I can't get my kingpin to move more than 1"

[oldmotorsguy]

I can only get the old kingpin out of the spindle about 1 inch, and now it won't budge, regardless of heating the spindle with a propane torch, pounding on the upper bolt head with a large drift punch. Now what?

I initially removed the bottom nut, and pounded a few times on the bottom of the kingpin, but all this did was mushroom the kingpin threads a bit. I ground them back down so that they would fit through the bushings on the way out, but they may still be the cause of the hangup, I am not sure.

I am thinking that a press of some sort should be brought to bear on this, as additional hammering is likely to break something that I don't want broken.

Any thoughts here?

[jackdaron]

Push it up as far as you can and saw it off flush with the top of axle. Then drive it down just far enough to get spindle out of axle. Then you can press it out easily.

[criswellnk]

Just a question first: You said that you removed the nut on the bottom of the spindle bolt, did you unthread the spindle bolt from the axle? It just seems a little unclear to me in your post.

Once you have removed the nut from the bottom of the spindle bolt and have backed the bolt out of the threaded portion of the axle, a judicious amount of oil and turning should be able to free up the spindle bolt. If the spindle bolt will turn in the spindle, all you should need is oil and a bit of force, just give the oil some time to get down to where it needs to go.

You had said that you had "mushroomed" the end of the threads on the spindle bolt, even after you had ground them down, that could definitly be your hang-up point. Once you get the spindle bolt out of the threaded portion of the axle, then if it still won't move you can drive it out. You are going to replace the bolt anyway.

[Model T Monte]

I believe the way I read that is Olmotorsguy hasn`t unscrewed the kingpin bolt out of the spindle yet. Get that done the rest should come fairly easy.

[oldmotorsguy]

Criswellnk:

'Unthread the spindle bolt from the axle?" On the passenger side, I just removed the bottom nut from the kingpin, and it just pulled right out from the top, piece o' cake.

The driver side, no such luck. I poured penetrating oil into the hollow portion of the top kingpin nut, let it drip for perhaps 2 hours, and I did put an impact driver on the top nut on the kingpin, and unscrewed it perhaps 20 turns (it is not frozen, just turns really, really hard), but it did not seem screwed into the axle.

In any event, I was able to drive it from the bottom up about an inch with the impact driver turning it 'lefty loosy,' while pounding on the bottom of the kingpin, after heating the entire spindle for 20 minutes. That suggests that if this kingpin bolt was ever threaded into the axle, it ain't threaded anymore.

Just stuck. My plan tomorrow is to fabricate a puller of some sort. That, or perhaps jack the axle up 6 more inches, fabricate a teepee to support the underside of that damn top kingpin nut, and then let the car's weight pull the bolt out when I let the jack down.

[Model T Monte]

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Your on the right track. Apparently the spindle bolts were stripped in the axle or possibly ran with them loose causein loss of threads. I suppose a helicoil mite work there with the locking nut as a back up. Other alturative is to replace the axle. Best of luck to you sir. Monte

[criswellnk]

If the spindle bolt on the passenger side just pulled right out after you took off the nut on the bottom of the bolt, without having to unthread it from the axle, what is the condition of the threads in the bottom half of the axle yoke?

Even in taking apart axles that had been turned into hay wagons, and then left out in a field somewhere for 50 or 60 years to rot, a spindle bolt should not be that difficult to come out. From what you are saying there is some other problem/force at work (that can not be seen) that is keeping that spindle bolt stuck in place. Do you have any pictures of what you are working on that you can post?

Once you do get the spindle bolt out, be sure to check the condition of the threads in each end of the axle yokes for any damage.