NS Stub axel and Kingpin

[ciaoflyer]

My 126 Bis has just been to the MOT and passed.  However, got some advisories and one of them was that the NS stub axle has slight wear.  Now this came as a surprise as they are only a year old and are reg greased!  Our MOT man is a nice guy and he told me to take it back and put it on his ramp to see what is going on.

Now the near sides grease nipple is at the top of the stub axle and when greased all the grease comes out the top and gets nowhere near the bottom of the pin.  The off sides nipple is in the centre of the stub axle and grease goes all to the right places!

Can anyone suggest why the grease won't come out the bottom of the NS pin and how to over come it?

Thanks

[dajwid]

Newer ones have nipples top and bottom.

[ciaoflyer]

Right checked kingpin today and there is only one nipple.  When I grease it all comes out the top hole in the pic below.....



It must be faulty!

[Rusty's Uncle]

Are you saying that the grease comes out of the top of the stub axle past the top suspension bush or that it comes out past the top king pin seal ?
If you pump the grease in under pressure it will find the easiest way out and from memory I think that the top king pin thrust washer has some grooves to allow grease on the thrust face. It does not always mean that grease does not get to the bottom bush. I sometimes grease them with the car body jacked up so there is no load on the thrust washer and go from lock to lock on the steering. I have only come across one stub axle that has the two grease nipples but keeping my eyes open for another.

[ciaoflyer]

All the grease comes out the hole marked in red, under load or not.

[Rusty's Uncle]

I know that it is Hallowen but that looks like some wierd s**t , how do you do that red thing 
Is that ectoplasm near the nipple and a ghostly face bottom right of picture 
That top suspension bush is the upper seal for the king pin so you have a problem there . The bush or the housing must be damaged .

[ciaoflyer]

can the bush be replaced?

[Rusty's Uncle]

Yes but it is quite a heavy duty job and a new bush may give you a seal but it will not cure the kingpin play so you need to sort that as this years advisory will most likely be next years fail. I wrote quite a bit on here a few months back about reconditioning the stub axles/kingpins as I have now done quite a few.

[ciaoflyer]

This is a pain as I only bought it a year ago as a reconditioned unit, I may as well of reconditioned the old ones myself!  They must of sold me a faulty item!

If I replaced the bush and then got some grease to the bottom of the pin, will this not cure the play?

May just attempt to rebuild my old one......

[Rusty's Uncle]

Not sure if you saw the account of my recent MOT failure, front near side kingpin on a fairly recently puchased "Recon" unit. It turned out that the kingpin had wrenched loose in the stub axle itself. Almost certainly due to the pot holed roads around here.
If you have got play between the kingpin and the bushes then while grease might slow down any future wear it will not not eliminate the wear you have already.
The dodgey kingpin on my car had made the steering really awful.