I'm not one of the guys who has never taken a short cut that bit him in the ass, so I'm not going "Armchair Quarterback " the OP's situation. I am going to thank the OP for the reminder of the consequences of a brain fart!
No offense, but if your trying to change camber is all then your set up is indeed very wrong. You shouldn't have the jack and pressure under the spindle, there your basically crushing the bearing. One block under drivers batwing area, Jack under passenger side batwing area and chain in center of axle, cheating chain to side you want to move the quickest. I actually have a bar that fits over the axle instead of using chains, oem style original tooling that I use for bending. But the principles are identical.
Looks like a large section of the bottom web around the cracked area has been broken off for a long time - or is it just the angle of the photo
I have a hell of a time getting grease into the kingpins...Grease gun builds so much pressure it locks onto the zerk; I have to turn the spindles left and right and the grease will eventually start to ooze out..Checked for hole alignment, zerk fittings replaced..
I wonder if you could put a plug or a set screw (with thread-lock) where the grease zerk goes. When it's time to lube again, reinstall the zerk, grease it, and then put the plug back in until next time.
I believe this steering mod has caused a lot of grief to Hotrodding including the OP despite the fact there were other issues. There as eluded are numerous fixes but many times these are put off...resulting in many sometimes unfortunate outcomes. I gotta find my grease gun...
It's generally not a problem to get a Zerk in...its the grease gun to Zerk thats a problem. So no real advantage to a plug.
I’m by no means a metallurgist , but dropping or heating a beam isn’t the best idea . It has been done for many a year and many a mile of operations . I had a Mor Drop in my 37 Chebbie for many years and trouble free miles . I know that I worked in a Ford dealership as a line mechanic and if you ever got the torch out to bend an I Beam , you would be lookin for a truck to take your tools to a new garage to work in the next day . One most know the correct heat range to operate in when heating a forging for any operation , it’s a very dangerous guessing game , that “ I know , it will not hurt anything “ is not the correct answer to use to pass go safely !
Remember the 6 Ps : Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Perfromance Sorry, had to ya know? Glad you sorted it out at home.
After spending the weekend at Bonneville and looking at lots of hot rods I saw some with no access to one or more grease zerks for their kingpin bushings. So hopefully this thread helps some people realize they need to fix their car before it goes bad. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
You are correct and that is a fairly large responsibility when you look at any vehicle...when you garage maintain it...by that I mean home garage. I am a mechanically inclined sort and we are taking on a responsibility of a mechanic so while a door handle for example can be loose and perform without incident gears, joints and bearings, etc. are another story. I am guilty of leaving things a little longer than I should but yeah it's a gamble and we do see many times here shit can happen. I do rely on outside help as there are some things that I don' t feel confident or educated in tackling...no shame there either...
Bumping this thread as its that time for greasing my kingpins; wondering if any one has found a trick grease? My particular problem is that its extremely hard to get the grease to flow, takes extreme gun pressre and turning spindles to get some to ooze out..Still thinking of trying PMC [extreme pressure lube].
OK a word of warning this may not be a problem on king pins but on large volume grease caveats you should press in the detente ball in the grease fitting to let off excessive pressure before removing . I knew a guy that got killed by a grease zerk to the hart he was working on a reduction gear on a crab boat whodunit take grease went to pull it out and the presser behind it shot the zerk out like a bullet
I use the needle in tight places, even with a standard zerk. I found a zerk for the needle so it snaps on and off the gun without changing the gun connector. Recently I have been using the green marine grease for boat trailers. It seems less affected by water than molybdenum grease which seems to turn to sticky paste after being wet many times. Phil
I like the looks of a drilled axle but would never ride in a car with one. Now all '32 axles were "heavy" and that has been discussed plenty on this forum. I do have a question however... I thought that forged axles could be welded by a competent welder. True or false?
To fix the clearance issue, Anyone handy on a lathe could drill and cross drill a kingpin to fit a grease nipple at the top and bottom of the kingpin. A’s had hollow kingpins for the brake actuator so it obviously wouldn’t be to detrimental to the strength. Not talking of a 1/4” hole, would only need a 1/6”or 1/8” drilling and slightly larger for the threaded area. And only drilled deep enough to the centreline of the bushes and nicely radiused so not to score the bush . Just a thought.
Firstly, thanks for sharing your experience. I’ve already learnt something from all the posts, different grease zerks available, ( we call them grease nipples ). Just my thoughts, and no one else appears to have mentioned or be concerned about: Why would you not strip the axle down fully and remove from vehicle before attempting to bend it ? That way there is no unnecessary pressure on kingpins, bearings, perch bolts, wish bones etc.
any industrial supply house sells them Many different styles of zerk from straight to multiple angles. you can also buy these flush mount ones as press in to the sit flush Also many different ends available for grease fitting for your grease gun
Having done hundreds of camber corrections, I would agree. What puzzles me is where the axle broke, inboard in relation to the bending point at the chain.
I had an issue with a grease fitting a few years ago , photo's could be better- you can see one where grease went right thru and the other a factory defect). I now ck the grease fittings before installing a part ( the defective fitting in the photo was on a lower ball joint on my dd, it was a TRW as I recall). [/ATTACH]
That's right it could be welded and I will probably weld this axle and run it on another project at some point. I now have a dropped axle on this car.