Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:15 am Post subject: King pin bearing replacment
Hi all, I haven't done this job before.
Now I rebuilt my front hub, new hubs, bearings seals ect about 3 years ago.
It's now time to do the king pin bearings which I got (Timken) at my local bearing trader for less than half the price of my vintage jeep parts dealer!
I've looked at TM 1804 A page 125. If I'm reading it correctly they advise to completely remove the axle.
Now, my question is, do I have to take the axle out and completely dismantle the front hubs, knuckles and all to change the top and bottom king pin bearings? or is there an easier way to do it?
In my simple state of mind I thought I could remove the king pin retaining bolts and king pin and then use a slide hammer through the king pin hole to pull up the cup?
Looking at the M38A1 manual it looks like I should be able to pull the entire wheel , hub, and shafts out, replace the bearings and then slide the whole lot back? is that feasible?
Hello Dave,
The outer knuckle shell that the oil seals fasten to must be removed from the spherical shaped end of the axle housing because I believe the bearing races will not fit through the hole left in the outer knuckle half when you remove the king pin.
Quote:
do I have to take the axle out
The axle main housing is left in place under the jeep. I imagine you could leave the jointed axle shaft assembly in the main housing but this is a good time to remove it and inspect it. Removal of the axle shaft at this point is simply grasping it and sliding it out of the main housing. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Joined: Jun 14, 2006 Posts: 226 Location: Wijnegem Belgium Europe
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:25 am Post subject:
Dave, replace the knuckle sealing also. I did it a few moths ago and the steering is more stable when driving. The sealing creates a kind of damping.
Erik _________________ 1942 GPW 71336 my son's jeep restored now
1951 M38 MC11891
1953 VW beetle (genuine german Käfer )
1957 fantastic wife
Joined: Feb 20, 2007 Posts: 606 Location: Illinois
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:25 am Post subject: King pin bearing replacement
When you replace the king pin bearings and races, you may have to adjust the shims to get the correct bearing pre-load. That will be very difficult to do unless you remove the steering linkage and knuckle oil seals. The drive shaft will also be in the way. Overall it will be easier to remove the wheel, hub, brake backing plate, knuckle oil seal, drive shaft and then tackle the king pin bearings. Check the manual for the procedure on pre-load measurements. You can check out brakes and wheel bearings and wind up with nice tight steering in the end! _________________ 1951 M38
Hi, thanks,
in the end this turned out to be a really easy job. Don't know now whet I was woried about.
I did the pre poad with the force meter (played with the shims) with the whole lot reassembled but the wheel off and the steering disconected.
Set them to as close as i could get to 40 Newtons.
And even nipped up the wheel bearings that had settled in nicely since they were all renewed. as we say, 'Job's a gud'un, chuffed t'bits' well that's what they say south of where I live.
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