“I” beam repair?

I have a 39 I beam that has a lot of ware the kingpin boss, they are out of round.
Could I machine up a sleeve and re drill the boss to suit, weld in the sleeve and ream to suit the kingpin?

An after market I beam is about $550 here.

I figured that the kingpin is locked in by the cotter pin so a snug fit for the kingpin is what’s needed. I know a welder that can stick weld with mild steel rods or I could get the sleeves TIG welded. Forged steel should be ok to weld if allowed to cool off slowly?
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Do you have access to a milling machine? You can do what you've already suggested but it might be easier and more effective to weld up the hole and redrill/bore it to the proper size and angle. Ypu're not going to hurt the axle by welding on it.

 

i havent done this myself yet but i have a couple of axles to do, i dont think you need to weld the sleeves in just a press fit is what i have been told.

 

Yes, you can sleeve the axle end as you describe. I'm running a tube axle that's been bushed on the right front of my vintage race car right now and had no problems.

OR ........ you can do as was done years ago and use an oversize king pin. You used to be able to buy oversize Ford king pins, but I haven't seen any in a long time. I did this on my race cars over 30 years ago to save damaged axles. Of course the amount of oblong will dictate if this is a feasible repair.

OR ........ you can heat and shink the end of the axle and ream it back out to a standard size. I also used this technique on my racing axles years ago.

I don't know why a good stock '39 axle is so expensive over there. I just sold several for a fraction of the cost you mentioned.

 

On one i did only the top of the hole was bad, stretched during dropping, i bored the upper half then made a light press fit sleeve and installed it with green locktite retaining compound then reamed through. All done on a mill except making the sleeves.
Good luck

 

Heres the easy and I think best way to fix it.
Get a old king pin and take a few thousands off it any way you can (laith - belt-disc sander)
Then heat the end of the axle up red hot and drop the under size pin in and start peening around on the outside of the affected area.
Have a punch ready to knock the pin out before it cools and gets stuck. You may have to do it two or three time depending how bad it is.
Then run a 13/16’’ ream threw it after letting it cool on its own and you should be good to go.
Also you will probably need to face off the top and bottom to get them nice and flat.


To me the fact that the kingpin boss is only about 3/16” thick, any bushing will need be very thin and not be very durable.

BTW iv successfully done this repair many times.

 

I reamed the bores out with an adjustable reamer to round them up and then made over-sized bushings on my lathe.

 

This works well, I have also successfully done this repair a couple of times.
You don't need to heat the axle too much, a dull red is fine, it's the peening action of the hammering that reduces the kingpin bore.You could do it cold with a big enough hammer.

 

53-56 F-100 king pins are .030 over stock pre 48 pins. Just ream the Axle and bushings to fit. That is if the boss is not to far gone.
The Wizzard