I have a '57 F100 that I am building and wanting to keep somewhat old school. On that path, I want to keep the straight axle setup (dropped eventually) but just went through a real tough time getting my original front end rebuilt due to the kingpins. I had a helluva time finding someone to do them right. I live in NorCal, the Bay Area and it seem that there are not a lot of old school mechanics left. And the truck companies don't want to mess with it either.

So, my question is....has anyone come across an alternate to the standard kingpins? A ball bearing set? I've seen those but can't seem to find them for my year. What have you guys done? Kept the straight? Gone to IFS?

I am trying to stay away from an IFS front end but will go that way for ease of maintanence if needed. Just would like to keep the straight axle if I can maintain it easily.

Thanks!!

 

Not sure what the issue was getting them done right, it's pretty straight forward and really simple. Kinda hard to screw up to be honest, you would almost have to try to screw them up.

 

Well I must be an over achiever then. Because I screwed up my first set up. I wasn't aware that you needed to hone the raceways after installing them and tried pounding the kingpins in. Bad results. Then spent three days trying to find a shop that either knew what a kingpin was or had the experience to do it.

Anyway, I don't have the tools to do this again, and have seen upgraded kits for 53-56 F1's. But if those aren't available for the '57's that I have seen. If someone knows of one, that's what I'd like to check out.

Maybe it's just a matter of investing in the right tools.

 

Rockauto has them from several different brands.

 

Thanks Willowbilly. I will check them out

 

Doing it your self and not having professional training it is totally understandable to not know how they should go together and botch it up.

For a trained tech it is absolutely inexcusable.
Plus even if the shop does not have the tools on hand to ream them they all know or deal with machine shops and can send the spindles out for reaming.

If you have issues finding an auto shop shop that is not run by half wits that don't have a clue, go to a heavy truck shop, those guys work on king pins all the time as they are used on heavy, medium trucks and buses to this day.

King pin upgrade kits are not all they are cracked up to be with the shock loading this component see's, Needle bearings don't do well with shock loads, even universal joint's can divot the spider when shocked.

See below example of a chewed up pin from a supposed roller bearing king pin up grade kit.

They use bushings in king pins even to this day for a reason.

 

The only thing hard about Kingpins is getting them apart, if you can do that, they are easy to do yourself. Take the two spindles to a machine shop with the new bushing and pins (I bought mine from Dennis-Carpenter). Ask them to remove the old bushings, install the new bushings and ream them for the new pins. Then you pick them up and installation is a piece of cake. Cost $20 per spindle here. Trying to hone is a fools chore. Any machine shop can do it, doesn't take any special tools.

 

Keeping them greased is also important. We've gotten lazy over the decades. The kinkpins should be greased every time the oil is changed. You don't need any "upgrade" type stuff if you just keep them lubed good.

 

Owner's manual sez every 1000 miles iirc, 500 for "severe service".

 

Exactly and some are even more frequent than that. The 57 truck owners manual states every 1000 miles for chassis lubrication and 900 miles in wet slushy, or muddy operation.

Most people are not aware or have forgotten how maintenance intensive these older vehicles are, as service intervals have continually gotten longer as the years have gone by, with things like maintenance free batteries, better quality accessory belts , greaseless steering and suspension components, electronic ignition, and oil change intervals extended out to 10K miles and beyond in some modern vehicles with no other maintenance required until 100K miles, we have forgotten that older vehicles need much more intense maintenance regimes, that traditional monthly Saturday morning of servicing and tinkering with your vehicle is long obsolete.

We have to try to remember and be aware that these vehicles pre-date any extended service regimes and have no maintenance free items (excepting modern batteries and elect ignition if fitted) , and that following the recommended maintenance regimes laid out in the owners manual will extend the life of the wear components in our trucks. Most of us are not putting thousands of miles a year on these trucks any more. And oil changes are usually done through time expiration rather than mileage accumulation so a lube cycle during the oil change is a good rule of thumb. But if you are putting thousands of miles on per year then just be aware the recommended lube cycle is every 1000 miles with stock style components.

 

I drove a 72 F250 for 16 years in Alaska. I lubed it every time I changed the oil. I parked it when I moved away with 197,000 miles on it and it still had all the original king pins and tie rod ends, barely showing any wear at all. And 2 out of 3 original U-joints.