Technical When replacing King Pins

F1 front axle I'm picking up this weekend, trying get some parts here to keep me busy.

I'm assuming if the spindle wiggles (like a old ball joint) then the king pin and bushing are shot. Going to get a kit off Speedway along with their caliper kit. Is there a special tool need to install the pushing or a general bushing/ bearing race driver sufficient?

On another note, does anyone know the drag link lenght is factory? Was going to pick up one of those to.

 

Take the axle and king pin kit to your local auto machine shop. They can press out the king pins, replace the bushings and hone to a perfect fit on their Sunnen hone.

 

Thanks. One couldn't do the honing their self? Not sure if the king pins have a taper or not?

 

King pin bushing are undersize and need to be sized after being pressed into the spindle. Both bushings need to be honed or reamed in alignment with each other. There are purpose built reamers for doing this or they can be done on a Sunnen pin hone at a machine shop as described above (believed by many to be a more precise method of sizing the bushings). Anyway, not something that can be done decently without the right tools.

 

Back in the day, you'd smack out the old kp bushes, press in the new ones using anything from something as simple as all thread and nuts/washers. Then you'd rent the proper sized reamer from NAPA to get the ID sized & straight.

 

My machine shop hones them for me- while I wait most of the time. but he won't mess around swapping and installing the bushings or removing seized pins. He's too busy.

It's pretty easy to do.

 

Easier to send to a machine shop unless a buddy has the correct reamer. I have a buddy that has the correct reamer.

 

Back in the day? You mean last week, seems like it at least. Time flies. I'm curious if NAPA still offer these? What's the diameter bushing are typically reamed to for a given pin diameter? Are the bushing reamed 0.010/0.001/etc under the diameter of pin?

I need to find one then, the local machine shop (if you want to call it that) didn't know what a hot tank/cleaning tank was and didn't have a furnace for temper parts because "who needs them"

 

Good thread here:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-kingpin-bushing-replacement-ford-spindles.247360/

Don't laugh - the last time I did KPs was on my dear sweet old 1965 1-1/2 ton stake bed that I drove for years & years. I decided to stop the pothole/shudder biz so went to get the bushings.

They were....plastic.

I kid you not.

 

where are you located? i have the f-100 reamer.

 

Yep. More and more Delrin is being used these days.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I'm in Raleigh NC. Would F100 be the same as F1?

Doesn't surprise me honestly, for that year it does but seeing what I see today no. John Deere lawn tractor my Dad bought back in 92 (still in use today). Cam shaft gear gave way (plastic) and luckily piston didn't kiss any valves. I rebuilt it and the replacement part was.....you ready?....Metal. wtf. Motor was a Kawasaki

 

Nope; F-100 and F-1 have different diameter kingpins.

 

OK, here is the deal. Country wallered out spindle bushings are a major problem. Ford kingpin axle eyes sometimes hog out to.
The correct bronze bushings need to be fitted to the kingpins with an adjustable reamer with a skilled user thereof. It doesn't matter if we're talking Model A or a 20.000 pound capacity semi tractor axle.
On the cheap side, if the user and parts guy figures out that a nylon bushing set can be used, and the installer knows that it is correct when applied, the user doesn't have to pay for the machine shop guys experience and tools bought.
Get help from folks that know these parts and help them while they help you.

 

the nylon bushings are nothing new, I remember installing a set of moog kp from napa in a 56 chevy grain truck in 1973 and they had nylon bushings then

 

Working with my old man at the Ford dealer back in the 60's we did kingpins on vehicles ranging from the 1st Econlines to C and F model super duty trucks. He had reamers for everything (which I inherited). All of the adjustable ones were already set so all you had to do was pick the right one. It always made him happy when the replacement bushings were plastic. I seem to remember that the smaller the kingpin the harder it could be to remove the old ones. The super duties were no problem but those Econlines would kick your ass.

 

I sure agree with letting a machine shop hone them. A reamer finish at its very best will never approach what a hone can do not to mention that the fit can be dialed-in perfectly with the hone. I think I paid $35 to have mine honed which was cheaper than a reamer. - EM

 

The thing is finding a machine shop around here that can do it. Most would just slam a reamer and not use a pilot.

 

I've replaced lots of bushings in the spindles with a big vice and sockets to press them in and out. But there is no way I'd ream the new bushings myself with a hone that doesn't reach through both bushings at once. Do everything yourself up to the reaming, then any self respecting machine shop can handle that honing with ease, correctly, the first time. Hopefully you can get it done while you wait since you are going to have to drive to find one.

 

Thisguy65 please put your location with your avatar; someone may know a shop near you..

 

Done

 

How good a machinist are you?

I usually ream them myself, if I don't have access to a sunnen hone, then I have been known to use a wheel cylinder hone to finish them off if they are not close enough with the ream. But these are skills that I learned in the '60s. Not something that I am trying to learn today.

if you have to ask you should probably visit your local machine shop at least for the final fitting.

 

I'm no machinist at all. I am also not strong enough to shove frozen king pins out of an axle with my bare hands. After wasting hours in an uneven struggle I got wise and took the axle to the local auto machine shop. In minutes, they pressed the king pins out with a hydraulic press (which I don't have) replaced the bushings and honed them perfectly to size in a Sunnen hone (which I also don't have). It cost me $40 which was money well spent. The axle when installed ran true and steered perfectly.

Since then I prefer hand such work over to the experts. It is so much better and easier, and the cost is reasonable.

 

I've built precision rifles (I'm a competitor) and most of my machining experience has been firearms.

 

The chasm that separates a shooter and a car is at least two jumps.

 

I strongly recommend against using a hone for this one reason. The kingpin is ground straight. The proper reamer has a tapered guide that holds the reamer straight all the way through both bores of the spindle.
A hone won't necessarily stay straight in the bore.

 

I removed and replaced mine myself and borrowed a reamer from work. But I've prolly done 100-200 dump truck kingpin jobs in my life so it was just another job to me.

 

Not sure if you are saying it's vastly different or close. Shooter pulls the trigger. a gunsmith (Not saying I'm a gunsmith as I only do AR and bolt guns)builds the rifle or in my case chambers, time, threads the barrels.

Looking for a piloted reamer now to buy, in case no machine shops around here will do it.

 

http://www.chadwickreamers.com
This is the brand I am familiar with. They have adjustable reamers based on diameter.

 

Thanks!!