This is not your usual king pin question. Its on a medium duty Chevy truck. Not sure of the size.
It was one of those deals where I was just walking by in my wrecker friend's shop and joined in a discussion.
He is selling one of his wreckers to a friend who has his own wrecker service. So, he is going through it and making sure its in good shape.
He decided to replace the king pins. The old one came out easily, but he is trying figure out how to install the new one.
I wish I had gotten some pics of the new one. Its a one piece unit, bottom end larger than the top section, with a tapered region between.
The top is threaded for a large nut. The bottom end has three holes in the face of the bottom.
The center hole is mostly a centering hole for turning it in a lath when it was made.
The two outside holes are for a tool that holds the pin stationary while the nut is tightened on top.
The tool is available, but costly and will require a couple of days to arrive. Plus it will only fit this truck of all that he has.
Since its going out the door never to return, he is reluctant to buy the tool.
I have not seen the tool, so I'm not sure how it works. It looks like a pin type spanner would work.
Just wondering if anyone here who has had dealings with the heavier duty trucks knows of a trick to hold that pin while tightening it without investing in a special tool.
There are bolt holes on the bottom of the axle where a cover bolts on after the pin is installed.
So a plate with the hole pattern and two very strong pins welded to it could be bolted on temporarily to hold it, so there would be no need to weld a socket to it for a pull handle.
He may have it together by the time I get by there tomorrow, if not I will try to get some pics.
It was one of those deals where I was just walking by in my wrecker friend's shop and joined in a discussion.
He is selling one of his wreckers to a friend who has his own wrecker service. So, he is going through it and making sure its in good shape.
He decided to replace the king pins. The old one came out easily, but he is trying figure out how to install the new one.
I wish I had gotten some pics of the new one. Its a one piece unit, bottom end larger than the top section, with a tapered region between.
The top is threaded for a large nut. The bottom end has three holes in the face of the bottom.
The center hole is mostly a centering hole for turning it in a lath when it was made.
The two outside holes are for a tool that holds the pin stationary while the nut is tightened on top.
The tool is available, but costly and will require a couple of days to arrive. Plus it will only fit this truck of all that he has.
Since its going out the door never to return, he is reluctant to buy the tool.
I have not seen the tool, so I'm not sure how it works. It looks like a pin type spanner would work.
Just wondering if anyone here who has had dealings with the heavier duty trucks knows of a trick to hold that pin while tightening it without investing in a special tool.
There are bolt holes on the bottom of the axle where a cover bolts on after the pin is installed.
So a plate with the hole pattern and two very strong pins welded to it could be bolted on temporarily to hold it, so there would be no need to weld a socket to it for a pull handle.
He may have it together by the time I get by there tomorrow, if not I will try to get some pics.
