I just completed pulling the spindle off the knuckle. See pics. Here's my question ---who sells replacement kingpins and has anyone successfully replaced the original thrust bearing, which consists of (7) tiny ball bearings sandwiched between thick washers, with a modern roller bearing? Seems to me that getting those (7) balls back into place during the kingpin reassembly will be a bear,,,Any feedback much appreciated.

Robert, Dale Cooper for King Pin replacement, and in response to your keeping the balls in place. Once you have replaced the bottom and the top press in cap, simply put a little grease on the top of the new pin,set the balls on top, slide it up into the hole. Try to make sure the pin is turn correctly to slide the horizontal once the pin is in position.

Not for nothing does the lubrication say re-pack the front wheel bearings every 10,000 miles. Problem is, most people do not actually "pack the bearings, just wipe a bit of grease around the outside. You must physically force the grease into the bearing form one side until it comes out the other.

Geoff ---You're spot on. In my case I had recently replaced all wheel bearings (inner and outer) and had "hand-packed" them with heavy duty wheel bearing grease. Looking back now (hindsight being 20/20) my first clue that something was going wrong was the few streaks of grease on the outer perimeter of wheel (outside of the hubcap area). I had seen these grease "splats/streaks" but hadn't stopped to consider how they got there. After all, the grease cap fitted nice and snug onto the drum center. Therefore the grease must have gotten real hot, gone semi-liquid, and oouzed out of the grease cap onto the wheels and spun dry along the outer edge of the wheels. The other lesson is buy the $10 wheel bearing disc packer. Hopefully my loss translates to some reader's gain.

Thanks Doug, I'll give that a try when Al Saffrahn's replacement spindle arrives from the Republic of Arizona. I'll post results.

Robert,
please post a couple pictures of the reassembly with the ball bearings. I will be replacing mine before spring. I found a couple generic youtube videos but none of them seem to have the bearings. My present experience has only covered replacement ball joints.

Rich

Rich --- I will post pics and instructions/experiences. Check back in about a week ---I'll hopefully have the parts by then and in the process of installing.

Just how tight did you tighten that spindle nut? Wheel bearings as a general rule are not supposed to have a preload. You turn the castle nut in just finger tight until it touches the plate and takes up the slop, line up the slot in castle nut and put the cotter pin in. The wheel and drum should spin freely, provided the drum brake shoes are adjusted correctly.
As for packing the bearing by hand, how were you doing it? The correct way as to scoop the grease and place in your cupped palm, and then holding the bearing by your fingers, smack the big side down into the grease in your palm repeatedly until the grease starts coming out the rollers and the top of the bearing, adding more grease to your palm as you turn the bearing a few times until the grease is nicely beaded up out the rollers and out the top between the inner race and the bearing cage. This is a tedious and messy affair, but that is how you do it right. A pair of disposable nitrile rubber gloves is nice to have for this.

Kenneth ---Valid question and great feedback! I can honestly say I've replaced and/or serviced 100's of wheel bearings and have never had a problem like this. However there's always the first time (and hopefully this is my last!). I've always hand packed bearings similar to the manner you described and only "snug tighten" the castle nut to the point where there's no play when rocking the wheel with my hands (left hand @ 12 o'clock, right hand at 6 o'clock) after full reassembly and just prior to lowering the car. In this particular instance I think the root cause of failure is that I shorted the lubrication process. I used a brand and type of heavy duty wheel bearing grease for the first time that was VERY STICKY and didn't seem to flow between the rollers and the races very well. I don't have the container in front of me right now but the grease color was "honey/orange?" whereas I've ALWAYS used Moly EP "black" grease without an issue. Again, I'm not blaming it on the grease per se but rather my inexperience/impatience with how to properly work it into the bearing.

Was this a new container of grease just opened? I have seen old containers of grease where the grease deteriorated so it had a strange appearance or sticky , gummy, or clay-like consistency. I use either the EP moly black or the red disc / drum wheel bearing grease. Disc brake grease is fine for drums, as it is formulated for the higher temperatures, but don't put the old fashioned fiber strand drum brake wheel bearing grease in a disc brake car's bearings.....
You are fortunate that the spindle snapped at low speed and the wheel & drum did not come off completely, damaging the fender and rocker panel, the control arm, etc. Or worse, losing control of the car. Are the drum braking plate and the shoes OK?

Kenneth ---As far as I can tell it was good "non-expired" grease. The drum and backing plate are fine. However, the front brake shoe is slated for replacement since it has a 1/4" deep groove worn along it from the brake drum riding "cocked" on it for 100-150 yards. I had been driving downhill at high velocity for over 30 minutes just before the event occurred. After all I drive my Hudsons by the motto, "Drive like you mean it!" Fortunately for me the Hudson Gods kept me alive for another day's run ---a tad lucky, a bit screwed, yet very much alive. Do it on a Harley, Get it in a Hudson! lol

Thanks again.