Ever had a 4WD king pin fail?

I have now, or at least my father did.

Naturally it couldn't be something small and light like a truck. It had to be a 24000 pound backhoe.

It happened almost a mile from the shop, so the first order of business was a tow. For some reason AAA refused.

Unfortunately, the axle shaft is well and truly bent. We may be trying to straighten it, depending on how much a replacement is.

They really weren't worried about unsprung weight on this thing. I bet the wheel and tire is 200 pounds.

I bet the spindle and hub are better than 125 pounds.

Hopefully we can source the parts this week and get it back together next weekend.

What broke? Looks like tapered roller bearings?

If it's not a hardened shaft, I have the equipment to straighten it for you. Shipping might be the hiccup, though.

That will beat (not buff) out. HAMMER TIME.

In 1977-79 my high school job was cleaning new houses as they were built and we were using a clapped out 1963 Ford dump truck that failed the safety inspection every year because the king pins were worn.

The good side is I learned to drive the three speed granny trans like a four speed when I was 16 and on a gravel hill we broke loose the duallies once to do a burnout.

Too much stance?

BrokenYugo wrote: What broke? Looks like tapered roller bearings?

Looks like two of the bolts holding the bottom pin worked loose and the 3rd got ripped out of the hole. We'll be replacing the bearings, seals and probably the drive shaft. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if the stuff wasn't so heavy. There is also the fact that Caterpillar parts make OEM Mercedes parts seem cheap.

Look into CAT " heritage" parts . I bought parts for a front end loader that were considerably cheaper from the Cat dealer

RealMiniParker wrote: If it's not a hardened shaft, I have the equipment to straighten it for you. Shipping might be the hiccup, though.

I wouldn't think it was hardened too much or it would had snapped rather than bend. We'll see how much a new one is. Worst case, we can stick it in the press and tweak it some. And if that doesn't work, use the backhoe to mash it back into shape.

In reply to Toyman01:

Rub a file on it. If it scratches, it's not hardened. If the file just makes a shiny mark, it's hardened. But, yeah, likely not hardened, if it didn't snap.

EDIT: duh. One of the jobs we straighten here IS an axle shaft. I bet you can beat it into submission.