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MG TD TF 1500 - King Pin Removal

I am renovating a 1955 TF and am struggling to remove the king pin on the left front wheel hub. I have removed the steering arm but the pin is stuck in the swivel knuckel. I have tried heat and a press but it won't budge. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Tim Moylan

They are pressed in. You may need to take it to machine shop to have them use a press to get it out of there.

Why are you removing it? I treat these as a whole assembly.

Chris
Chris Couper

A king pin to us Brits is the shaft on which the front hub rotates when the steering wheel is turned.

TDs and TFs don't have them (a TC does though)- our cars have screwed trunnions instead.

I think Tim is referring to what the Brits call a track rod end which is fitted into a taper in the steering arm and can be a pain to remove. I have had sucess by placing the side of the arm, parallel to the tapered hole, on an anvil or some other heavy metal object and wacking the other side with the biggest hammer I have. This squeezes the taper and with luck the pin will ping out.

Cheers

Jan T
J Targosz

Tim
You don't say why you are removing it. If you are doing a total rebuild and are removing both sides you can loosen the jam nut and the tie rod should turn freely. Just keep turning it until the rod drops out at the end of the thread. I had this happen to me, I just took the brake plate off and took them into shop vise and used Jan's method to remove them. Or you can use a wheel puller if it is small enough. If you use this method you will have to re set your front-end alignment afterwards. If you are not asking about the tie rod ends and are removing the kingpins. One is right hand thread; one side is left hand thread.
Hope this helps.
John
John C. Hambleton III

Tom specifically states it is the king pin, which is indeed retained by the steering arm he removed. I think there is a lip on one side of the kingpin, so it will only press one way. As Chris implies, I would not remove it just for the sake of removing it, unless the threads are damaged and it must be replaced. Crack test (magnaflux) all of these parts while off of the car.
George Butz

Thanks to all of you for your replies and assistance. The king pin threads were damaged in an accident 30 years ago. I am renovating from the ground up and decided to rebuild the front end. I found a machnie shop with a press and had the old one removed and a new one inserted. Now on to the next challenge! Thanks.
Tim Moylan

This thread was discussed between 26/07/2003 and 04/08/2003

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