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I have a 1972 Ford F100 2WD that I am slowly rebuilding. I am now in the process of taking the I-beam off. The king pins have about 1/16" play. Do you think I should replace them or will they be fine? The truck has been sitting for the last 20 years and the king pins have not been greased since.
Welcome in, Joe. We are here to help.
The kingpins are shot with that slop. Replace them.
Remove the retainer, get a light hammer and give a few taps. If they don't come out, get the biggest maul in your garage, a torch. oil, and beat the living bejusus out of them and cry for four hours. They will come out.
The job is the mother of all miseries.
I have a 1972 Ford F100 2WD that I am slowly rebuilding. I am now in the process of taking the I-beam off. The king pins have about 1/16" play. Do you think I should replace them or will they be fine? The truck has been sitting for the last 20 years and the king pins have not been greased since.
I would replace after 20 years , if they dont take grease they will be a pain to remove without a press an torch but can be done
Welcome in, Joe. We are here to help.
The kingpins are shot with that slop. Replace them.
Remove the retainer, get a light hammer and give a few taps. If they don't come out, get the biggest maul in your garage, a torch. oil, and beat the living bejusus out of them and cry for four hours. They will come out.
The job is the mother of all miseries.
Well, a kingpin press is the best way, in the absence of that, an air hammer will persuade them to come out as well. In the absence of that you're down to brute force methods such as a sledge hammer. It helps if you have the weight of the vehicle sitting on a jack stand directly under the axle beam to counter the force of your sledge hammer blows. ( don't forget to remove the lock pin first!)
Welcome in, Joe. We are here to help.
The kingpins are shot with that slop. Replace them.
Remove the retainer, get a light hammer and give a few taps. If they don't come out, get the biggest maul in your garage, a torch. oil, and beat the living bejusus out of them and cry for four hours. They will come out.
The job is the mother of all miseries.
Oh man is that the truth!
Originally Posted by mrpotatohead
Well, a kingpin press is the best way, in the absence of that, an air hammer will persuade them to come out as well. In the absence of that you're down to brute force methods such as a sledge hammer. It helps if you have the weight of the vehicle sitting on a jack stand directly under the axle beam to counter the force of your sledge hammer blows. ( don't forget to remove the lock pin first!)
I used all that and a torch, did not have them in the truck for weight. Yes fun will be had!
Only other thing I can add when you have the bushings pressed out, the new pressed in and reamed to size make sure the pin fits in both sides of the spindle at the same time.
The machine shop that reamed mine I think only checked if the pin passed thru each bushing. When I tried to put every thing together the pin would go thru 1 bushing, the beam but not the 2 bushing.
That is when I found they only did 1 bushing at a time and not thru both at the same time.
Dave ----
I have seen posted they make adjustable ones but never found them in the little hunting I did.
Thing was the old bushings had to come out (pressed?) and the new ones pressed in and I don't have a press.
So I figured if a shop was doing the pressing they can do the reaming to fit the pins.
IIRC I use Google and found reamers but again I felt best to farm that part out.
Dave ----
Thanks for the reply's. I decided to grease the king pins this morning to see what would happen. They both took grease top and bottom. There is no play at all in the spindles after greasing them in the 12 and 6 o'clock positon. They also turn freely side to side. I think I will leave them as is right now.
Packing anything loose bearings with grease has the same out come that has to much clearance will only fool you .
Hey look every body their as good as new now.
Yeah Right!
The same happens with u-joints not long before grease is gone and needle bearing are slapping around in the cups.
Do the job right an once an be done with it..
Orich.
Packing anything loose bearings with grease has the same out come that has to much clearance will only fool you .
Hey look every body their as good as new now.
Yeah Right!
The same happens with u-joints not long before grease is gone and needle bearing are slapping around in the cups.
Do the job right an once an be done with it..
Orich.
I took everyone's advice and decided to change the king pins. So this morning I decided to start on the driver's side spindle. Everything is off the truck, inner fender wells, the backing plate for the brakes, just the spindle sitting on the I-beam. Everything went great, had the king pin out in 5 minutes, and what do I find, plastic bushings. So they had been changed at least once already. The passenger side was a little more work. It was seized in nice and tight. Took about an hour to get it out with propane heat, BFW and brass punch. So now to replace them with brass bushings. Will try and find someone local with a king pin reamer or try and buy one. Thanks everyone for their help.
Last edited by joe7865; 07-30-2018 at 02:52 PM.
Reason: Add pic
Only an hour to get the stuck one out!
I think I spent 2 hours on each one, total of 4 hours just to get the pins out.
Then again I could not turn either wheel at the wheel, tie rod removed they were frozen!
Dave ----
07-28-2018, 07:52 AM
