King Pin tightness

[Hotrodvideo]

How tight should king pins be when fitting them into the axle? Should I be able to slide them in and out easily by hand or do they need to be knocked in with a hammer??

[jack in san diego]

The hole in the axle that the king pin goes through should be clean of debris and rust. The king pin should go through it with ease.(no hammerring) The bushings in the spindle should be reamed so the king pin is easily pushed through it. The king pin is locked in place in the axle by a wedge shaped bolt with a castle head nut installed on the back side of the axle and acts for a stop when turning right or left. Good luck

[billwill]

Originally Posted by Hotrodvideo

How tight should king pins be when fitting them into the axle? Should I be able to slide them in and out easily by hand or do they need to be knocked in with a hammer??

slide them in and out

[Ol' Ron]

I have the bushings Honed to give .0005/.001" clearance.

[deucemac]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

I have the bushings Honed to give .0005/.001" clearance.

I'm with 'Ol Ron, I always have the bushings honed on a Sunnen pin hone and never ream them to fit. Much better fit and longer life. Even the best reams will chatter slightly and you will have high points that will soon be pounded down and they have premature slop between the pin and bushing. Found that out many moons ago.

[Karl Wolf]

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I go with the hone... When I did the first set for a guy, .001 clearance-- HE was PISSED, since then, I fit them so you could push the pin in tight by hand... Just a bit looser than piston pin fit in a piston... They'll wear in soon enough... Karl

[Chisel]

Sunnen hone until you can hold the spindle in one hand and use the palm of your other hand to push the pint into the spindle with some resistance. Thats the high teck method I learned as a kid working at an old time alignment shop.

[FlatheadTed]

Big ends have .003 oil clearance there's no way grease is gunna to do the job,at .001 .I always believed oil is better .

[Hotrodvideo]

The problem isn't the bushings, the king pins are really tight in the king pin bosses in the axle only. They will not go thru all the way and I had the bosses redone when the axle was straightened & dropped at Joe's Speed Shop in Ponca City.

[Cecil/WV]

I just did mine this week. The pins just won't quite fall in by their own weight, but with almost no resistance, they fall right in. They did take grease pretty hard.

[joel]

In the axle, they have to be loose enough to rotate them by hand; otherwise the lock pin can't seat itself and may not go through far enough to put the nut on. I would think .002 in clearance would be about right.

[Hotrodvideo]

My axle guy said to run a wheel cylinder hone thru the king pin bosses, they probably just need some clean up.

[George/Maine]

I have done a few and it seems like when you get them to size using a hand reamer the pin fits ok but will not go thur all the way.The bushing are off center and may need a helping hand like the hammer.

[HOTRODSURFER]

great thread,I am getting ready to do the kin pins in my 53 F250 -found this most help full thanks guys!!!

[George/Maine]

After reading your post I see they are tight in the axle.If you have and old pin mic it maybe oversize pin sometimes in the metric to us standard they get the wrong size/or wrong pin.

[Hotrodvideo]

I'm using old Ford pins, they should fit.

[cdan34]

I didn't have the proper .8125 dia. reamer for bringing the bushings to size. Maybe that's a good thing (reamers cut oversize) I have reamed quite a bit in my work experience. What I did was, with a lathe turn 8 in. long rod down to about .002 or .003 undersized and use valve grinding compound in the bores and lapped it in. I was very pleased with the fit.

Chuck

[sturgis 39]

I think half to 3/4 quarters of you did not read the question correctly.Read the original question again and then reply. He is not having trouble with the bushings, The axle fit is the problem. Now start over and help the guy. This is not a great thread if you are not answering the original question.

The problem is the fit with the king pin and the axle and not the king pin and the spindle.

[George/Maine]

Originally Posted by Hotrodvideo

The problem isn't the bushings, the king pins are really tight in the king pin bosses in the axle only. They will not go thru all the way and I had the bosses redone when the axle was straightened & dropped at Joe's Speed Shop in Ponca City.

I think in straighting the x they messed it up,if they are any good, have them do the whole job.How do you redo the bosses.If the old pin came out it should go back in.
Run the old one by itself in and out few times,then try the new one.Mic the new pin.

[296 V8]

Originally Posted by Hotrodvideo

My axle guy said to run a wheel cylinder hone thru the king pin bosses, they probably just need some clean up.

Your kingpin holes are distorted by the dropping process.
If I were you id call that Joe up and tell him to take it back and fix it…….on his dime.

Also I can almost guarantee you your camber is off ….. If you cant get a kingpin in how could he to check the camber?
Every axle of his that’s been sent to me to fix has had way to much positive camber.



That’s 3.7 degrees positive right there …… he insisted that there was something wrong with the mans spindles.

[Hotrodvideo]

I got the king pins in finally, I bought a small barrel sander that fit into the king pin bosses and sanded them gently to clean them up until the kin pins fit in snugly.

Don't worry, I didn't overdo it, they are in there tightly, no slop.