Changing King Pins

[ldvfan]

Having been quoted 'laughable' amounts by my MOT station for repair - "A pair of front kingpins and one rear shock absorber lower bush - that'll be around £500 quid mate inc VAT - IF the pins come out easily!!!"

I thought I'd give it a try myself so here is a summary of my efforts!! -

I bought a pair of new king pin kits off of Ebay for £47.80 delivered -

Don't try to do them on the van it's not worth wasting your time - Remove the front axle - an easy job, think of it like a meccano set!! this was the procedure I used.

Jack the van under the centre of the front axle
Support the body on both sides using the chassis rail under the doors and lower the weight of the van onto the supports. - Leave the jack in place for now.
Remove both front road wheels
Remove both front caliper to hub bolts and tie the calipers up out of the way - dont let them 'dangle' on their hydralic pipes.
Undo the hubnuts and remove the discs and bearings.
Disconnect the steering joints on the hubs - 2 on the drivers side and one on the Passenger.
Withdraw the steering bar that connects the two wheels together.
Remove the U Bolts which hold the axle to the springs (2 each side)
Lower the Jack and the axle will drop with it.

Now you have the axle off you can either find a friendly engineering firm or garage that has a press, I decided to invest in a press that I had always promised myself (SHOP PRESS 20 TON NEW £141.99 inc delivery)

(Or just buy an exchange 'off the shelf' reconditoned axle)

The only 'minor' difficulty is setting the shims when reassembling - but I can advise on that if you need it.

There is a PDF of the procedure as detailed by LDV if required.

So as you can see for a total cost of around £200 (including grease!!) I have done the job and gained a press!!

By the way I tried the hammer method and only managed to raise a sweat and cause more damage!!

Out of interest there is no 'reaming' involved on the LDV, the pins run in needle roller bearings, which should last a lifetime if kept well greased.

And as they say just reverse the removal procedure to replace the axle.
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'89 200 1800 Petrol Crewbus (Breaking)
'89 350 2.4 Hightop LWB (Breaking)
'96 200 1.9D
2000 Fiat Ducato 2.8D

[mickeyv8]

the job can be made easy with removing the axle especially if you have a tight stubbon pin! have had to resort to this a couple of times only.But i have found that the cotter pin is very soft once you hit it to remove it the pin mushrooms over as they are very soft.
I tend to cut the threaded end of the cotter off after removing the nut with a thin cutting disc and drill the cotter out relieving the pressure on the pin then a few good hits on the pin and it will move with a bit of penetration oil.
another tip is to heat round the cotter and then with a good solid drift get it to move.
i normally find the cotter is the main problem not the kingpin!

a good clean of all the stubs and axle is essential,you should be able to slide the pin in the axle not beat it to death in there!

be careful with some of the kingpin kits there is a massive variation in quality i find the delphi kits very good and the genuine kits needing more preperation.

hope this is to some use to some of you

[dads_taxi]

changed and cleaned more today, and mate says theers still a small amount of play, must be your kingpin, me thinking not so much of an ordeal, OMG! not sure if i can afford all this haha
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Dad's taxi is an LDV convoy minibus 2.5d

[sherpa_tension]

I did both pins in-situ by drilling a hole in the disc backplate for an upwards drift to push the bearing out using the old cap minus it's grease nipple.
One cotterpin was tight, so I drilled the fat end 5mm for an M6 tap. With some studding, washers and a bit of tube, it pulled out like a tooth.

[MartinW]

Some excellent advice and tips there!

Thank you.
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MartinW
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1994 LDV 200 Minibus with Perkins 2L oil burner
www.upgrades4mgs.co.uk
www.austinapache.co.uk
www.minisa.co.uk

[Dave]

Just done the easiest kingpins on a convoy ever this morning, I have never been able to done a pair without taking the axle out.

Had to do them on a 53 plate minibus this morning that has been working on a site for a year, and i couldnt believe that they came out easy, To be honest though, if they dont come out first hit then it is easier to take the axle out!!
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[getyourselfasherpa]

It seems to depend on the MOT tester what you can get away with as far as pins are concerned, my chap will only fail them when they have about quarter of an inch up and down others won't tolerate a micron

I once spent a couple of weeks hammering at a king pin on a BMC EA 350 before it fell out..... it was parked on my dads drive and I wasn't allowed to take the axle out as it would frighten the neighbours

[bigian]

I was told by a chap at LDV Technical dept to only grease using Molygrease the same as is used in UJ Joints he reckoned lithium wheel bearing grease was not up to the job and causes pin wear
..
I have run my LDV for 8 years and every year it has been an advisory on the MOT that there is slight wear so it is down to the knowledge of the tester as to what is slight and what is excessive.

I also invested in an air grease gun ...this makes very light work when greasing and I seem to do it about every 4 months..

Ian

[Eric]

My old sherpa was the same ...I always had an advisory on slight play.

It was the same for 11 years.

Eric

[Ashlea]

Mine too has passed the MOT for the last 5 years like it

I always use a moly grease as well
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1996 Pilot 2.6t 1.9 xud9 diesel