I'm working on a '60 Lark that I got from Dick Steinkamp. The car had been T-boned on the driver's side, knocking it hard into the curb. Both the right rear axle and right front spindle were bent. Dick replaced the bent axle, and I have since renewed the rear brakes. Rear axle is good to go, now. By the way, I knew going into the deal that the car was a fixer-upper. I have no beef with Dick, not at all.
While I had it on the hoist, I decided to change the bent spindle. Pulled the drum and brake off; it needs new shoes here, too. There was between 1 and 2 degrees of bend in the spindle, such that it caused more than the normal amount of positive camber on that wheel. No sign whatsoever of bent, cracked, or otherwise damaged control arms, frame rail, or crossmember. I figured that I might as well replace both the steering knuckle and the kingpin. Stude kingpins have several built-in bends, and it is real hard to tell if one is true or not. And I have a supply of good take-outs. So I rummaged in my parts barn, and found a knuckle, and a king pin, both bearing the same forging numbers as the parts I removed.
Well, that doggone kingpin does not come close to fitting! It acts like the keyway where it fits the lower trunnion is clocked wrong. With the kingpin fully seated in the lower trunnion, the pin for the upper trunnion has few degrees more outboard twist at the front than is needed to line it up with the holes in the upper control arm.
Both new and old kingpins bear the forging number 553760, but one has an "R" suffix (the new one), and the shoulder on the new one where the thrust bearing seats is narrower and more tapered. I think that was done to to allow for the installation of disc brakes, IIRC. And the other difference is that the numbers read from top to bottom on one of them, and from bottom to top on the other.
I really doubt that I could, nor should, apply enough force to simply jam the upper trunnion pin into place. That would put all the trunnion bushings in a heck of a bind if I did manage to achieve the impossible. So I guess I have two options: either reuse the old kingpin, which is probably OK, as its thinnest section is a lot stouter than than the outer end of the spindle, which what got bent; or else dig further into my stash and find an exact equivalent.
I was just wondering if anyone else here had run into this situation. Exactly how many types of kingpins exist between 1951 and 1966?
Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands
While I had it on the hoist, I decided to change the bent spindle. Pulled the drum and brake off; it needs new shoes here, too. There was between 1 and 2 degrees of bend in the spindle, such that it caused more than the normal amount of positive camber on that wheel. No sign whatsoever of bent, cracked, or otherwise damaged control arms, frame rail, or crossmember. I figured that I might as well replace both the steering knuckle and the kingpin. Stude kingpins have several built-in bends, and it is real hard to tell if one is true or not. And I have a supply of good take-outs. So I rummaged in my parts barn, and found a knuckle, and a king pin, both bearing the same forging numbers as the parts I removed.
Well, that doggone kingpin does not come close to fitting! It acts like the keyway where it fits the lower trunnion is clocked wrong. With the kingpin fully seated in the lower trunnion, the pin for the upper trunnion has few degrees more outboard twist at the front than is needed to line it up with the holes in the upper control arm.
Both new and old kingpins bear the forging number 553760, but one has an "R" suffix (the new one), and the shoulder on the new one where the thrust bearing seats is narrower and more tapered. I think that was done to to allow for the installation of disc brakes, IIRC. And the other difference is that the numbers read from top to bottom on one of them, and from bottom to top on the other.
I really doubt that I could, nor should, apply enough force to simply jam the upper trunnion pin into place. That would put all the trunnion bushings in a heck of a bind if I did manage to achieve the impossible. So I guess I have two options: either reuse the old kingpin, which is probably OK, as its thinnest section is a lot stouter than than the outer end of the spindle, which what got bent; or else dig further into my stash and find an exact equivalent.
I was just wondering if anyone else here had run into this situation. Exactly how many types of kingpins exist between 1951 and 1966?
Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands
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