I have a set of stock 1932 Ford spindles and I will be mounting them on a stock 1936 Ford axle. My brake set-up will be 53-56 Ford F-100. What king pins should I use? I will not need the lovely half moon on top of the king pins that the stock 28-32 king pins have for the mechanical brakes. I've noticed the width on the spindles is not as wide as the width on the 37-48 Ford style spindles. 2nd question: where can I find a set of king pins? 3rd question: Are the 32 spindles strong enough or should I just go get a set of 37-48's? Thank guys......and gals Soda
That is about as good of an answer as anyone could have done, straight and to the point. Thanks a million Chaddilac!! It's kinda what I thought, I wasn't sure if they had after market stuff that might not have the half moon on top that would work too.
I got the '32-'34 spindles, too, I like the nice built in steering arm. I had a fellow named Joe drop two Model A axles, and two sets of '32-'34 spindles to match. He said the required kingpins were about twice the cost of '32 kingpins, so he modified the '32 kingpins to fit, is was much cheaper that way. Call Sid at Droppedaxles.com, he's on the H.A.M.B. as 55 Mercury, he can put you in touch with Joe, he did a really nice job on everything, and the price was right. Not to take anything away from the other guys here that do this type of work, I just happened to deal with Sid and Joe and they did me right.
I have a complete 33/34 front axle/spindle set up which I believe is the same as yours. I used the stock king pins with new bushings. I just put it all together the other nite (shims, felt seal, etc) and I'm VERY happy with it all. I have 1 spare L king pin/spindle if you need it.
Thanks for the info. I messed up and had a double post for some reason, here is what got posted on the other thread by Alchemy: "Unless you are using the stock '32 upper steering arm, and NEED the '32 "look", I'd go for the '40 or '48 spindles. The problems with '32's will be: hard to find conversion kingpins or modifying some '40's, clearance issues at the upper edge of the spindle, and the bolt pattern for the backing plate is too small and will require backing plate welding and driling. If you use '40 spindles you'll still need a little upper clearance grinding, but everything else fits. And if you use '48 spindles I think you won't need any clearance grinding. Those hoop steering arms ARE traditional." Just want to try and keep it all together. I searched the forums and didn't find any info. regarding this topic and I see a lot of guys using the 32 spindles with the neat steering arm on top.
Richard, that is about what I was hoping to do. Why does it look like there is no bearing under the axle?
That's the problem with '32 spindles. The bearing goes on top of the spindle, under the kingpin top. Probably no room to do a bearing on top when you are using F-100 brakes.
Alchemy, that makes sense, but it looks like in the photo above that there is no bearing, but more like a thick washer, is that the bearing? I've got a 40 Ford brake set-up too that may work better than the F100 set-up if thats the case. I was really wanting self-adjusting brakes, but maybe that could be worked on the 40 backing plates.
There is a thrust bearing under the axle...it's a thin Torrington needle bearing. This way you can use 37-41 kingpins and eliminate the "goofy" thrust bearing up top. Richard at The Early V-8 Garage sells a kit to do this conversion or you can piece it together from the local bearing supply house like I did. Neal
Here is the info on the Torrington Needle bearings: Bearing - NTA-1423 - 2 each Thrust Washer - TRA-1423 - 4 each Look here... http://www.timken.com/industries/torrington/catalog/pdf/needle/n_thrust.pdf ...on pages 9 and 10 to verify dimensions. These are .875 ID and 1.437 OD, which from memory should be correct. Hope that helps. Neal
I did use 37-41 kingpins. The washer up top was used so I didn't have to grind a new notch. I have not cut the long end off, you can see it hanging out the bottom. I probably will trim them when it comes apart for paint. Neal
Neil, I just realized that pic above was from your post regarding the adaption of the 32 spindles to juice brake backers. Nice tech thread by the way, I was needing to know that too. Thanks for all the info. guys, been huge help!!