Anyone have a view on how much movement should be expected at the wheel rim when rocking the wheel at top & bottom.
The king pin is 0.495" dia but clamps up tight in the axle eye (cotter nut to the front?) Previous owner had nut to the rear.

My understanding is that the Kingpins should be a light press fit in the axle boss.

So, assuming that you have the standard 0.500" diameter ID clearance in the axle boss, and that you have an accurate measurement of the actual Kingpin OD at 0.095", then you would have a quite sloppy fit right from the start.

I have checked in "Woodrow" which seems to confirm the above.

In direct answer to your question, I would consider that there ought to be almost imperceptable movement at the wheel perimeter with the wheel jacked "off load"

I hope for your sake that some of the experts come on line and tell me that I am wrong, but I would be quite perturbed at the prospect of subjecting the front end to road forces based on the clamping power of that cotter pin.

Regards

Barry R.

I imagine that Ian dunford may comment on this shortly, because he did a superb job of "reclaiming" my axle end eyes!!
The holes in the beam axle do wear and you can or could get oversize kingpins to suit after reaming the hole. This seems to be frowned upon and I was advised to have the ends built up and shrunk and then reamed to size (half inch). The oversize kingpins reduce the amount of metal in an already weak area of the axle . You can then of course press in new bushes in the stub axles as well while you are at it and ream with the correct reaming tool ( which differs depending on whether or not you have Girling brakes).
One problem that can occur to the Girling type is that the core plugs push out under hydraulic pressure and grease takes the path of least resistance. I "glued" mine in which has not been overly successful! Another job for the winter!! . I have always been told to jack up the car and SLOWLY pump the grease gun to lubricate the kingpins.

Hope this helps!

Steve

Hi

I seem to remember that just prior to having my Ruby's kings pins done (including the axle eyes shrunk) by Ian Dunford a couple of years ago, the worse side had about 1/8" (~3mm) play (top to bottom) at the wheel rim (with the brakes on to prevent any bearing play!). This felt quite a bit - a definite waggle - and had caused the MOT tester to make a written comment, but not fail the car outright. Is this typical of others' MOT experiences?

Since also replacing the wheel bearings, there is now no noticable play when rocking the jacked wheel top to bottom, with the brakes on or off.

Regards

Colin

Don’t forget one of the most important things: absolutely ‘no’ free play of the stub axle as you lift it up and down. A bad fit here puts a huge twisting strain on the king pins and your newly shrunk axle ends

Of course I meant 0.495" OD as the king Pin Measurement

Barry R,

Thanks for your input guys

I've now decided to bite the bullet and have the axle eyes shrunk

" its only money" and what a treat for the cars not to have a route of their own [[:)s]

The cotter nuts should be to the front as you now have them. They should be kept tight - I check mine every time I grease the front suspension. This helps to prevent the kingpins getting loose in the axle eyes.

David