How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

What's the best way to remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Paul;

I assume you are referring to the bushings - two on each spindle. I used a short (about 8") piece of 3/4" copper pipe amd just drove them out. I also assume that the spindle is out of the car. They should come out very easily. I pressed the new ones in using a vice. Be sure to line up the grease holes. And then you will have to ream or hone.

Have fun

Dick

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

I/we use a hack saw blade in a small airsaw and cut the bushing vertically on each side 180° apart from each other and they drop right through. Takes all of about 30 seconds per each one. A jig saw could be subsituted, --or even done by hand.

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Paul told you how, but you might want to check with your friendly machine shop about removing , installing and reaming the bushings its cheap, especially if you dont have the reamer, if you go this way take every thing with you

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Thanks guys, I got the old bushings out easly with a 3/4 " copper pipe and a hammer.

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

I heard that honing the bushings will give them a better fit and last longer than the reaming. Any comments on this, mine were honed!

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

DO NOT HONE the bushings, they will be loose very soon. Always use a reamer. Iceman

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Very bad information.

A reamer will not leave a perfectly smooth surface. There will be high spots that will let the fit be tight and quickly wear down smooth allowing for play. Once it is worn smooth it will have a good long life, just a bit loose.

With an align hone the bushings will be close to perfectly round and smooth. They will be tight and stay tight for a long time. The hone will do both bushings at once. Some have said you can use a brake hone. A brake hone is more like sandpaper to clean up a surface. It will not do much to make a hole round and it will certainly not do both bushings at once.

Keep in mind a reamer is a perfectly fine way of doing bushings. You just need to understand the consequences.

Mine are align honed.

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...Kingpins-1.jpg

It's actually very easy. My spindle bolts simply fell apart in my hands as each nut was denuded of the cotter pins, these cotter pins actually take up the most time to worm them out so the nut could turn. Replace with new cotters. Thses are not in the kit.
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Both port and starboard sides were apart in less than two hours. Nothing was so tight that I even needed to talk to it.


As to the question at hand, I drove both top and bottom out with a drift pin.


Pressed in with a 20 ton press shown in the above article and than 'line bored' or reamed to size.
The ream is a tad hard to get started [with todays bushings used] into the top bronze bushing.
Once the ream is starting to cut the new bushing, tapping with a hammer while another person countinues to turn the ream through the top then onto the bottom bushing. It's a one shot deal. Go through both bushings. You will not push the bushing out of the spindle by hammering the ream in to it. Oh, and never work a dry hole. Oil up.

You MUST keep the grease holes lined up. And never pull the wedges in to the front beam axle using the nut. Instead hammer the bugger in with plenty of lube. Than nut.

A hint. To start the bottom tin rolled edge protective cover that protects the felt donut use the old spindle bolt, up side down, shoved up in from the bottom spindle bushing to hold the cap and felt alignment. The new spindle bolt coming down from the top will displace the old spindle bolt.


And use two well oiled shims under the bearing atop to take the weight of the car.


Putting it all back together took about three hours.

One does not even have to take the brake shoes off the backing plate. Keep it all together. Do NOT loose the 'pill' under the 7-1/4" brake rods and I kept all the left hand parts in one rubber pan and the right hand parts in another rubber pan just for poops and grins.


If an assembly drawing is required the Bratton's catalog has a better exploded view than the Mac's catalog. Mac's has the spindle bolts where Bratton's said 6 to 8 months!!

$91.00 with shipping. Here is Red below enjoying his new spindle bolts. http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/IMG_0215.jpg

skip.

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Kevin, I agree with you, Iceman is out in the cold! Honing properly will give you 100% contact and will not leave the high spots. Some things just have to be done right to last....

Re: How do you remove worn king pin bearings from the spindle?
 

Sunnen (manufacturers of professional honing equipment) highly recommend that the machinist burnish the bushings into their bores to "lock" them in place. Then do the precision hone. I've never had a failure doing it the Sunnen way!