kingpin shims

Hi all,

The kingpin is supported top & bottom in a pair of taper rollers which can be shimmed to achieve the correct bearing pre-load. Now, do you have to shim top & bottom bearings separately, or are things arranged so that a shim top or bottom will tighten both top & bottom races?


cheers,

Martin.

Take a look at this.
www.lines-associates.com/store/index.php...product&product_id=8

dirtydogz wrote: Take a look at this.
www.lines-associates.com/store/index.php...product&product_id=8

I thought the preload was correct without shims. :whistle:

thanks guys,

But...surely the preload isnt always spot on or there would be no need for shims. These kinds of bearing always bed in & wear & so on ...so some form of adjustment has to be a good thing on a taper roller.

I havent had one apart (yet) & am simply trying to understand how it works. I imagine it is very like the steering head on a motorcycle which often use a pair of these bearings. They need regular preload adjustment & if you dont bother the bearings loosen & begin to get pitted. Once this happens they are scrap & the steering will go to hell.
Maybe this is why the Jimny kingpins don't last too well as there is no regular adjustment of them?? :blink:

Anyway the question is still there. Does shimming one bearing tighten both top & bottom & if not why not?

The pre-load was designed to be correct without shims. Suzuki do not formally offer shims.

In practice, with wear and tear of use, play occurs in the system.

Suzuki in some countries has offered shims to help with this.

I have created a shim kit in the store to cover this issue.

Shimming one tightens that one. However it also very slightly pushes the hub as well, so it takes some of the play out of the other kingpin, I would recommend evenly shimming both rather that putting a large shim in one.

thanks Martin,

Before I bought my car the Suzuki dealer carried out the service bulletin to rectify some steering wobble. I noted on the report that only 1 shim was added each side. From the disturbance it looks like these went on the bottom. Anyway, the wobble is sorted but I am a bit concerned that by adding only 1 shim it might displace the hub (up in this case) and load the drive shaft bearings as the shaft alignment has been moved by the thickness of the shim. Is this likely to be significant, or am I worrying over nothing...?
When the weather improve I plan to shim the kingpins properly myself top & bottom as you have recommended. Just dont want anything to be damaged in the meantime.

Sorry to go on about this but that's how you learn.. :blush:


cheers,

Martin.