1983 k30 im doin a body off on, took the axles apart to sand blast and re gear when i found this,

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/Steve524/100_5485.jpg

rusted all the way through, from what i know that is just a dust shield? correct? would i have to replace the bottom kingpin to fix this problem? or could i just make a plate find a way to mount it over the rusted piece? this axle is fine, steering was VERY tight, i would not like to take it apart because of this little problem so im tryin to find a way around it. any other ideas about how to seal it would be appreciated, i considered welding the holes but the metal is so thin it would burn through till it found something solid.

also, i was wondering if all the holes where the axle tubes are welded in look like this? i dont know it just didnt seem like the factory filled it too well, just thought id ask for some extra input.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/Steve524/100_5486.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/Steve524/100_5488.jpg





Thanks alot
Steve

Mine look like that, on all 3.

Replace the lower bearing and dust shield, it's PM and doesn't cost much.

Do it right, now, or do it later when everything's together and it's 38x the pain in the ass.

clean it, rebuild it, it's not hard. dang it's still tuesday again.

taking it apart is not like doing a b/j axle. there are no shims or tensoin settings, pull the uppuer off, pull the lower off, knock out lower stuff, knock in new stuff, it will be just like when you removed it.


it might be so tight becuase of all the rust in the lower bearing................

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-Kingpin/index.html

check this out.

good luck

Its an easy fix, all that is required to make it all better is a kingpin rebuild kit that can be found on Ebay, or any numerous offroad websites, I got mine from www.mad4wd.com
Now if you steering "feels" tight, with stuff that old and rusted out, I would bet that its tight from rust and corrosion.

Its an easy fix, all that is required to make it all better is a kingpin rebuild kit that can be found on Ebay, or any numerous offroad websites, I got mine from www.mad4wd.com
Now if you steering "feels" tight, with stuff that old and rusted out, I would bet that its tight from rust and corrosion.

thanks for that site, deff gonna get them from there

also try highonda here, his has the best prices i have ever seen. and hes a hell of a board vendor. no one has ever had a bad deal.

those look like every plug weld Dana ever did. if you think they are ugly fill them with bondo before you paint your axle. It will look great with your chrome diff cover.