About to do the front end up and wonder about the king pins. They seem tight but at 280,000 miles should I do them while I am in there. Man, some of this Ford stuff you just cannot wear out.

1977 Ford F-100
400m/c6/4:11/Gear Vender O.D.
Crane hydralic roller, forged, ported polished,Deamon,Edlebrock, yada, yada, yada
280,000 miles
Stock on the outside
modified/rebuilt everything

 

I'm told 'replace em'. That is an area that is commonly over-looked on Fords. People just don't want to keep them lubed properly. If they would, they'd probably get the miles you've gotten out of your's. At any rate, at that milage you should go
ahead and change them so you can get those miles again. Just an
personal opinion.

 

I think I'm with you. As long as everything is comming out I might as well do it all at once.

1977 Ford F-100
400m/c6/4:11/Gear Vender O.D.
Crane hydralic roller, forged, ported polished,Deamon,Edlebrock, yada, yada, yada
280,000 miles
Stock on the outside
modified/rebuilt everything

 

They can turn into one of those longer than expected jobs though. I did mine last month. I have a thread in the classic forum from a while ago. Buy the metal inserts, they'll last a lot longer than the nylon ones. Only catch - you'll need to have them honed out - and the old ones are tough to get out with out a press and jig. Best of luck.

 

Well, found and easy way to remove king pins, albeit it'll cost ya $300. Snap-on has the perfect tool for this..and I don't see how it could be done any other way to be honest. It took an enormous amount of pressure to get the old pins to simply move...I can't imagine trying to do it "with a brass drift" as a few manuals indicate.

Frank

 

Finally went through the hell that is King pin replacement and can say the job will be easier in the future. Biggest points are:

* Get a Snap-on (or equal) manual kingpin press, the pins don't stand a chance against that device.

* Once you have the pin out, strip the spindle of everything except the old bushings.

* Start calling machine shops. About half will say, "What's a kingpin?"...you don't want these. What you are looking for is an old machinist with all his fingers. He will know what to do and the proper grease clearance to hone it to. Just point out the way the bushings go in as there is a definite up and a down to them and make sure to leave a little room on the top bushing for the seal that goes in the bottom of it (that seems to have no effect on containing grease). Anyway, it'll cost about $20 per spindle to have the bushings pressed and honed (bring the new king pin as well of course)

* Since you have the spindle off the axle, go ahead and change the radius arm bushings and the bushing that's on the end of the I-Beam axle. A ball joint press works well for installing them (a large hammer and a steel shaft works well for getting them free).

Reassembly is a snap and make sure the bearing that the Ibeam axle rests on is shimmed properly (shims included with kit). All and all, it wasn't that bad, but thought I'd communicate the process if anyone else needs to tackle it for the first time.

Regards,
Frank

1980 F150 350k+ miles 300/C4