This is the only other old Ford truck I saw in the parade. There may have been others, but I checked this one out in the staging area before the parade started.

It's a '49 F1. I got the pic off the Internet.

 

I found a local auto machine shop capable of pressing and reaming my king pin bushings. So today, I started taking the spindles off Betsy.

I got the passenger side off with a lot of pounding. I measured that pin and the bushing. The pin does not appear to be worn at all, but the bushing was over tolerance. The book says 1.131 max ID and it was easily at 1.14. Don't know if this is my problem or not, but the wheels moved noticeably when I pushed on the tire while on jacks.

Anyway, here's my problem. I can't get the drivers side to budge. Not one bit. I beat on it with a hammer, then a 3 pound sledge and can't get it to move. I heated it top and bottom with a torch, and nothing.

I'm looking for suggestions.

 

Take off the zerk and squirt weasel **** in there, also in the lock pin hole. Repeat hourly. Then get your BFH and wail on it. Curse, drink, wail, spray with w.p., BFH, curse.....

Do you have an air chisel? You can put a dull, broad point in it and put a lot of pressure on the bottom of the pin while squeezing the trigger.

 

Joe I don't have much to offer here because the pins came out of mine like they'd been waiting for someone to let them out, but maybe soak the pin for a while with something like PB Blaster (possibly with repeated applications). Then go back and warm up the top and bottom parts of the spindle, then use your old passenger side pin to try to drive them up from the bottom. If it's been in water there might be a thin scale of rust on the middle part of the pin that you might need to out-power. I don't need to ask if you already removed the lock pin, right?

 

Thanks Ross. I tried the air chisel. No luck. I did squirt it with WP, but I didn't think about pulling the zerks for that. There are two for each side on the F4. I'll go do that now. Thanks again.

 

Hahaha. Yes I removed the lock pin, but I'm laughing because I checked it once when I couldn't budge the pin. I'm prone to do stuff like that...

And you must have been typing while Ross was advising me to blast it.

Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot... or several. :-)

 

I have two axles in similar condition where I can't get the driver's side pin to come out no matter what I do. Luckily, the axles are loose so I can take them to a shop and have the pin pressed out. It's possible that the pin wore a deep groove and is now stuck. If soaking doesn't work, then you may have to pull the axle.

 

Are you heating the axle end or the spindle? It's stuck in the axle, so direct your heat there, both front and back sides.
If you can put a jack under the kingpin while heating it might help push it out.

 

Thanks guys. I'll try everything suggested tomorrow. That sucker's coming out...

 

Good luck, Joe. The axle from the F6 that your tie rod came from never did release either king pin. The spindles are still stuck on the axle, no matter how much I hit it with heat or air hammer. Not that I'm trying to discourage you or anything.

 

Joe,
You might try rotating the pin to a different orientation, either to one side or the other. If its worn enough to have a groove worn into it then it could be catching in the lip of the groove. Rotating it to one side or the other might help.
I've had similar issues with leaf spring pins and bushings.

If that doesn't work, take Ross's suggestion but add a few more drinks into the series. It won't help the kingpin but it does wonders for your attitude

Good luck
Bobby

 

Exactly what he said. Use the weight of the truck as your assist and vibrate the axle part where the pin goes through. IMO and experience, the weight is more of an assist than the heat. And forget about the spindle, it is already free.

 

Too early to be drinking.

OK fellas. I got it out. I used a combination of your suggestions. I started squirting it with "weasel ****" last night and repeated first thing this morning. I heated the axle on front and back with my torch. I used my bottle jack to push up on the pin. The head of the jack was just the right diameter. I beat on the top of the spindle with my hand sledge until the pin broke loose. Once it started moving, I could jack it up a little and tap down using the truck's weight to push the pin out. I was able to pull it out the last couple of inches with vice grips.

Thanks for all your suggestions. As always, you guys rock!

I still don't have the driver side spindle off... the spindle arm won't come loose from the drag link? The nut is off, but it will not drop. As per the instructions, I'm trying to "disconnect the drag link at the spindle arm". What am I missing? Looks like I have to disassemble the drag link to disconnect it from the spindle arm.

Would it be better to remove the spindle arm from the spindle?

 

NO!

The drag link goes back to the steering box, is that what's stuck? Or is it the connecting rod between tie rod ends?

 

I'm trying to remove the spindle arm from the drag link.

I have the nut loose, but the arm won't move down off the drag link.

What's holding it? Oh, and I'm just resting it on the axle for the pic. I know that much...