King Pin replacement


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By yehaabill - 15 Years Ago
Y-Guys:     My '60 F-100 has "play" in the king pins. I've bought a kit, but I

         need  any helpful pointers on doing the job.(I looked into the kits

        that use needle bearings, but haven't found one for my truck!)

                                          Thanks in advance,

                                                  Bill

           

By mr4speedford - 15 Years Ago
I like to use a air hammer to drive the old pins out. Speedway motors sells a king pin reamer .859 that will fit out trucks, but for a one time deal machine shop to get the bushings reamed is usually best.
By pintoplumber - 15 Years Ago
Bill, I think I worked better than a week 'till I got my pins out. I had the axle blocked and used an old impact socket and beat it with a sledgehammer. Took it to the machine shop to have them do the new work.
By Glen Henderson - 15 Years Ago
Bill like Dennis said, they can be a bitch to get out, I pulled the whole axle from my 62 and took it too a 20 ton press, scared the crap out of me when it broke loose. Some shops have a hyd press (like a porto-power) to drive them out.
By HT32BSX115 - 15 Years Ago
Howdy,





I had the Kingpins replaced in my F-600 front axle a few years ago. Initially, I was going to do it myself. I discovered that I needed to install oversize pins due to corrosion. I was able to get an oversize pin kit from Napa who got it from Rare Parts.



I also found out that to get the new pins to fit correctly, the holes needed to be honed accurately too.

It didn't appear that I could do that by hand (people claim to be able to do it though) I didn't have a hone either.



I ended up taking the axle to a front-end shop in Kent Wa, (American Frame & Alignment Inc ) and they used a Sunnen hone to fit the pins. I then put it all together. here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kingpin+automotive+part&orderby=relevance&lr=en



Once lubricated and installed, the new oversize pins turned like they were in roller bearings! I don't think I could have done the job as well by hand. The actual labor cost was something like $150 or so.





The tighter the kingpins fit the smoother and tighter your steering will be....... Don't want no drunk monkeys driving my truck!!!(trunk monkeys are ok though!Tongue )





Cheers,





Rick
By lowrider - 15 Years Ago
Back in the day when we used to do a fair share of kingpins we would heat the axle a bit to get them out. Still have all my dads kingpin reamers. When one comes in now the guys seem to be afraid of installing the bushings and reaming them to size. They send them out. Seems like the smaller the kingpin the harder it was to get them out. Those first Econolines were nightmares.
By HT32BSX115 - 15 Years Ago
Yeah I hear you.



It doesn't take a Rocket Surgeon to operate a reamer but after I found out that I couldn't buy a good one for less than about $100 (and a pilot for about $30) or so, it wasn't worth it to me to buy something I might only use once every 10 years!! Smile