Discovering the worn kingpin bushes made this the next, unplanned, job to deal with as the Weekender edged ever nearer.
The car had a complete new kingpin set fitted when it was originally built but that was some 15 yrs ago now!
Knowing the history for both the components and their maintenance frequency I was fairly certain I could get away with just replacing the bushes rather than purchasing a complete rebuild kit.
I purchased a set of bushes, two new felt washers that seal the top of the kingpin as no doubt the current ones were impregnated with sand and while I was there a new temp sender as I was still chasing a non-working temp gauge.
This also illustrates one of the reasons why I have turned away from Early Fords in recent years and that is because this measly package cost £135!
I also knew I’d need a reamer to properly size the bushes.
This had never been an issue all the other times I’d done them as I always borrowed a friends who had a proper Ford service tool reamer. Unfortunately they have moved away now so this would mean driving up the country to use it again. Another option was to buy a new one but at over £300 that didn’t appeal either. I suppose I could have them honed at a machine shop but again travel, cost and questionable waiting times made this another no go option.
I started looking at adjustable reamers to do the job myself. A No.9 sized reamer was perfect for the size but too short to be able to ream both bushes concentric to each other.
I eventually found a No.9 with a long pilot and a tapered collar which are sold as kingpin reamers.
With everything in place it was time to strip the spindles down.
Right O, they won’t be going back in then. 🤦♂️
I was a little shocked with the condition of the pins that came out.
The bottom of the pin where the bush runs had really suffered being badly corroded and pitted.
The bottom bush has no seal, unlike the top bush. Dare I say to be this bad it most have seen salt water ingress from you know, that beach.
Out of interest I measured the pin and it was 0.003” undersized which is way out of spec. The top of the pin measured no real wear despite the way it looked.
I now needed replacement pins and of course you can purchase everything in a kingpin set separately apart from the actual pins.
Ah!
I did have a pair of new pins in stock but they were ‘48 style pins.
The reason I had a set of ‘48 king pins and matching spindles is because the pins are longer to correspond with bigger bushes making, in theory, a stronger spindle set-up.
By the late Forties the cars on the traditional Early Ford architecture were getting bigger and heavier and Ford in their wisdom up-sized the king pins I think more for wear characteristics rather than strength reasons.
I’d been saving these parts for a rainy day replacement and this may have been my chance.
Here shows (badly) the size difference in the bush bosses.
And they drop straight onto my axle.
Of course nothing is ever that simple and there were a couple detail differences which knocked this great idea (!) on the head as it was more than I wanted to get involved at this time.
First was the taper for the ball joint in the spindle arm comes in from the top rather than bottom.
The second was the extended bush boss was hitting the wheel cylinder pretty good stopping the backplate going on.
I admitted defeat and went an ordered a complete king pin set.
Heres a detail I find annoying.
The kits don’t seem to come with the correct extended acorn nuts for the lock pins anymore.
These are fairly important as they’re your steering stops!
Without them the stop is now your steering box internals bottoming out on themself. 🙄
Getting the old bushes out and the new ones in without marring them is always a faff so I decided to work smart and quickly turn up a drift from some aluminium bar.
Punched the old ones out in seconds…
…. And the new ones in almost as quick.
Now the new bushes were in they could be reamed to size.
This is how the adjustable reamer with the pilot and centraliser locate in the spindle bushes.
Reaming the first bush takes forever as you have to creep up on the pin fit but once that’s locked in the other three can be reamed to final fit in one cut.
Flipping the spindle over and using the pilot in the freshly reamed bush the other bush can be reamed.
Now the pin drops through lovely.
The spindle is ready to drop back on the axle now.
Here’s another part that seems to cause confusion in the king pin set, the pack of shims.
Due to manufacturer tolerances and/or wear with the spindles or axle bosses. When everything is bolted up the spindle can move up and down on the king pin.
Illustrated here by lifting the spindle and creating a gap between the bush boss and axle boss.
I’m able get three shims in to take up the gap.
With the number of shims established it’s a case of stripping it down again to fit the shims and reassembling.
You can’t really see but they are there!
The car had a complete new kingpin set fitted when it was originally built but that was some 15 yrs ago now!
Knowing the history for both the components and their maintenance frequency I was fairly certain I could get away with just replacing the bushes rather than purchasing a complete rebuild kit.
I purchased a set of bushes, two new felt washers that seal the top of the kingpin as no doubt the current ones were impregnated with sand and while I was there a new temp sender as I was still chasing a non-working temp gauge.
This also illustrates one of the reasons why I have turned away from Early Fords in recent years and that is because this measly package cost £135!
I also knew I’d need a reamer to properly size the bushes.
This had never been an issue all the other times I’d done them as I always borrowed a friends who had a proper Ford service tool reamer. Unfortunately they have moved away now so this would mean driving up the country to use it again. Another option was to buy a new one but at over £300 that didn’t appeal either. I suppose I could have them honed at a machine shop but again travel, cost and questionable waiting times made this another no go option.
I started looking at adjustable reamers to do the job myself. A No.9 sized reamer was perfect for the size but too short to be able to ream both bushes concentric to each other.
I eventually found a No.9 with a long pilot and a tapered collar which are sold as kingpin reamers.
With everything in place it was time to strip the spindles down.
Right O, they won’t be going back in then. 🤦♂️
I was a little shocked with the condition of the pins that came out.
The bottom of the pin where the bush runs had really suffered being badly corroded and pitted.
The bottom bush has no seal, unlike the top bush. Dare I say to be this bad it most have seen salt water ingress from you know, that beach.
Out of interest I measured the pin and it was 0.003” undersized which is way out of spec. The top of the pin measured no real wear despite the way it looked.
I now needed replacement pins and of course you can purchase everything in a kingpin set separately apart from the actual pins.
Ah!
I did have a pair of new pins in stock but they were ‘48 style pins.
The reason I had a set of ‘48 king pins and matching spindles is because the pins are longer to correspond with bigger bushes making, in theory, a stronger spindle set-up.
By the late Forties the cars on the traditional Early Ford architecture were getting bigger and heavier and Ford in their wisdom up-sized the king pins I think more for wear characteristics rather than strength reasons.
I’d been saving these parts for a rainy day replacement and this may have been my chance.
Here shows (badly) the size difference in the bush bosses.
And they drop straight onto my axle.
Of course nothing is ever that simple and there were a couple detail differences which knocked this great idea (!) on the head as it was more than I wanted to get involved at this time.
First was the taper for the ball joint in the spindle arm comes in from the top rather than bottom.
The second was the extended bush boss was hitting the wheel cylinder pretty good stopping the backplate going on.
I admitted defeat and went an ordered a complete king pin set.
Heres a detail I find annoying.
The kits don’t seem to come with the correct extended acorn nuts for the lock pins anymore.
These are fairly important as they’re your steering stops!
Without them the stop is now your steering box internals bottoming out on themself. 🙄
Getting the old bushes out and the new ones in without marring them is always a faff so I decided to work smart and quickly turn up a drift from some aluminium bar.
Punched the old ones out in seconds…
…. And the new ones in almost as quick.
Now the new bushes were in they could be reamed to size.
This is how the adjustable reamer with the pilot and centraliser locate in the spindle bushes.
Reaming the first bush takes forever as you have to creep up on the pin fit but once that’s locked in the other three can be reamed to final fit in one cut.
Flipping the spindle over and using the pilot in the freshly reamed bush the other bush can be reamed.
Now the pin drops through lovely.
The spindle is ready to drop back on the axle now.
Here’s another part that seems to cause confusion in the king pin set, the pack of shims.
Due to manufacturer tolerances and/or wear with the spindles or axle bosses. When everything is bolted up the spindle can move up and down on the king pin.
Illustrated here by lifting the spindle and creating a gap between the bush boss and axle boss.
I’m able get three shims in to take up the gap.
With the number of shims established it’s a case of stripping it down again to fit the shims and reassembling.
You can’t really see but they are there!