Thanks to these mechanisms, the wheels of a car with front- or all-wheel drive can change the angle of inclination, i.e., turn, without interrupting the flow of torque. The unit is located in the front axle along with CV joints. The modern UAZ king pin, like other cars, is a critical part, despite its simplicity. If the mechanism is faulty, the car begins to poorly obey the steering wheel, which negatively affects traffic safety.
Both the “loaf” and the “Patriot” can be equipped with the same kingpins
What is a pivot knot
New ball kingpin for UAZ Patriot
In short, the kingpins in the UAZ Patriot are large hinges, the purpose of which is to give another degree of freedom to the front wheels. That is, root nodes can significantly improve the car’s handling. They are located directly behind the front wheels, under the steering rod bipods. It is not possible to see them from the outside, since each kingpin is pressed into the body of the front steering knuckle. To see the kingpin, you will have to press it out of there (how to do this will be discussed below).
Part Specifications
The king pin is a part in the form of two cylinders of different diameters, machined from a single piece. At the end of the upper (wide) part, in its center, there is a machined channel with a thread for installing a grease fitting. Nearby, offset from the center, a channel of smaller diameter with smooth walls was drilled for installation of a locking pin. On the side surface of the lower (narrow) part there is an annular recess for distributing lubricant. Also, a through longitudinal channel can be made in the king pin to lubricate the entire assembly.
Sectional view of the UAZ Patriot pivot mechanism
The wide part of the kingpin is pressed into the steering knuckle body and fixed with a steel plate (it is held in place by four bolts), and rotation is prevented by a pin. With its narrow part, the pin is installed in a bronze bushing pressed into the ball joint housing. The bushing is calibrated so that the kingpin can rotate in it without jamming. Metal spacers are placed between the wide part of the pivot and the ball joint housing, with the help of which the entire pivot mechanism is centered. To facilitate turning and reduce wear on parts, the pins are installed at a slight angle.
The mechanism with these pins works simply: when performing a maneuver, the steering knuckle deviates from the middle position by means of a bipod, the pins rotate with their narrow parts in bushings pressed into the ball joint housing. When turning, grease from the pin channel enters the groove in its lower part, where it is distributed in the space between the pin and the bushing - this reduces friction forces and reduces the wear rate of parts.
Signs of faulty king pins on a UAZ Patriot
- Extraneous sounds when driving on uneven roads. This could be a knocking noise that intensifies when the car goes over bumps, or a creaking sound that the car owner hears either periodically or constantly (a constant creaking indicates an extreme degree of wear on the king pin).
- Violation of the front wheel position. If the kingpin is faulty, the wheel will not be level. As a rule, its lower edge is pushed outward, much further than the upper one (although the opposite case is also possible: the lower edge of the wheel seems to be bent under the car).
- A noticeable play appears on a wheel with a worn king pin, which is easy to notice: just jack up the car and pull the wheel away from you and towards you with your hands.
Is it possible to change the mechanism without disassembling?
The answer is yes. Below we consider the process of replacing kingpins on UAZ 469, 3115, 3163, 3160, 2206, 7203, etc. To replace the kingpin without disassembling, the car must be placed in an inspection hole. Loosen the wheel bolts and jack up the car. Hang up the SUV, drain the oil and remove the caliper and brake shield so that they do not interfere. Further:
- Screw the M10 bolt into the kingpin. This will help pull out the cap and remove the component. If all else fails, take a metal plate 4-5 mm thick and drill a hole in it for an M10 bolt;
- Let's make a second try. But now we insert the bolt through the plate. Place several nuts under it and tighten;
- The kingpin should appear outward;
- Next you need to press out the bushing and remove the washer.
To press it out, you will have to “spoil” the lock with a sharpened nail. Slide it under the bushing and press it in a circle. If things go wrong, use pliers. After removal, clean and degrease the inside of the bushing.
LITOL 24 is used as a lubricant. Now you need to install a new unit. He hammers it in. To avoid damage, use a wooden spacer. The pressing is not done completely to avoid distortions, otherwise the part will go tight and you will hear a characteristic sound. In this case, you will have to repeat everything again. Adjustments are made using shims 0.5 mm thick. For a kingpin bearing, initially install 5 shims, for an assembly with bronze liners - 4. Tighten the bolts and go for a test ride. If the wheel gets hot, loosen the kingpin by reducing the number of shims.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them
Causes of failure
Ball pin assemblies usually fail due to the destruction of the rim of one of the cups covering the ball. At some point, this rim may simply crack, and this happens either from a strong impact (resulting from hitting an uneven road) or from so-called metal fatigue. As soon as the rim of the cup is destroyed, play in the ball appears, which causes knocking and creaking in the pivot assembly. It is possible to understand that it is the kingpin that is faulty only by completely disassembling the front steering knuckle.
Worn kingpin of a UAZ Patriot car
Advantages and disadvantages of a kingpin on bearings and on bronze liners
Every newcomer among patriots is concerned with the question of which pivot joints are best installed. Among jeepers there is no clear opinion on the need to equip the UAZ Patriot with a steering knuckle with rolling bearings. Replacing a hinge unit with a bearing one is quite labor-intensive and not cheap.
Advantages: 1. They do not require such frequent checking and tightening. If the tension is maintained, they run for a very long time. 2. Low friction even with high tension. 3. Large selection of ready-made kits on sale
Disadvantages: 1. Difficulty in correct installation (more on this later) 2. The 30203 bearing, on which most kits are made, seems a little weak. Although the declared 18 kN load capacity should be enough, purely theoretically. 3. Less resistant under extreme loads 4. Afraid of water ingress. 5. When working without tension, they quickly fail 6. In advanced cases, an emergency failure is possible with destruction of the bearing and jamming
Theoretical basis
Technical experience shows that the contact area of the mating rotating parts greatly affects the reliability of the pivot mechanism.
In the hinge mechanism, the perfect alignment of the cup and the ball is important. Due to the fact that these parts are produced on different machines by different workers, you should not hope for a good mating result
Therefore, during operation, the hemispherical contact turns into a point contact. This leads to imbalance of the mechanism, the appearance of destructive oscillatory forces and breakdown.
In a bearing assembly, the mating area is the entire surface of the race. A correctly pressed rolling bearing can withstand the required road loads for a long time. The disadvantage is the low resistance to shock stresses that occur when driving over rough terrain.
To eliminate unwanted vibrations after replacing ball pins with bearing ones, the UAZ is equipped with a steering damper.
Installation of kingpins with bearings
Reliable operation of the unit in question depends on the correct installation of all parts. Replacement of factory UAZ Patriot bearings is carried out in case of their wear and play in the turning mechanism. The appearance of gaps indicates the destruction of the plastic elements and the imminent breakdown of the entire pivot mechanism.
To install new elements, you need to remove the front wheel hub with the steering knuckle. On the crankcase of this element there are pin cups that require replacement. They are cut with a grinder and knocked out from the inside of the stocking, the cut area is cleaned. Bushings from a set of bearing supports are welded onto this surface.
It is important that new parts are mounted without distortion
The bearing races are pressed into the supplied cups. The dimensions of the mating parts are designed in such a way that the installation takes place with interference. It is better to check the compliance of the parameters in advance before carrying out work. The bearing is inserted into the cage and the steering knuckle housing is put in place. Don't forget to change the lubricant in the mechanism.
Welded UAZ bearing cup
The support body is secured to the pivot pin by tightening the breaking nuts. Alternate twisting is carried out until there are no gaps. Next, the adjusting washers are put on the finger and adjustments are made.
Steering Damper Installation
The safety mechanism is installed after replacing the pins. The damper is a shock absorber that dampens vibrations in the front suspension. The result is better vehicle controllability and reduced tire wear.
The feasibility of this unit is debatable, but experienced UAZ car owners strongly recommend installing a damper. It is placed on special brackets equipped with silent blocks. For normal operation, the accuracy of the alignment of the mounting holes is important. If the Patriot frequently goes outdoors, it is worth installing the device on the upper steering rod to avoid premature failure.
The steering damper is installed by welding or using clamps. There is nothing complicated in this procedure, you just need to maintain the parallelism of the axes.
Sequencing
- The car is installed above the inspection hole, and wheel chocks are placed under the rear wheels.
- A wheel with a faulty kingpin is jacked up and removed using a set of socket wrenches.
- After removing the wheel, you can get to the nuts of the steering rod bipod, there are 4 of them. The nuts are unscrewed using a 24mm open-end wrench. The wheel is removed, and all 4 nuts on the steering rod bipod are also unscrewed
- You should also unscrew the lubrication bolt of the kingpin assembly (it is located in the middle, between the four tie rod bolts).
- Once all the nuts are unscrewed, the steering rod bipod is removed. It is under it that the pivot assembly is located. The bipod has been removed, the top cover of the pivot assembly is visible
- In order to press out the top cover of the kingpin, you should use a puller.
The puller bolt is screwed into the lubrication hole vacated by the bolt, after which the puller nut moves down the thread, pulling the top cap of the kingpin up from the steering knuckle body. The top cover of the pivot assembly is pressed out using a homemade puller. Pressing out of the top cover of the pivot assembly is completed, the ball is visible - Pressing out the bottom cover of the kingpin is also done using a puller, but in order to do this, you will have to go down into the inspection hole. The lower cover of the pivot assembly is also pressed out with a puller
- After pressing out both covers and removing the ball, the steering knuckle body is thoroughly cleaned of dust and dirt, and then the lower cover of the new pivot assembly and the ball are placed in it, the surface of which is pre-lubricated with lithol or grease. The bottom cover must be thoroughly lubricated with lithol before installing the ball.
- Now you need to install the top kingpin cover. Since the new cover will not fit completely into the body, you will have to lightly tap it with a hammer or other handy tool. To install the top cover of the pivot assembly, you can lightly tap it
- Having attached the lid, it should be completely seated. This is best done using the tie rod bipod bolts: the bipod is installed in place and its bolts are tightened, tightly pressing the top cap of the king pin into the steering knuckle body. The steering rod bipod is installed in place and screwed
- The pivot assembly is lubricated through the upper hole (this is done using a grease gun). Then a bolt is screwed into this hole to serve as a plug.
- After the steering rod bipod is screwed on, all that remains is to put the wheel in place and remove the car from the jack.
How to replace it yourself (video)
About syringing
This is the name for the procedure for lubrication of mechanism bushings. It is produced through grease nipples using a specialized syringe. A waterproof lubricant (for example, Litol-24) is placed inside the latter.
How often should the pins be injected? This procedure is performed every 20 thousand kilometers or once a year. This simple preventative measure will extend the life of the bushings and ensure easier steering rotation. This is noticeable already from the first meters of the road.
Required Tools
Before starting repair work, the car is thoroughly washed to remove dirt, because... the ingress of dust and small debris into moving mechanisms or lubricant will lead to rapid wear of the installed parts.
To tighten the kingpins on a UAZ Patriot you will need the following tools:
- standard set of special linings;
- set of open-end wrenches;
- heads of different diameters;
- hammer;
- jack – 2 pcs;
- torque wrench;
- a wrench with an attachment for adjusting the pivot units.
A set of keys.
A special key can be found in repair kits for kingpins and bearings. If it is not there, you will have to buy it separately. A kingpin wrench is similar to a splined pad with lugs that fit into slots on a lug nut. To ensure accurate tightening, use a torque wrench.
Adjustment
Before you start adjusting, prepare everything you need: bushings for the axle (if there is a groove on the axle), 4 thrust bushings, as well as oil seals. The main condition for adjustment is that the two halves of the CV joint do not dangle, both during straight-line movement and when turning! The procedure is as follows:
- Take the ball joint and press the bushing into it so that half of the CV joint does not hang out in the ball joint.
- There is a thrust washer on top; be sure to install a new one, even if the old one appears to be in good condition.
- Take a metal shaft (you can make it from a valve, for example) with cones on both sides and put a washer on it with a diameter similar to the central ball, that is, 27 mm. Place one edge against the center of the kingpin. Ideally, the second edge should also be in the center of the kingpin. If this is not the case, place the adjusting washers in the same place where the thrust washers are, or rather, under it.
Which ones to choose?
In addition to the factory carbon fiber ones (which owners do not recommend installing in any way), there are several types of king pins:
- Bearing.
- On a bronze bushing.
The first type has a complex design. Such UAZ kingpins combine the lower half with a tapered bearing and thrust ring, as well as a cage.
Bronze elements are highly resistant to shock loads - such bushings are an order of magnitude stronger than bearing bushings. But the steering will be tighter. The cost is almost identical to the previous ones - 1.5 thousand rubles per set. These are excellent kingpins for UAZ “Loaf”, “Hunter” and 469. True, like the previous ones, they require regular lubrication and inspection. We will describe this procedure in detail below.
Procedure
Adjustment of the pivots on the UAZ Patriot is done as follows:
- We remove the brake disc and caliper, hanging it on some part of the suspension so as not to damage the brake line hoses.
- We release the axle mount and, together with it, remove the brake casing, hub and clutch.
- Using a little force, swaying from side to side, we pull the axle shaft towards ourselves and remove it from the engagement of the front axle.
- We dismantle the steering tips, unscrew the bolts and remove the steering knuckle.
- We install the pivot assembly in a vice and replace the worn liners with new ones.
- We install all the parts in their places in the reverse order.
- During assembly, you need to lubricate the necessary components.
- After the work has been completed, in order to prevent wear of the tires on the car, the camber and toe of the wheels should be adjusted.
- It is necessary to adjust the location of the steering knuckle housing and the pivot mechanism: the permissible gap is no more than 0.2 mm, which is measured with a caliper. The tightening torque should not exceed 250 Nm.
After the car's mileage is 500-600 km and the king pins have settled, they should be adjusted and lubricated again. After lubrication, it is recommended to unscrew and tighten the bolts of the grease fittings to avoid damage when driving off-road.
The front axle of UAZ Patriot cars has pin assemblies and constant velocity joints, which ensure the transmission of torque to the wheels in any position. In order for the unit to work properly, you need to know how to maintain and change the king pin.
Additional Tips
If you installed an element with bronze liners, after 500 km the UAZ Patriot pins will need to be adjusted due to natural shrinkage . Models with bearings are not so fancy; the quality of their work needs to be checked after 1000 km. At the same time, you need to remember that you need to change elements on both sides at the same time.
If you do everything correctly and purchase good spare parts, they will serve you for about 100 thousand kilometers. In any case, it is important to carefully monitor the condition of the elements, otherwise problems with driving the vehicle may arise.
How to remove old hinges
Regardless of the type of hinge, the basic dismantling operations are the same. To replace or adjust the kingpins, you will need a level area. In addition, you will need:
- jack and safety stand;
- a set of socket and open-end wrenches;
- Screwdriver Set;
- set of sockets and ratchet;
- torque wrench;
- a powerful wrench and extension made from a piece of pipe;
- clean rags;
- wheel chocks;
- low stool;
- assistant or assistant.
It is important! If you are going to change or adjust the king pin, you should carefully read the safety rules and always follow them:
- never leave the car on a jack, always use a safety stand, which is sold in any car store, or a wide, flat block of wood;
- Be sure to support the wheels with wheel chocks;
- never carry out any work under the car alone - if something goes wrong, an assistant will be able to call for help or help you independently;
- do not drink alcohol, do not use narcotic or psychotropic substances before repairing your car.
Step by step guide
We have divided the entire process into separate operations that must be performed sequentially. This will help not only in disassembling the steering knuckle, but also in reassembling it after installing new or adjusting old hinges:
- Place the car on a level surface and apply the handbrake.
- Support the rear wheels with wheel chocks, then loosen the front wheel bolts and jack up that side.
- Place a safety stand under the car and remove the wheel.
- Unscrew the two bolts and remove the plate holding the pads, then pull out the pads.
- Unscrew the two bolts and remove the caliper bracket.
- Unscrew the two bolts, then remove and hang the brake caliper so that the hose is not strained or pinched.
- Unscrew the screws securing the brake disc and carefully hitting the back side with a piece of wood, knock it off the hub.
- Unscrew and unscrew the steering tip nut and remove the pin using a puller.
- Disconnect the ABS wire.
- Unscrew the bolts holding the plug at the end of the hub and remove it.
- Unscrew the 6 bolts securing the axle and remove it, the CV joint and the axle shaft from the steering knuckle.
- Unscrew the 5 bolts securing the ball joint to the axle flange and remove the wheel rotation limiter.
- Then remove the ball joint, place it on the table and clean off any dirt.
- Unscrew the 6 bolts securing the ball joint oil seal and remove the oil seal.
Removing ball joints
Unscrew the grease fitting or the bolt installed in its place and the 4 nuts securing the bipod to the steering knuckle. Using a hammer, lightly tap the bipod in the area of your fist to move it out of place. Remove the 4 cone washers, then remove the bipod and the shims underneath it. To remove the hinge parts, you will need a special puller, which can be made from a U-shaped profile 5 mm thick. The profile width is slightly larger than the diameter of the outer part of the kingpin. In the center of the puller, drill a hole whose diameter is 1–2 mm larger than the diameter of the hole for the grease fitting. Then take a 5-7 cm long bolt with a suitable thread and nut.
Screw a nut onto the bolt, then place the puller over the outer part of the hinge and screw the bolt into the plug through it until it stops. Tighten the nut until the bolt is completely pulled out of the outer part. If there is no such puller, you can try to pull out the hinge by screwing a bolt with large washers into it and squeezing the washers out with two pry bars, but this method is less effective. Then remove the ball and pull the ball joint out of the steering knuckle, then pull out the inner part of the joint in the same way. Thoroughly clean the places where the pins are installed to remove any remaining old grease.
Dismantling other types of hinges
The remaining types of kingpins are removed in the same way:
- Unscrew the upper kingpin nut, then hit the kingpin pin through a soft metal spacer to make it easier to unscrew the clamping sleeve.
- Using a special key (it is found in many sets of new king pins, and can also be bought at any auto store), unscrew the clamping sleeve.
- They pull out the finger.
- Unscrew the bolts of the rear plate of the steering knuckle and pull out the ball joint.
- Use a screwdriver to pry up and pull out the bearing shell or plastic/bronze cup.
- Thoroughly clean the liner and pin areas of old grease.
