i need help with king pin bolt installation

[my40ford]

this is my first build and i am not sure about how to install the king pin bolts. Do i have to take them to a machine shop to have them pressed in or can it be done at the home garage? Thanks for any help received.

[Enbloc]

The king pin bolts should slide into the new bushes when fitted to the spindles under their own weight.

To achive this the new bushes are reamed to the correct size. You fit the bush to the king pin NOT the king pin to the bush.

If you don't have the tools for the job, a machine shop can do it.

[DICK SPADARO]

If you are replacing the king pins in your car with new pins it will require some additional work , this is not an unbolt and rebolt on part. Replacing king pins requires you to replace the spindle bushings to insure that the correct clearances are maintained. This requires you to remove the spindle and remove the old bushing by driving or pressing them out. After removing the old worn bushing you can replace them with the new bushings. This can be simply done by using a bench vise, aligning the bushing oil hole with the grease fitting on the spindle and squeeze the bushing back into place by tightening. After replacing both top and bottom bushings you will find that the installation has slightly compressed the bushing so the king pin will not fit. This requires you to fit the pin to the bushing. This is normally done with a King pin reamer or can be done at your local machine shop. The machine shops around here usually charge about $35.00 for two spindles. After having them reamed the new pin should just slide thru with no slop and the spindle with new pin can be reinstalled on the vehicle.

[Mike51Merc]

Are we sure he's not talking about the retaining pins?

[richard crow]

DICKhas it right one more thing always try the king pin in the axle before you do the bushings sometimes the axle hole is walloed out .

[Bruce Lancaster]

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...and someone on the HAMB just posted on techniques to resize wallowed axles

[my40ford]

thanks dick, I believe that sounds more like the answer I was looking for. I was not positive on how to do it but your answer is very helpful.

[Kurt in NJ]

I made the mistake of having the bushings reamed on my A, they got loose quick---10K miles, after that I had them honed to size on the other cars I have done ---the one with the most miles is still tight as new 30k miles later ---many times reaming makes small chatter marks because the oil grooves make the reamer "bounce" some and the pin rides on less than 100% of the bushing surface then.
The honing mandrel has to be long enough to do both bushings at the same time ---this is not something you can do with a wheel cyl hone.