King Pin/knuckle Caps-bolt Or Studs?

Hello all,

I’ve seen some posts and videos that show more with bolts to hold down the king pin bearing caps not studs and nuts. Is there an advantage to switching them out to bolts as I assume the stud/nuts are factory?

Pros/Con?

Thanks!

 

Past discussion of this in the archives if you search.

My personal and subjective experience/opinion is that the OEM studs were a precise diameter to give a very close fit. This is critical in axles where the knuckle's steering arm is integrated with the cap/pin, to prevent any play and dangerous loosening. Ask me how I know.

But for jeeps where the arm is part of the knuckle casting, what do I know?

 

At first I tried installing new "heavy duty" studs purchased from Kaiser-Willys, and they didn't have the same fit as the OEM ones (which were rusted beyond repair) and worse, were made of inferior metal, so when torqued to spec the threads stripped out. Thus I went to American-made grade 8 bolts.

 

Thanks all! Yeah I was thinking I would do the change out to bolts since most, on one side so far, came out on third own as I was disassembling.

I don’t have they type with the steering arm connected. In visiting a few FLAPS, etc. the correct length of bolts is not easy to find yet. I could order them from McMaster-Carr but appears i need to by 50 at a time.