Community Forums

CruznCoastie · 09-11-2016, 08:31 AM

My kin pins are worn and in need of repair. Has anyone had any experience with any front end repair shops in the Salt Lake area?

theroc · 09-11-2016, 11:26 AM

I'm thinking that those local to the area can confirm but I've heard a lot of accolades given to "Alignment Specialists" as they are front-end experts and work on a lot of RVs.

Alignment Specialists

2141 South 1260 West (in the rear)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84119
(801) 972-1105

Although they are older reviews, they have three "excellent" reviews on RV Service Reviews (click here) and has good Yelp reviews, in general (click here)

jelag · 09-11-2016, 04:17 PM

Do you have a lot of miles on your coach... most class 5-6 chassis will run well over 100K miles with regular maintenance.... on the class 5-6 and class 8 trucks I've owned and kept well cared for its not uncommon to see 1/4 million miles...

When you take it in... have them do the proper tests to verify that they need replacement... and if that is required... in most cases a HD service Kit option could be available.. that's the direction I'd personally go...

In some cases your moving from plastic/polyurethane to bronze/brass bushing... that are stronger and will last longer but must be greased at each oil change...

CruznCoastie · 09-11-2016, 06:24 PM

Thanks for the thorough suggestion theroc, I appreciate it.

Jelag-I've got a little over 30k though I'm guessing they've never been greased in the past 22yrs and considering I just came back from Alaska and that harsh road(and didn't know to grease them) I can understand them being worn. I notice a clear clunk when braking during stop-start direction changes and had them identified at the shop during a stop in Canada. They wanted over $5k to change them!!!

jelag · 09-11-2016, 10:51 PM

Geez... this is less than a day's job on a mid size truck unless they need to go to a machine shop and be reamed... and that would only add an hour to the rate if the shop doesn't have the reamer.... I can't imagine that this would be more than $1200-1500 bill...

I would look at the chassis you own and the front axle and search for the kit.. with my back ground.. I'd do this myself... its not really hard but does take time...

Good luck..

CruznCoastie · 09-12-2016, 07:33 AM

Yea, that's why I didn't do it. Something like 15-20hrs labor...thieves.

I'm very comfortable with the idea of doing the job myself assuming there are no surprises. I'm 102 days(8,400mi) into a 9mo trip right now and nowhere near home so the only tools I have are what I brought though I believe I have everything thing I'd need minus an actual king pin press but I think I can fudge that between my small sledge and the levelers. My fear is that I'll tear this thing down and the knuckle will be worn out-of-round or the pins will seized in either the axle or knuckle at which point I've exceeded my resources and then I'm.....now that I type this out, I guess at that point I could put it all back together and drive it to the shop. Hmmmmm.

Well, I'm going to think about this a bit more today. Thanks for the nudge.

I'll still need an alignment so I'll give that shop a call today as well.