We went to a Tuesday evening cruise in at the local Cracker Barrel and there were several nice hot rods and theb typical off topic cars & trucks but I noticed a T Bucket I had never seen and it was showing it's age,the paint was faded and the chrome wasstarting to rust and peel. The gentleman had just purchased it and said the previous owner built it back in the 60's and it actually looked like it was well built until I noticed something that scared me. The king pin on the passenger side was sticking up about 3/4 of a inch above the axle and the drivers side was flush I started looking closer and realized the was no provisions for a locking pin,the axle didn't have the hole for the locking pin to go through. I suggested that the pin be knocked back down before he drove it any further, I was able to borrow a hammer from a carpenter who was at the Cracker Barrel and proceeded to drive it back in place. Have any of you ever seen a axle without the hole to keep the king pin in place? HRP
Sometimes they get missed on QC. Monday and Friday parts in a factory or the worse. I am surprised that no one ever caught it in all those years, I mean hell how much trouble would it have been to drill a hole on it to drive the pin through You done good Danny. Edit damnit. How come autocorrect can't figure it out and how in the hell do you turn it off. *Done not Don't
In the tube axles I have seen typically a 1/4-20 set screw is used to ensure the best compromise between proper retention and adequate number of threads given the wall thickness of the spindle boss on the axle. A correctly located flat machined in the k/p will be a definite plus.
I restored a '23 T bucket show car originally built in '69. It didn't have the locking pin, but had a custom king pin with a cap on it. Would keep the pin from dropping out but not from lifting. Never had a problem with it, but it was a show car and didn't see a lot of street use.
Funny I got a tube axle built by a guy called J.C. in about '64. It has the holes for the locking pin, pretty easy to drill a hole in a piece of tubing. They also use an off the shelf Ford part.
Good eye, HRP; if you see him again, maybe advise him to check if there are set screws. Pretty common on fabricated tube axles.
That pin is tapered and supposed to drive in and shove the king pin against the side of the bore with tremendous force and remove any trace of clearance slop between the bore and pin. You have clearance at the kingpin and spindle bushings and some slop. No clearance or movement in the pins to axle. Do what you want but A set screw isn't going to do that, a nut and bolt isn't going to do that either.
That lock pin hole position is real critical as the machine wedging ramp in the pin has not much angle to it..A slight oversize of the hole and the pin is useless.
I’d venture to say that this guy’s T is a zip code car, he takes it out for an ice cream cone or to the local cruise night. I’ve never seen a tube axle with a through hole for the wedge pin so I see a set screw as the only alternative, unless somebody wants to suggest the car needs the axle changed out.
The axle didn't have any type of set screw and no indication there ever was one,like I said originally this gentlemen just purchased the car and is new to hot rods. HRP
Had an MAS tube axle that used a little 1/4" allen set screw to hold the pin. Flat spot on the pin that matched. Once they were in place it was really hard to see it. SPark
That's right, But go read what I wrote again. There's no bushings in the axle and there is no slop and no movement of the king pin WITHIN THE AXLE BORE THANKS TO THE DRIVE IN LOCK PIN. If you don't have the drive in lock pin guess what??? The lock pin drives the king pin into the outside of the axle bore. That pin does much more than Simply keeping the pin from rising up.
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