OK silly question time, alas the Morgan Dealer in Dubai is no more, previously ive done all work on my Roadster myself, i dont have the proper tools or knowledge to replace the king pins myself, so my question is how do i know if the king pins are worn. I have been fastidious to the point of obsession in terms of greasing my king pins. My Roadster has done 26000 km
Steve
The OEM king pins will last a long time if you keep up a regular greasing regime. My first set of stainless pins went 16 years and 55,000 miles. There was no detectable wear when we did change them for hard chrome ones.
Yours should be good for many kms yet.
The basic check is to jack up the car and look for play at the rim of the wheel in the plane of the king pin (ie almost vertical). Some slight play is acceptable and is probably the wheel bearing rather than the pins and bushes. If you do detect play try gripping the wheel at the 3 o'clock/9 o'clock position and see if it is the same, as this will be entirely due to the wheel bearing. Go back and compare the two, if there is significantly more in the vertical plane then you probably have some pin/bush wear. It is almost always the lower bush that wears first , due to its exposure to road grit/salt etc (in your case sand?) mixing with the grease and forming a nice grinding paste. This can be improved by fitting a "cover" over the rebound spring, as supplied DaveW's missus or make your own version up from local materials.
It is not a difficult job, and if you have basic workshop tools and a good jack most work can be done by a home mechanic. The exception to this is the fitment and reaming of the new bushes to the stub axles. Here you need a hydraulic press to remove the old bushes and replace with new. Then the 2 bushes need to be reamed so they are perfectly in line.
Ask around some of the small engineering workshops in town , I am sure someone should have the equipment you need and an operator with enough skill to use it properly.
