Steering: My 1963 8E 5 Champ needs a king pin overhaul. Help please.

[50starlite]

[63t-cab]

Dick, I sent you a pm.

[50starlite]

Will the bushings need to be sized (reamed or honed) to fit or will they fit right out of the box?

[unclemiltie]

My experience has been that the bushings will need to be reamed after they are installed. The bushings slide in out of the box but mine had to be reamed once installed. I was using NOS pins so maybe the repops fit without reaming.

[Mrs K Corbin]

ream them carefully after installing, making sure the grease holes are lined up....
The king pins should slide in by hand after reaming..... NEVER use a hammer....
I had a shop do that and ruined a set.

[jackb]

...and if your "I"-beam front member is shot...I believe they are available NOS from SI....or they can find them in SB.....last I heard they had a few hundred of them...

[Mrs K Corbin]

We could start a whole thread here on "Truck alignments" including Caster Shims.....

[Ron Dame]

We could start a whole thread here on "Truck alignments" including Caster Shims.....

Or bending the axle to adjust camber! (yeah, I had a big truck guy align mine once).

Back to bushings, they often deform when being pressed in and should be reamed to fit.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

Yes, truck type kingpin bushings are intended to be reamed after installation. Not only to size the inner diameters, but also to correctly align them. Special piloted king pin reamers are made to insure the alignment of the two bushings.

[JoeHall]

You can also ream them by hand, with a little time and patience. At least you can on a Stude car. I have never owned a reamer, but each time I rebuild a front end, swear I'm gonna get one.

[50starlite]

Why not use a hone? It would take longer but the fit to each pin could be near perfect, i.e. w/in .001 of an inch.