any good tricks to get a froze king pin out.im doing them on the 56.tried heat 3 lb hand held sawsall.just laughed at me.im about to tear the front end apart.thought id see if anyone has any good tricks,etc. thanks, eric
If you can get access to a big press that will help too. I had a stuck one...soaked it and applied pressure. While it was in the press we put the heat to it. In less than a minute it popped and we were able to press it all the way out.
Years ago,I was dating a little honey who was taking Auto Shop. She took the whole shebang from a 50 Merc in to use the shop press,after I beat myself silly.. I dunno if she was smoking crack,but she claimed the press read several tons of pressure to push them out...SEVERAL..If I told you the number she told me,you'd think I was lying.. Stick with it..Heat,beat,and bang..eventually they will get bored with you and pop right out..or have somebody with a press do it in about 2 seconds. Yeah,I shoulda kept her..but she sucked at mechanical stuff
I used F-1 spindles and brakes on my'A'. I had to cut the pins out with a torch. Heating and beating didn't cut it. Good luck!
We have a 30 ton press where I work. When I pressed the pin out I think it got up to about 4-5 tons (It has a pressure gauge) and then it let go. Once it got unstuck the pressure to move it out of the axle was considerably less...a ton or less. -Scott
WARNING! The following content contains tales of brute force and ignorance. Mine were totally frozen, and I planned on putting in new bronze bushings anyway and I had all new kingpins and everything. I dulled out one of my tips and cranked the air hammer to about 180psi, held it firmly and beat it out and it never got easier. It came out hard the whole way. It would have been impossible to do it any other way. We (some buddies of mine and me) tried everything, even shot 200psi of grease in the fittings to try to bust it loose, nada. That shit breaks anything loose, hell at 200psi I can shoot a grease turd a block away! I could take out birds with grease boogers... might have to try that later. Now here's the awesome thing. The old kingpins make for awesome installation tools of the new kingpins and seals. Doesn't get any better than that. Keep them to hammer with. Now the bronze bushings need to match the kingpin but national chevy had some used spindles with new bronze bushings for close to nothing so I didn't have to pay a machine shop, they were already the same size as the new kingpins. You might just see what the local machine shop would charge to fit new bushings with the new kingpins. If you're using new kingpins ya might be able to install the bronze bushings yourself, maybe. Either way, if your kingpins are as seized as mine were, ya might needa get a little crazy with it. So, air hammer, yep.
Oh yeah let me add that I obviously didn't have a press and wasn't waiting another day to take it to someone. A press is #1 choice here. Also let me add that the kingpins, after all that, never even had a scratch on them. I wish more shit had that grade of steel! I don't know what they're made of but it's stronger than grade 8. ONOBTANIUM!?
i just got mine out of a 56 chevy 3/4 ton truck.... pounded on them for three days on and off with a baby sledge....then I used a small victor torch tip and just cherried the bolt.... one good whack popped them out half way...a little more heat and i got er done....
They can be very stubborn. The perch pins on my frontend were very stuck. I managed to get one out, but couldn't get the other one. I have access to an 80 ton press. The pin started squeeling it's way out with 45 tons on it AND heat from a torch. That mother was stuck.
needed 9tonns to get one loose for some yesrs ago, in a press. BANG and it loosened, parts flying through a garagewindow and some yards away. Found it, and loose,so what the h... ......did cost a new window though......
If your beating on them in the car, make sure the bottom is supported on something.... wooden blocks work good... cement blocks are a NO NO. If you don't all of that pounding just goes into flexing the part and not removing the pin.
hey eric! i have some spare '56 spindles,yours for the price of shipping let me know if you want'em...
helped a friend get some out the front end of a 40 coupe. banged um for a while. heated them up banged them some more. heated them up some more and put some ice water and ice on the king pin to get it to shrink. didnt work. took the front end out fliped the axel over got a bigger hammer. case closed.
Heat,lube,reheat,cuss,bust a knuckle,crack open a pbr,repeat several times,eventually you'll be drunk enough and won't care if you get the damn thing out!
If you can pry the top off of them they can be beat downward, When installing new ones, the busfing have to be honed to fit the pins, no beating should be necessay when installing, just slight pressure. Alot of bloddy knuckles from beating, but eventually they come out.
i'm pretty sure i have some new kingpins too,and the reamer. i could install new pins and send'em over...
thanks for all the help,and encouragment.maybe ill be able to get them this weekend.yorg that is much appreciated,and ill let you know if i need a set of spindles.i think ill try to get these ones to work.that is a truely nice offer. eric
I went thru this with the wishbones on my 37 axle. Never did get em out. Still laying in the pile in the garage. Solved the problem with a new Superbell.
Not sure if this fits or not, but I had to remove the king pins on a '54 Chevy once. I beat the hell out of them for hours and could not get them to budge. A friend of mine, who was a mechanic, came by and listened to my tale of woe of how hard I had tried to remove those suckers. I mean, they were beating me for sure with all the frustration. He went over and tapped on the sides and the damn things dropped hard like a prize drunk fighter taking a dive. Seems that tapping on the tops of the king pins only jambs them in place harder and forces them to wedge, but tapping the sides puts the force into a different area to make them drop. I can't explain it more than that, but I swear he did not break a sweat and the things dropped out in a heartbeat, like a dead fly hitting the deck after being sprayed with Raid. Huey
Im On My 10th Set Of Pins This Week. Just Walked In And Seen This After Finishing The Pins On My 53 Chevy Truk .they Were Stuck And Instead Beating On Them Under The Truck, I Pulled The Whole Axel,and Yes Used An Old 51 Ford Pin ,put It In Vice Got Were I Could Move ,hit It One Time And Knocked Both Pins Through. I Think I Scared It With That B.f.h.
The Jalopy Journal
