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Is a slight play in the fit of the king pins in the steering knuckle of a '37 120 1097 without locking pins in place normal?

How slight is slight?

There should be no side-to-side play. Up-and-down play is controlled with shims, but play should be as minimal as possible. You just don't want it too tight; it should move smoothly with minimal effort by hand. Too much play, and you'll be hammering the bearing.

The king pin should not wobble in the knuckle support, even without the lock pin in place. It should be at least an interference fit, if not a light press fit. By knuckle support I mean the part that connects to the shock arm at the top and to the lower control arm at the bottom. (The part that the lock pin goes into)

Four years ago when I started restoration of my 37 120 1097 I replaced the front end - king pins, bushings, re-built shocks, new springs, etc. When I drove the car for the first time a week ago the steering had a lot of play. before going into the steering gear I jacked up front end and found no play in steering wheel and wheel. I did the 12 O'clock/6 O'clock check and found a noticable movement. Thinking that it was because I over reamed the new bushings I took the wheel off to find that the max movement was in the king pin in the steering support knuckle. I took the pins out and measured .862 not spec. .866. I ordered another king pin set (this one from Max Merritt/previously from Kanter). The king pin in the new set also measures .862 so I then measured the original king pin removed four years ago and it was .866. The .866 king pin is a very tight fit (interference). So it appears that I have a 4 thousands problem that is causing the wobble. So what should I do? neither supplier appears to have the correct dimensioned king pin.

If the original pins are still good then perhaps use those?

I would think that once the lock pin was in place, you shouldn't have side-to-side movement where the kingpin passed through that middle portion, as the lock pin should have that wedged in place. The only thing I would think I would have side-to-side movement would be if both end bushings were over-reamed.

Are you sure the movement is there?

On my '37, I once thought I had steering/suspension slop because I could rock the tire in and out a little bit by grabbing the top of the tire. Turns out I needed about another 1/8-1/4 turn on the front axle nut as I had the bearing settings a bit too loose.

Have you done the steering box adjustment? Very simple. Also, make sure the box is still full of fluid. Just doing those two things removed all the slop in my '54 steering.

Maybe Packard or aftermarket parts makers offered an oversize kingpin to compensate for situations where the car had run with kingpins loose in the knuckle. The pins have to be tight in the knuckle or they will wear and fret and probably chew up the lock pin.

1. Packard offered oversize pins in .005 and .010. Now you know why. I can measure a NOS Packard pin if desired....will also see what I have in Oversize pins...
2. You are not the first to have worn a bit through the wheel support. Don B. went through this recently. Found him a left wheel support. Wonder what side is fighting you? Karl L. called me last weekend with the same problem...left side. I have 3 RIGHT wheel supports....

Advise.

DAF

I wonder if they can be sleeved?

It would require a very thin sleeve, I'd think. Knurling the pin bore might be an option, or maybe heating and quenching the piece to shrink the bore. An oversize pin would be best.

Both sides have a wobble. One could clearly see it was in the pin in the steering knuckle and not the bushings. The spec for the pins is .866 inches in dia. The old pins that were removed to install the new pins have a dia. of .866 and have an interference fit. The new pins .862 have a lot of play in the steering knuckle. I have contacted Max Meritt about the issue. At this point I will use the old original pins, the only problem is that one of the pins is scored a couple thousands on one end so I will have that end machine down and then ream the new bushing to fit. I wonder if the source/supplier for the king pin kits
is not machining the pins to spec (.866) since both kits (Kanter/Max Merritt) had king pins that measure .862. Fortunately I have a son that has a machine shop.