Does anyone know if the king pins on an F-100 are the same as those on an F-250? All within the 67-72 range. Thanks.

 

I am pretty sure they are. The F-100 use plastic bushings.

 

Well that's what I think too. So there's two of us. Anyone else?

 

When ever I wonder if a part will fit two different vehicles, I go to a web catalog based retailer like Partsamerica.com or Autozone.com, and I fill up a shopping cart for one vehicle and then I fill it up again for the other vehicle and I see which part numbers came up the same.

F-250s use nylon (delrin, plastic) bushings too depending on what brakes it's equipped with.

 

I am not sure if ANY vehicle ever came from the factory with the plastic (delrin, nylon etc) bushings. In any serious duty application, the bronze bushings are greatly perferred, though, finding the proper reamer or a machine shop that has the reamer is harder these days.

I am the proud owner of a set of reamers for my '65 (we share a lot with you fellers) -- my dad tried nylon for years and kept replacing them every 24-36 months, till he went with bronze. That set from 1982 is still going strong! MUCH better for bumpy or heavy duty situations. Not just my opinion, but what I have heard from a lot of other sources too.

FYI -- the reamers are not hard to use, pressing in the "raw" bushings is not to hard either, according to my Dad. But he does have a decent shop press.

later.....

 

Welllll.... I'm a proud owner of a set of manuals printed by Ford about their trucks for the '71 model year and I'm just quoting that source.

 

Does the manual specify that the factory original was the delrin (term used for nylon at that time) bushings, or does it simply give instructions for both?

My 65' manual discusses both as well, but so far as I know, the delrin sleaves were meant as an easy replacement for shops and owners that didn't have the facilities or desire to use bronze.

Just what I have gleaned......


Guess it could be that around the early 70's Ford was on a kick to use the nylon sleaves as a superior (read cheaper!) alternative and decided to use them from the factory.

All I know for sure is: The bronze ones are better!

 

The kingpin size is dependent on the GVW. My '72 F-250 Camper Special uses larger king pins compared to the F-100 and lighter duty F-250s; a good autoparts store will be able to steer you to the right set. I wouldn't bother with the nylon bushings. If you can't find a shop to ream the bronze bushings you can do it yourself if you have a drill press. Buy a brake cylinder hone and a couple of cans of WD-40. Takes some time but you end up with a really good fit.

 

Apparently I will go to my NAPA store and have them look up part numbers. This is what I had planned to do in the first place if I didn't get a definitive answer here. Call me lazy. I've been wrenching for about 35 years. Anything I can't do in my own shop I know how to get done right by someone else. Since this thread is now mostly about Delrin vs. bronze bushings I'll say this. My truck ('68) has over 300,000 miles on it, nearly all of them mine. I do grease my front end occasionally but not as much as I should. The king pins are original and still tight. Since I haven't actually seen them I cannot say absolutely positively that the bushings are not plastic. But I'm willing to make a huge bet they are not. I know I will never use plastic unless I have to, and even then I won't.

 

 

I apologize for the bad pun....