What a fun job this has turned out to be! I searched the forum before I went ahead and tried this, how hard can it be? A lot harder than I thought.
Well after a lot swearing, hammering and heat I got the pin out. Now, I'm ready to put it back together and have a couple of questions....

I've read that honing or reaming is required with bronze bushings. Does the bushing need to be honed or the spindle? I noticed that the new bushings are "split" or will expand to fit over the pin. Seems that it would make a very tight fit to the point of inhibiting any rotation if left as is. So which is it, hone the spindle to allow the bushing to expand, or press in the bushing and hone it to accept the pin? I plan on using a wheel cylinder hone to get this done.

I also made a mess of the top end cap threads. I will have to replace this spindle. Does anyone sell new spindles? If not I will have to get one from a wrecker once the snow clears. Until then I was just going to weld the cap directly to the spindle. Yeah, I know don't heat the spindle but I had to heat it to get the pin out so it's too late to worry about weakening the metal. Is there another option to get me mobile??


Thanx

 

What kind of truck? twin I-beam or single? I looked in my Motor's truck repair manual for '67-'79 and see what you mean.

I've never done a '70's Ford, but understand the idea - yes, the bushings need to be pressed into the spindle and then honed (or reamed, if you have the right ream) to the right size for the pin. When the bushing is pressed into the spingle, it will contract a lot and no way, no how, will it either be perfectly straight or be big enough for the pin.

What I did was remove the entire front axle (it was a single axle in an Isuzu NPR 11,500lb), take it to my machinist and worked on it there, with advice from him as I did it - the honing itself was left to another machinist who did aircraft parts, because he had the right equipment and it was a weird size bushing. Without the equipment my friend had, I wouldn't have been able to do it - without making a mess of things.

Tacking those dust caps on to the spindles won't hurt anything if you do it quick and don't heat the crap out of the metal. The top of the spindle keeps the spindle straight basically, the bottom of the spindle takes all the weight. I think you'd be OK if you tack-weld those caps on, the thing to think about is the grease in the bushings... just make sure you grease them good after you're done.

art k.

 

Sorry, the truck is a 76 F100 2wd. Twin I beam.

I already heated the crap out of the spindle! The weld will have to be solid to allow grease to squeeze into the bushing instead of out of the cap. I will try and do it quickly.

 

You'll most likely need to a junkyard spindle, I've never seen a source for new ones.

70s fords have twin I beams for front axles.

 

Why did you have to heat the spindle? Trying to get those caps off? Or were you heating the axle to get the pin out and the spindle got hot too?

Just curious ... by the way, my Motors shows an oil seal at the top of the spindle, did your's have that?

To Matts72, Which fords? I know, F series - but the forum name isn't exactly explicit and there have been people with F700's here - who knows, this could have been in an LN-8000

 

I heated the axle and the spindle to get the pin out. It was the only way to get it to budge. Even with the heat it was a battle.

There was no oil seal on my old one but the Napa kit I bought does have two seals. I wasn't sure where they go. Wouldn't they get it in the way for grease to flow into the bushing? I don't think my Haynes manual showed any seals at all.

 

Fp,
Call some shops around your area to fix your spindles. If I'm reading your post correctly, you buggered up the threads for the grease caps when you "extracted" the old bushings. I did this also (many moons ago). I remember the shop guys chuckling when I brought in my I beams and spindles once I figured out the metal bushings where the way to go, and there was no way I was going to try honing them myself. Well, I suppose I wasn't the only guy who brought spindles in - the shop had the correct size tap to fix the mess I made out of the old threads. If you go this route, you may need to put some teflon tape on the threads of the grease caps to get them to seal tight. Another plug for having a shop finish the pins, is that you could also have the pivot bushings in the other end of your Ibeams done too. The bushings are not cheap though.

 

Thanx for the advise but I couldn't think of shop that does this kinda thing? I may take the spindle in if I can't find a replacement one in the spring. I did end up brazing the cap on. It holds grease and seems to be OK but it don't look pretty! I will try and find another spindle when I can get back to the junkyard.
I managed to hone the bushings with a wheel cylinder hone. Took a little time to do but everything fits snug with no play and seems ok after a short drive. I blew it all out with compressed air and wiped everything clean before reassembly. I'll know more after driving into work tomorrow. The advantage of a machine shop is that they could hone/ream the upper and lower bushings together and maintain alignment. I found that after doin the top and the bottom so that the pin fit snug in each bushing individually, it was a bit tight when putting it through both. Not out a great deal but noticeable none the less.
I was just about ready to drop the I-beam but managed to get the pin loose finally when I was taking things apart. Funny thing is that the other side came out with half the effort. I'd like to think to think that I beat the truck into submission ...but then again maybe it was just toying with me!!
When I put it altogether I noticed some horizontal play in the draglink. I greased things up and drove around the block a few times. Everything feels much better with the steering but the drag link has me worried.
When my friends "Time" and "Money" get together and stop by I will replace the draglink and tie rods with their help of course.
Thanks to all for their guidance, this was not a job I'd like to do again any time soon.