Kingpin / bearing slop

[Chuckman]

So I was looking at my junk yesterday (chevy kingpin 60) and noticed that with the axle on stands, and wheel off -that I could ever so slightly tweak the outer assembly (up/down) due to a tiny amount of bearing slop. This couldnt be seen, only felt if I put my hand against the outer/inner C and pulled up on the end of the hub. There seems to be only load from the spring pushing on the cone against the kingpin. Could this just be spring getting soft? Or is there bigger problems. The bearing plate seems tight and all looks fine. Just wondering if this is ok for the weekend as a Vol. I wouldnt race it like this, and there is no telling how long its been like this. It seems that the majority of the load in that setup comes from vehicle weight driving the conical bearing to seat, and the kingpin serves as an axis to pivot on, not really load supporting. So, if this is the case, then the 'preload' is set with the kingpin spring, and the vehicle sets the bearing fully into seat. Am I making sense or did I bump my noggin on the 3 link harder than I thought???

 

[jesster]

You can place a washer between the cap and spring to tighten things up a bit.

 

[Franklin]

Correct. spring is the only thing that restricts up/down movement of the knuckle on the pins. Washers work, new spring and one washer works better.

 

[blasterr1]

washer solution

did you ever have any deathwobble? after putting the front chevy 60 in my jeep, it was horrible. did some research on colorado k5 website, and the unanimous answer was the washer deal. 10 minutes later, deathwobble be gone!