King Pin Replacement

[ddodson1]

I recently had my service shop quote $5,000 to replace the king pins on my 1965 230SL.  This seems very excessive to me. 

What is the experience of others for this job?

[mait]

Sounds excessive to me too. My MB flat rate manual reads:
  Oper. No 33-30  King pin bushing and/ or steering knuckle support. Install new ( one). 1.1 hrs.
  That 's not including parts of course.

Just out of interest: This manual has a series of comptational tables in the back that let the service manager or whoever tell the customer the exact labor cost - hourly rates begin at$3.00 increasing at 0.25 iincrements. The final table calculates labor @ $8.50 per hour.

Try that one at your local dealer!!

Good luck in finding someone to do the work at a reasonable rate.

Mait

[Benz Dr.]

You can't do that job in 1.1 hours. Maybe when the car was new but not today.

 You will need to replace the bushings and those will need to be honed at a machine shop after installation. I would replace the upper and lower pivots as well because they're likely to be worn out. Remove the upper pivot and after you remove the tie rod end along with the brake line the whole hub assembly will slide off of the king pin. Remove the lower pivot (I cut them off with a torch ) or remove the lower pivot screw with an impact gun. The BBB has assembly instructions. You will need a front end alignment afterwards.

[stickandrudderman]

1.1 hrs is just to renew the bushing with the stub axle removed and on the bench.

[lurtch]

This is the invoice for that job, done on my car last May here in California.

I hope this is helpful - -

Larry in CA

[ddodson1]

Thanks all!   Sounds like I need to find a different shop.  Thanks for sharing the invoice, Larry.  You had more work done than I need and was still less than half their quote. 

I've already done the brakes, tie rods and shocks.

[erickmarciano]

Larry it looks like he charged you labour for the things that needed to come off anyways like drums pads bearings ,links....

[Benz Dr.]

You pretty much need to pull everything apart and go through all of those parts so you can see what needs to be replaced. This all takes time and if you can do it yourself you can save on the labor bill. Removing and installing the king pin bushings is best left up to a machine shop while everything else is possible in a typical shop at home.