I recently aquired a dropped axle for my truck. I was wondering if the old kingpins and bushings would work and could i take them out and put them in myself or is special equipment required? I know they sell oversized kingpins but is it a sure bet that i will need them in my new dropped axle. Help or advice would make me very happy. Thanks!

 

If the kingpins and bushings are not worn in the old setup, there is a good chance you can reuse them on the new dropped axle. After removing the kingpins drop them into your new axle and check to see if you can lock the kingpins down with the set bolts. If you can't or if you see you are pulling the set bolts all the way through you will probably need oversized kingpins.

I had problems with one side of my dropped axle because the owner before me used an acrons nuts on the set screws and therefore did not get the kingpins locked down enough. Don't use acron nut on the set bolts, looks good but bad idea! The slightly loose kingpin enlarged the hole in the axle and therefore the need for an oversize kingpin on one size.

BTW replacing kingpins and bushings is a fairly easy task if you have the reamer for the bushings. All it takes is a little time and elbow grease and about $40 for the parts.

Good luck,
Rick

 

My advice is to at least use new bushings. The bushing may be hard to remove with out damaging them.

Use a long bolt, nut and two washers to press the new bushings into place. It works much better than a vise or a press. Run the bolt through the bushing and the hole with a washer on each end. Turn the nut to squeeze the bushing into place.

I did not find a reamer that I could afford. The cost of having it done was $200 complete or $70 dollars just to ream the bearings. The machinist was going to make the holes .005 over which to much to me. I used a "flapper rod" to hone the holes to size (.001 to .003 over). A "flapper rod" is a ¼" dia. x 12" long rod with a ½" long slot cut in one end. Use a hack saw to cut the slot. Buy a roll of cloth backed sand paper ($4). I used ½" wide 120 grit. Cut the sandpaper about 6" long, fold it in half and stick it in the groove. At this point it should look like a tee. Put the other end of the rod in a drill and turn it slowly. The sand paper will roll around the rod. Stick it in the bushing and spin the drill fast. Move it in and out to control the bore. Replace sand paper as necessary. Four hours later your done. It took me three hours for the drivers side and one hour for the passenger side. I got better. Do not go to big. The pin should barely fit. I passed the flapper rod through one side and honed the one farthest away. I used the near side to help center the rod (by eye). I have heard of people (with a lot of time) using this method to take the taper out of cylinder bores.

 

For the small cost of some new bushings and pins it seems like a really good idea to just replace them. It will make a BIG difference in how the truck handles if you get rid of any slop in the pins and bushings. It's not that hard to remove and reinstall the bushings with, or without, a press if you want to do it yourself. The bushings come undersize and need to be reamed out to match the kingpins. You can do a reasonable job reaming the bushings if you are very, very careful and take a lot of time to get the fit just right as noted in the previous post. The ideal setup is to have the smallest clearance possible and still be able to freely turn the spindles on the pins.

After talking with some folks who are a lot smarter than I am it turns out that the smaller the gap, the slower the bushings and pins wear. As the gap gets larger the spindle bushings tend to bang around on the pins and actually wear faster. It's kind of a runaway situation. If you get them done right to begin with, though, they'll last a long time.

I realize that prices vary around the country but I was able to call three local machine shops and get prices between $30 and $50 to line-ream both spindles to match my pins. The place with the $30 price said they would press in the four bushings for an extra $20 total. I already had pressed in my bushings so it cost me just the $30 for the line-ream job. Line-reaming with a pilot reamer guarantees that the holes in the two bushings on each spindle line up exactly. That's kind of hard to do by hand but it is possible.

The shop returned my parts with the both the pins and spindles labeled left and right so even the tiny variation in the 2 pins was taken care of! When I put the spindles on they turned freely but there was NO slop. I mean absolutely none that could be felt on the threaded end of the spindle even when tapping with a small copper-head hammer. I really think a shop with the right tools is the way to go.

Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy the project!

George

 

There was an article in Classic Truck about a replacement kit for the bushing type bearings. It used needle bearings and required no reaming. That type of bearing should take a tremendous amount of load and wear and are easily replaceable when they finailly wear out years down the road. If I can remember, I'll find the issue tonight and post it here.

 

i agree it is a good idea to replace the king pin and bushings, but my assumption was the same spindles are being reused and therefore if the bushings and kingpins were in good condition then you probably would not have to replace them. if i was doing the switch out i would replace the kinpins and bushings. but i have the tools needed to ream the bushings to match the kingpins. actually it is usually only the bushings that need replacing, but i have never found a place that sold one with out the other.

kingpins and bushings are fairly cheap, i.e. $30-$40, having the bushings reamed and pressed in can cost double that. at least here in tucson.

as far as the needle bushings go, i looked into that and found they do not have a kit for 53-56 or at least they didn't around the first of the year. it seemed like a good idea but a potential down side might be the grease fittings are relocated to the top of the kingpins or spindles. where this might be a problem is if you decide to put disc brakes on the front. the calipher bracket that came with most of the kits i looked into would have to be modified to clear these fittings.

 

 

******************Can anyone tell me where to get therse kingpins? Thanks Bruce

 

Got mine at Mac's, Bruce.
Welcome. himmelberg

 

I know the standard king pins and bushings are about $40 but what do the needle bearings go for?

Thanks