I'd say kingpins, cheaper and easier to go crossover....
 
b454rat said:
But what wears out on the kingpin stuff??? A plastic cone. $50 a side to rebuild a kingpin, how much is it for the balljoints?? Never looked at one close, but it didn't look like the b/j's were that much bigger.....

I'd say kingpins, cheaper and easier to go crossover....
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The OEM's couldn't care less about aftermarket crossover steering, that's not what they are designing their axles for. Getting a steering arm on a passenger ball joint knuckle may be difficult/expensive, that I don't know about.

The plastic cones and springs are very easy to replace, the kingpin itself is pretty tough. Don't forget that there is also a tapered roller bearing on the lower part of the knuckle that may need replacement.

Ford mechanics love doing ball joints on Super Duties (which have BJ D60 fronts) because they pay something like 4 hours of labor and take ~45 minutes. Easy to replace, probably ~$100 per joint.



I have a kingpin 60 under my rig, but I don't really feel that ball joints are a weak point and they generally have stronger knuckles than the kingpin axles (which is a weak point). I don't think I would shy away from either unless it really cost a lot to get steering arms on the ball joint axle.
 
IMHO I'd say it's the other way. Ever seen either break at the knuckle? I've seen kingpin D60's snapped in half at the pumpkin and bent to **** but never a failed knuckle :confused:.

38377k5 said:
I have a kingpin 60 under my rig, but I don't really feel that ball joints are a weak point and they generally have stronger knuckles than the kingpin axles (which is a weak point). I don't think I would shy away from either unless it really cost a lot to get steering arms on the ball joint axle.
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1967k10 said:
IMHO I'd say it's the other way. Ever seen either break at the knuckle? I've seen kingpin D60's snapped in half at the pumpkin and bent to **** but never a failed knuckle :confused:.
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You've really never seen/heard of a failed D60 kingpin knuckle? I've heard of lots of them, they are particularly vulnerable to high steer. Search here, pirate and google and you will find plenty of broken D60 knuckles.
 
I searched the 5 pages here and never found anything about any broken GM D60 knuckles :confused:,only Ford. I'd like to see some pic's or a post on it if you have one and see what happens to them. Not questioning you but I'd like to see it cause I haven't.

38377k5 said:
You've really never seen/heard of a failed D60 kingpin knuckle? I've heard of lots of them, they are particularly vulnerable to high steer. Search here, pirate and google and you will find plenty of broken D60 knuckles.
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Ford knuckles are more prone to failure then Chevy because they are a slightly different design. A guy in our club broke his Ford kingpin knuckle a while back, but it did take 42's on a 7k truck and several years of bashing to do so.

I prefer the kingpin style myself because it's basically impossible to pop one off like you can with a balljoint style (seen it happen many times, especially when an axle u-joint breaks it will get wedged and pop a balljoint knuckle right off the axle).

For the comment about the guy seeing a lot of kingpin styles that needed work....it's no surprise to me considering that most are 20-30 years old and probably never been serviced before. Balljoint styles are almost always much newer axles.
 
dodge and chevy have the same knuckles.
 
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