well, finally got all the shims and the new kingpins are installed, wow what a difference, steering with one finger versus both arms and a leg.

new problem found in the process.
the large bolts with grease nipples that hold the upper control arms and steering knuckle support have some play in them. it does not effect tracking, nor is noticable at highway speed...however, am I driving a time bomb? and does anyone know of what these are actually called or a part number? my green book labels it succintly "bolt" but they do not look like anything at the local parts store and searches of parts suppliers does not identify them in any discernable manner.

always an adventure.

thanks in advance.

-Erik

65 PV 544, 66 1800S, 66 220
so many projects, so little time

Erik: Glad to hear you were satisfied with the kingpin kit on eBay. Last Friday I took my 444 in for a mandatory safety inspection and the only problem was the kingpins. They were outside the .012" axial clearance and must be replaced. Fortunately I already have 2 complete repair kits, but wonder if you took your axle spindles to an automotive repair shop to install the bushings and kingpins? I understand the new bushings must be reamed to accept the kingpins and this is a very delicate operation. Did you remove the old kingpins or was this done by a machinist?

Monday I start to remove the spindles and hope everything goes well with this job.
--
Cam a.k.a. CVOLVO.COM

Cam,
I took it to a shop. After reading the manual and other posts about kingpins I recognized that this was something I did not want to pay for twice.
A friends alignment shop took them apart and had the reaming done at the local machine shop by "the old man" who remembered how it was done. :)
Check your repair kits to see if they include the metal caps for the king pins, mine did not, but some were located that fit from the local combine repair shop.
Good luck and if you need shims let me know. Mine took one of the smaller and one of the larger (glad I waited for both to arrive) so I have two of each left if you need them.
-Erik
(byooco@hotmail.com)

Hi Erik: Thanks for confirming my assessment that this is not a backyard-mechanic repair job. I am lucky that both of my kingpin repair kits have the top caps and plenty of various sized shims. I have a spare set of spindles with decent enough kingpins if I run into any difficulties. Stangely enough on these spare spindles, it looks like the instead of using the top cap, they were filled with lead!

The garage that did my safety inspection had experience with kingpins (used on Ford trucks), but has misplaced the special tool to ream the bushings. Thanks for the offer and your recent experiences. I might take the time to document the procedure for my web site to help future "kingpins" know what is the proper procedure with this common affliction.
--
Cam a.k.a. CVOLVO.COM

Oh ya, forgot to mention that the steering knuckle bushings that attach the knuckle to the upper and lower arms are really quite easy to replace, as are most of the other bushing in the front end. Except of course for the upper inner bushes which I already described in the earlier post. You really need some copy of a factory service manual to do any of this work. I purchased xerox copies of the service manuals from volvoworld.com. The jig in question is shown in the manual. It's only purpose is to maintain the shape of the control arm during the installation of the upper inner bushes. I tried to use some stout wood clamped between the ears of the arm to maintain their spacing but alas the wood was too soft and they did indeed bend a little. If I did it again (which I suspect I will never do in my lifetime) I would weld some steel together to form the jig and take a lot more time doing it.

Thanks Mario,

I have a copy of the manual from volvoworld, but it did not describe the jig very well. When the parts arrive, I will make sure to take my time and enlist the help of talented friends as I do not want to attempt to replace the control arms due to hamfisted frustration.
I will keep you posted if the collective brainstorming produces anything of use for future replacements.
-erik

There are repair kits for those that include all the parts needed.

Upper inner pivot kit #276547
Upper outer pivot kit #54922
Lower outer pivot kit #54925

They're listed the same for all years of 444, 544, 445 and 210. Available from Veteranprodukter, if not more locally.

any info on the jig? ever made/used one?

Not yet... I'm waiting for those parts for a customer's car myself at the moment. Haven't sussed out the jig thing yet.

The pin is part# 46 the bushings are part # 47, and part # 49 is just a rubber boot. Hope this helps.

Mario m.

Those "bolts" suck. They are really threaded bushings. The part which actually bolts onto the upper crossmember is just a metal piece with two threaded ends (I believe that it is referred to as a "pin"). The bushes (the pieces with the grease fittings on the caps) are these strange beasts with very shallow and wide threads on the outside which screw into (more like bite into) the control arm sheet metal. They are also threaded on the inside to mate with the pin. So you put it all together and the bushes will be drawn in by the pin threads while the outer (shallow threads) bite into the untapped control arm. They do not really like to bite into the control arm properly so bending of the control arm ends will happen if you don't use a jig. The jig (shown in the volvo service manual which you must get (or get a zerox of or cd of it from somewhere on the net)) maintains the shape of the control arm when you are assembling it. I did not use suitable jig for this and my ends were bent slightly. Even though I don't notice a difference in ride, it still pisses me off.

Also I broke one of the bushes off trying to get it out and the machinist I took it to had a bear of a time getting it out. Long story short, expect a pain in the ass so plan ahead.