Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I have several new and used lock pins that hold the king pins in place. All of them seem to be the same diameter at both ends, with no taper. They do have grooves cut in them, 3 per pin. I need to replace the passenger side king pin, and I need to know which way to drive out the lock pin, if they are tapered. The NOS kingpins I have are .866 and the lock pins are .500. The grooves on the lock pins run almost the entire length, but stop just short of the end. I assume I would drive the lock pins out toward the un-grooved end, if I can figure out which end that is.
This kingpin set has split steel bushings with bronze lining.

If I remember, the lock pins have an interference fit and are fairly soft compared to king pin and spindle housing. So it doesn't really matter which end or what side you drive in first. The lock pin will mushroom as you drive it and self wedge. The grooves allow it to compress and squeeze into the notch space of the kingpin.

Agree with Kev - they are a one way deal. Think of forcing a wood dowel into a conical hole.

To drive them out, just measure the hole on each end, and stick your punch in the smaller hole.

I THINK (this is memory, so not to be trusted) that on the passenger side, you push the lock pin towards the back of the car, and and the drivers side, push the lock pin towards the front of the car to remove.

On my '37 120, the passenger side lock pin had been driven in front to back, so I drove it out back to front. As soon as I had driven the pin about 3/8", I checked the spindle for wobble and found none, indicating that the looseness was in the kingpin to knuckle support, and not the bushings. I drove the pin on out, and found some distortion and a little wear where the king pin had worked against it. I have several NOS lock pins, so I checked them for fit in the knuckle and found that the new pin would just start front to back, so I used a 2 lb hammer to drive a new pin in flush, front to back. It took what I think is about the correct amount of force to drive it. I turned the new lock pin so that it would have to cut new grooves and not follow the old ones, and so that it would not have a groove facing the kingpin. The assembly was tight as new after this, but I don't know if it will stay that way. The driver side assembly is in good shape. I did not remove the kingpin, so I don't know if it's the .862 pin or the .866 pin. I have a set of NOS .866 pins.

Among some loose parts and extra parts that came with the car is a set of used kingpins which measure .866, and one of which shows to have run loose in the knuckle support. I don't know if they came from this car.

So far, after about 200 miles, the kingpin is still tight. While I was under the car, I decided to see if I could adapt a couple of taper shims intended for a leaf spring axle to the Packard front suspension. I had a set of 2.5" X 5" shims with 3 1/2 degree taper. They're zinc, made by Specialty products of Longmont, Colorado. They're too wide and too long, of course, but there's nothing in the way of them when installed, and they can be cut down. They have a slot about halfway down the length to allow them to slip between a spring and axle without taking the spring off. I made the slot longer with a rotary file to allow the shims to drop down fully between the radius arm and the control arm. I cut about 3/4" off the thick ends to allow the shims to slip into place by taking the nuts off the studs in the radius arms and prying the control arm forward to get enough clearance to drop the shim into place. The car now handles MUCH better, with no tendency to wander or swerve when going over seams in the pavement. I had no problem holding a straight course on a narrow, undulating 2 lane road in a 25 to 30 MPH crosswind. I can now drive over road irregularities that required considerable counter steering without any wander or steering correction needed. These shims are about 1/4" thick at the wide end, which leaves the studs in the radius arms a little short. I can correct that by cutting off some length at the thick ends of the shims and further lengthening the slot in the center, which will improve the appearance, reduce the shim's total thickness, and have no effect on the alignment.