Absolutel right, Eric! It is critical that the tube be able to turn freely
inside the bottom of the kingpin.
For a while, there was a bad batch of tubes on the market. They were so
short that they did not protrude from the end of the bushing. The test is to
assemble the tube into the bushing, then place the thrust washers inside the
seal supports and hold them over the ends of the tube, then clamp the set-up
between the jaws of a vise. If you can rotate the king pin around the
clamped tube, all is well. If it won't move, the tube is too short.
The correct fix is to find longer tubes - not always easy - but it does not
hurt anything to file the sides of the king pin where the bush is fitted so
that the tube can stick out far enough to turn freely.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Zambori <eaz@snet.net>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 5:06 AM
Subject: Kingpins
>I thought I saw a posting about this subject recently but could find it
>in my trash folder so here goes.
>
>I've purchased a set of rebuilt stub axles from The Roadster Factory and
>I have a question about reassembly. Shouldn't the Distance Tube that
>rides in the lower bushing and gets clamped between the two A-Arms be
>slightly longer than the width of the Kingpin. So that the Distance Tube
>is what gets clamped between the A-Arms not the Kingpin itself. This
>way the Kingpin is still free enough to pivot on that Distance Tube. I
>measured mine and they are within .002" of each other. I would expect a
>greater difference.
>
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