Is my king pin gone?

Hi Guys,

After looking on the forum, it looks like my king pin is worn. Would you agree from the picture? If it is, how much do these things cost to have repaired?

S x   

Hi,

You will know if the king pin bearings have gone if you get a wobble in the steering wheel at around 50-55mph. It is usually the king pin bearings, not the king pin itself.

If you have got oil on the knuckle that is a sign the drive shaft seal is worn, it wears faster when the king pin bearings fail. It is easy to change once you get the hub off.

Finally the big rubber seal you can see in your photo is really just a dust seal, it just stops dust getting in to the grease round the knuckle.

King pin bearings, the drive shaft oil seal and the knuckle seal are about £50 a side from the BigJimny store, plus whatever your mechanic charges to fit them, which should be about 2 hours labour. It’s a fairly easy job if you can do it yourself.

Hope that helps

Robin

Hi Robin,

The car has only done 30k and I don’t feel any wobble. So that would point to the seal being gone that you mentioned?
Thanks a lot for your response, it’s most helpful.

S x

Yes your drive shaft oil seal has failed, hence the oil you can see.
When you change this seal you may as well change the Kingpin bearings, these are normally why the oil seal fails,  the play they introduce causes the drive shaft seal to wear. You can sometimes feel the play if you jack the car up and hold the wheel at 12 / 6 o'Clock and push /pull, or steering wobble at 50-55, but not always.
The large outer dirt seal may as well get replaced, as this keeps the dirt out of the kingpin bearing and stops them failing, which keeps the oil seal happy. 
£50 for all these parts and max 2 hours to change. Easy DIY job if you feel like a go.
Simply repeating what Robin said, but giving the reasons why you end up changing 2 seals and 2 bearing when you see oil 
 

Hi Mike,

Thanks that all makes sense. Not being the mechanic type, I'm going to have to take it to a garage as it's due a service as well (34K one). My local Suzuki garage tried to tell me that it needs its belts changing (power steering and something else) and were quoting me £790!! Can that be right that it needs bets changing at 34K?
I went for a lesser service at £379 and mentioned the seal as well.
I'll wait to see what you guys say about the belts before calling people dishonest etc

S x

wrote:

 

The aux belt and power steering belt last anything from 30,000 to 100,000 miles.  The garage probably want to change them based on age or deteriorating condition.

If the aux belt breaks it will strand you in the middle of nowhere, or if you merrily drive on with it broken (as people often do because it still runs and they are in the middle of nowhere, just the ignition light comes on) the engine will overheat within a couple of miles and be hugely expensive to repair, so it is worth changing the belts if there is any sign of cracking or deterioration on the inside- but it shouldn't cost hundreds of pounds at a garage.

^^^^ What facade said.
The belts (power steering and Auxiliaries - 2 off) are as cheap as chips, circa £15 each or less). Going "by the book" they are inspect at 27k ( or 36month) and replace at 54k ( or 72 months). Inspect means look for damage or cracking, adjust tension if ok or replace.
It's no longer than 1hr to change both and requires no special tools, so it shouldn't be an expensive bill.
I'll also add you don't need to take the radiator out to change them, just in case this is the excuse. Plenty of room if you slacken the top radiator mounting bolts and just rock it back slightly. Ok plenty of room is exaggerating, enough room and I've got spades for hands.
If you keep getting what you consider are high prices try a recommended independent garage for a second opinion.
 

 

This is the lower king pin, the upper one is a little harder to see in the picture, but once you know what the lower one looks like, you can find the upper one.