King Pin not matting with brake shaft housing – 1932 Ford

[Lincolnville]

I would like some help with trying to understand the cause and a solution for the brake shaft housing not matting correctly with the king pin. The gap between the brake shaft housing and the king pin is roughly 1/8”. I’m putting aside the facts that the backing plate is not the correct one for a 1932 Ford and that I have not installed the bearing or the shims for the king pins. The correct backing plate will be installed once it has been media blasted. The bushings in the spindles were honed within the last week to proper tolerance for the king pins.

Thanks,

Matt

[Brian]

There is a left and a right hand to the king pins; you haven't got the wrong side installed have you? The 35-36 pins look similar but the heads are angled. You aren't fitting kingpins with 48 prefix are you? Or is the perch bolt bent? Are both sides the same as regards this misalignment?

[Bob C]

Also Model A kingpins look similar but the slot for the locking pin is at a slightly
different angle.

[Lincolnville]

Right now, there is no gap on the driver side. The perches are new, and they are properly seated in the front axle. I tried switching the king pins and the gap grows to a 1/4" or so on both sides.
I will purchase new king pins and see what happens.
Thanks for your comments.

[Mart]

Could your perch pin be bent?
It is unlikely that the axle is bent between the perch bore and kingpin bore, but do the wheels appear to have the same camber?
Have the perch bolts been removed? Could they be removed and compared?
Was this collection of parts all together before and fitting well?
Mart.

[mercman from oz]

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King Pin not matting with brake shaft housing – 1932 Ford ? - Lincolnville

[Kurt in NJ]

swap the perches and see if the problem moves

[Terry,OH]

I see there are two different part numbers for the front brake shaft housing 32-34 and 35-36. The 35-36 is listed as 4.87" O.A.L. I do not have the Spec. for the 32-34 housing length.

[DavidG]

Terry,


The '32-'34 brake shaft housing is considerably longer than the '35-'36 version. That in the photo is clearly the the '32-'34 version.

[Mart]

Take everything apart and measure everything, comparing side to side. As stated the perch is the most likely culprit.

[rich b]

Maybe compare the brake shaft mount ear dimensions of one of your new perch bolts to one of the old ones.

Seems it would be the most likely place for this problem to originate.

[Lincolnville]

Hmmm... is there such a thing as a left and a right perch??? I've attached some pictures of the original perches and you will see one is larger than the other. Once I take apart the front end, I will compare original perches to the recently manufactured ones.

[deuce_roadster]

If there is a left and right, they should have different part numbers.
It is my experience that rerpo parts are extremely rarely the same as originals.

[Mart]

There isn't a left and right. I cannot see that one is bigger than the other from the pics.

I would test build the "bad" side using the perch from the "good" side and see if it becomes "good".

Some careful measurements of the perches could be made, but you need to measure the set back of the top mounting hole relative to the main shaft part.

Mart.

[Lincolnville]

Problem solved by flipping the new perches - left to right and right to left.

[DavidG]

While not obvious, the '32 and '33-'34 versions are different in terms of the height of the hole for the spring shackle stud, with the latter being slightly higher. However, both are used with the same brake shaft housing so your problem comes back to mis-matched reproduction spring perches. The solution you found of switching the reproductions side to side would cause me to pitch them in the trash as they are obviously improperly manufactured. And then there is the minor matter of the metallurgy of the part relative to originals and the possible disastrous consequences of the failure of one of them while driving. They are out there in original form, why take chances.?

[Lincolnville]

I will toss them and start again. Why risk it.

[Lincolnville]

I've installed the new king pins, and perches while it is an improvement however, I still have gap between the king pin and the brake shaft housing. Is this gap acceptable? Sort of hard for me to believe that Ford really designed it this way.

For the moment I left off the bearing, shims, etc. and I've located a spindle that has better bearing surfaces.

[deuce lover]

To me it should not be like that.Try removing the kingpin locking bolt and see if all lines up correctly.If so the notch in the kingpin is not located properly.What is the opposite side like?
Here is an old pic of an assembled unit.Not sure if it helps except it shows the "knuckle" seated in the cup of the kingpin.

[Tim Ayers]

To confirm, you've changed everything but the brake actuators? I don't know, but could these be incorrect parts you are using or where they all the same?