Technical Just thought I'd rant about kingpin bushings...

So, I figured I'd try for once and do something the "right" way. Which to say is totally out of character for me. I'm proud to be a Connecticut Yankee, which means I'm cheap, usually take short cuts, king of the home remedies, and refuse to pay the listed price for anything without haggling it down. So, when it comes time to replace the kingpins and bushings in my '46 spindles, I figured I could ream them myself. Then I spend about four hours on the H.A.M.B. reading everything I could about the subject. Since I told myself this '31 coupe build would be done right for once, I decided to inquire about having the bushings honed by a machine shop using a Sunnen hone. After all, I figured I'd save myself a few bucks by pressing the new ones in myself.
Which brings me to the current subject, the honing. I've called three local machine shops and they quoted me anywhere between $130 and $180 to hone the stupid bushings. Three NAPA stores didn't even know what I was talking about (one guy wanted to sell me a cylinder hone), and those machine shops were charging $80 and hour; which means they must have either blind machinists doing the work, or tech school interns. I mean, I can buy new forged spindles on fleabay for $150 including shipping with the kingpins already fitted. I wanted to stick with good ol' Henry's parts for my build and seem to be paying a premium for it. My spindles cost me $110 as it was, and now I'm tempted to either pick up an el cheapo reamer, or result to the old brake hone. God forbid I ever need Babbitt poured on my Model T, I can't even imagine what that will involve. Thanks for listening.

 

The more time you spend inside ranting the longer it's gonna take you to ream those bushings out.

 

Guess I'd better start looking for a reamer; a shame since I'll most likely never need to use it again.

 

Well I would have to dig down deep in the old tool box to find whatever I need to do the job and I haven't poured babbit in a very long time but I would consider pouring babbit for you if push came to shove.

A ream to ream your bushings wouldn't cost you 50 bucks and I have honed them to size with a brake cylinder hone before. it is not optimum but it works. Big trick here, you no doubt have made a burr or two installing the bushings so removing the burrs first would be a good idea.

a buck fifty seems a little bit high to ream bushings by the way.

 

careful..... BOTH bores must be in the same centerline. Hone each individually and there's a good chance they won't line up. A spindle reamer is the correct tool. I recall that someone somewhere (Fordbarn?) will rent one to you.

 

I agree, everybody here seems to be getting them done from $10 to $80. I feel like the bushings aren't the only thing getting reamed here.

 

I pay $50 at the local machine shop to have them honed. The prices you are getting are ridiculously high !

Don

 

Ya i reamed my own and thought i did a good job. Lasted on summer.

 

Wasn't there a thread recently about this subject, and member or members were willing to send the reamer to whom ever needed it?

 

I'm an old Connecticut Yankee myself, but I can advise you not to try the cylinder hone. Like was said, both bores need to be aligned perfectly, and that is not going to happen with honing one at a time.

A true kingpin reamer, aligns to the centerline of both bores.

An adjustable reamer can also be used, as those have a centering cone to keep the reamer aligned to the opposing bore.

I looked through all my crap when I did mine, and found an old "ford sized" reamer that was a bit rusty. This particular brand is made to do one end at a time, and then go in from the other bore. But it needs to have one bushing still remaining in one end.....or I'd bet it once had a centering cone.

Anyways, as the rusted reamer caused the final bore to be still a bit tight, so I did touch them up with a 2-stone brake hone. I am sure this led to a less than pefect job.

There is a Model A shop in Stafford if you are in eastern Ct, or find a small machine shop that has an adjustable reamer.

 

Ricky: Trebll has it dead on. I borrowed a reamer from a friend of mine to do the ones in my cabrio spindles. It is one tool, reamer on both ends, go through the top hole, then drop it down and the top reamer portion does the top hole and aligns them properly all in one step...so to speak. This is doin' it right.
Don't go cheap on yourself. I've done it with a brake hone and it is not the correct way. It can be out of alignment, unless you get lucky. Tim

 

The correct Ford reamer will make one side looser than the other so I use an adjustable reamer, does both ends at the same time, then when its close I use a brake cylinder hone. Its Slow going but I get precise results

 

Years ago I did mine with a brake hone. I made a special fixture to hold the spindle in the exact proper center on my old man's drill press; went real slow and checked the fit often. It worked out well for me.

 

an old Sunnen rod hone can also be used to hone the pin bore in a piston, and that is the setup that is used to hone the king pin bushings in a spindle. The hone is a long one, so it hones both bushings at once.

I can see it taking up to an hour to set up the hone, do the required honing and get the fit "just right". But a half hour would be more reasonable.

 

The guy who did my last set can probably do the pair along with setting the machine up in less than 20 minutes. He uses a Sunnen or Sunnen style rod hone.

 

The price you got was way high! I charge $50.00 for sunnen honing them. Gary

 

Have you checked any places that work on big trucks? Many of them run solid axles and quite o few of the things that need to be done on our old cars are still done on those big rigs.

Just something to check!

 

Here's a read from our archives: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/another-model-a-front-axle-question.798693/#post-8871606

 

Just bought a Sunnen hone for $300 with a dozen mandrels. I guess at that price it will pay for it self quick.

 

I am in the center of CT and have the reamer..You can't be much more than an hour away, get a hold of me if can't find a closer ream..

 

Yeah, there must be thousands of HAMBers with new or vintage Ford kingpin reamers. Even excellent brand-new Canadian made ones are a lot cheaper than the rates you were quoted, and you get to keep your reamer...
Question: Have you actually installed the bushings yet?? Last time I put some in...they were actually right on. Slow tapping with a generic bushing driver got three in perfectly, and one with a very slight rim created by hasty hammering. This I could have removed with my pocket knife...
Then, I reamed them. Aside from the buggered top, no significant cutting happened anywhere, the reamer just smoothly rotated on out with no resistance and no slop. Dropping the pins in revealed a slick fit with no slop and no tightness...in other words, that particular install did not require any tool beyond a driver!

 

I was a service manager for a Ford garage in 1970. One day a guy came in with a pair of spindles and wanted the (new) bushings reamed. He just about went ballistic when he got the bill for $3.50 each.

 

I have one of those pilot reamers but the problem is that it starts at .795 and reams the bushing to .814. When you turn it over to ream the second bushing you have a .795 pilot running in a bushing that is now .814. Don't know if that is enough to be a problem or not.

 

Dick Spadaro offers a reamer, and kit with guide for $225.oo. Yes, that's steep. But, then again, you won't have to go through all the changes next time. Nobody ever said Hot Rods were going to be bargain basement specials'; at least not how I grew up, leaving a trail of broken parts. It's not a hobby; it's an addiction.

 

Bratton's new Canadian one:
http://www.brattons.com/product.asp...artPosition=1&strSearchCriteria=any&PT_ID=all These are very nice.
Old ones are common at fleamarket, and usually cheap because the seller rarely know its application...just remembr the Ford dimension. The ones I have found as junk typically just have a few nicks in cutting edges from being carelessly stored, and a few swipes with a stone get those under control.

 

I just press them in with the new kingpin in them , they go in aligned and installed. They are usually tighter than I like them but no problem with just a touch of the brake hone.

 

where i ct are you? i have a reamer , and i will show you how to use it.

 

Due to health reasons, Dick is out of business.

 

Man, those prices you are getting are way high. I have my own king pin reamer, but I don't even bother with it. The local machine shop does them with a sunnen hone that does both bushings at once, charges me 10$ per spindle while I stand and watch.
I wonder if you carried them in so they could actually see them, if they would do them for cheaper than those quotes?

 

I also have an old Ford reamer and an adjustable one with the cone set up. Haven't tried eithe yet. Kind of want to use the old Ford reamer for nostogliac sake.