Hi all,

I am new to this group. I have a '51 F1 which is completly stock. The truck came out of Arizona and is in great shape.

My spindles will not take grease. I have tried everything to get grease into them. Are there any tricks to this? Could they have been put together wrong and thus not taking grease?

Thanks,

RickS

 

Are you talking about king pins? The spindles are what the wheel bearings ride on and you have to pack the bearings with grease to keep the spindles greased. Did you put new zerk fittings on the top of the pins? You should be able to pump grease in until it oozes out around where the shims and flat bearing is. Try new grease fittings. I don't see how you could mess up how they are installed.

Barry

50 F-1

 

Yes, I am talking about the king pins. I have the same problem on both sides. I have removed the zerk fittings and they flow grease. As I recall, there are two fittings on the kings pins. The bottom one takes grease but the top one does not.

Thanks

 

It's a pretty common problem for my daily driven '48. The top ones always seem to get tight first.

Try lifting the wheels off the ground. Move them from side to side while you keep pressure on the greas gun. Remove the zerk and dig the hardened grease out of the fitting area as best you can. A shot or two of PB blaster or your favorite penetrating oil in the threaded hole can sometimes get a passage opened up for the grease to follow. Heat can also help. Perseverance will pay off and it'll steer like new. Then remember to grease on a regular interval.

 

Have you tried an air grease gun? We grease up our farm equipment with one and it does the ones a hand grease gun can't do. It did all the zerks on my '51 except the rear shackles.

 

Do you know if this axle had new king pins and bushings installed? If so, they may have installed the upper bushings wrong in not aligning the holes in the bushing with the hole in the spindle itself. That would not allow grease to flow thru to the king pin.
Try the air grease gun and if that doesn't work, you know that the holes are plugged or things are not aligned. You could always try to get the pin out and then try drilling thru to open the hole. It may be plugged with dried out grease and dirt after all these years.

Barry

50 F-1