Steering: Best way to go on king pins?

[63 R2 Hawk]

I need to replace the king pin bushings on my '63 Hawk, the right side is getting a little play in it. SI has two options, one is a kit containing bushings, bearings etc to rebuild your existing pins, the other is an entire refurbished assembly where you send the old parts in for cores in exchange for completely rebuilt spindles. Anybody have any advice on how difficult it is to rebuild my king pins myself? I have most of the standard tools required, but the service manual specifies some special tooling. I can't tell if the spindle itself is OK until I get it apart. Any advice?? I've fitted king pins in old Fords, but that's a competely different setup.

[sweetolbob]

I need to replace the king pin bushings on my '63 Hawk, the right side is getting a little play in it. SI has two options, one is a kit containing bushings, bearings etc to rebuild your existing pins, the other is an entire refurbished assembly where you send the old parts in for cores in exchange for completely rebuilt spindles. Anybody have any advice on how difficult it is to rebuild my king pins myself? I have most of the standard tools required, but the service manual specifies some special tooling. I can't tell if the spindle itself is OK until I get it apart. Any advice?? I've fitted king pins in old Fords, but that's a competely different setup.

I don't know how to tell about rebuilding the "spindles"(kingpins) until you get them apart. If they do not require rebuilding then you can do it with your tools and advice from posts on the forum. You will need access to a press with about a 17" capacity. To rebuild the kingpins you need to turn them down on a lathe and shrink on a sleeve.

I don't know the price difference but you are only 3-4 days from most suppliers by UPS/Fedex so you could wait. I don't know about other suppliers but SI has a significant discount for ordering the entire kit.

That's what I did on my Avanti. Here's my post on the Avanti. http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...l-Replacements

Bob

[studegary]

If the king pins are worn, replace them or have them rebuilt. If the king pins are not worn, just replace the bushings and the thrust washer.

[Jackson]

I opted for the refub assembly from SI for my 64 CNV, no regrets.

[JohnM15]

I bought the pins, bushings, bearings, and caps. I tapped out the bushings and tapped in the new ones. Don't really need a press, just tap them in straight. I used a socket as a ram to tap them out and in. I did have to take the spindles to the machinist to have the bushings fitted to the pins. Apparently the bushings are made with a small ID and do shrink a little when pressed in. Machinist used a 1" ream to size them perfectly.

[dnevin]

Hey Ed,

If you want a hand when you swap them out, let me know and I'll at least come hold the trouble light for you and help as I can--I've never been into a Studebaker front and and would like to see how it is done.

[Jeff_H]

Most driving is straight ahead or nearly so. This means the king pins will tend to wear oval shaped rather than get evenly smaller diameter since the load will mostly be concentrated on 2 sides due to the weight of the car. When you take the front end apart, put a calipers or mic on the wear surfaces and see if you can measure them not being round. How out of round they are will be your guide (or if they have obvious grooves worn) as to can they be reused with new bushings in the spindles or exchange for rebuilt pins. On my '53 I could SEE a wear pattern or polished looking area on the pin surface but couldn't really measure it with a dial calipers (meaning out of round was no more than about .001" or so for what the calipers could discern). I just got the bushings and bearing kit and rebuilt the spindles instead and reused the pins. I do have a hydraulic press and used threaded rod and washers, etc to make my own tools to push the out bushings and bearing out and new ones in. It was pretty easy. Read the shop manual carefully so that the new parts get located in the spindle correctly.

[52 Ragtop]

I'm getting ready to pull the front suspension from my Avanti "this winter" I'll get the minor kit, and if the king pins are worn, I'll have them hard chromed and then turned back down to size. The plater that I use for the yellow zinc on my brackets also does hard chrome.The biggest thing I want to do is get out all the hard packed in grease from 1963!! <G>

Jim

[63 R2 Hawk]

Hey Ed,

If you want a hand when you swap them out, let me know and I'll at least come hold the trouble light for you and help as I can--I've never been into a Studebaker front and and would like to see how it is done.

Hi, Dave. Don't know if I can claim to know "how it's done", but I'm always glad for any assistance, especially someone who can help keep track of where I laid my tools, parts, etc. Looking for stuff seems to consume most of the time I spend on projects these days...... BTW, I have a shop with a lift where Studebakers are always welcome!

[GTCruiser]

Tried this week to order the full kit for a '64 Hawk for delivery to York and SI does not know when they will have kingpins back from the vendor. Could be weeks or several months.

[63 R2 Hawk]

I guess after 50 years or so, there must be a rash of Studebaker king pins all wearing out at the same time....!

[K-Hawk]

do you press in the pushing, then use a reamer in the bushing to make correct size for new king pin , that's how I remember doing king pins long ago on trucks like this . If this is still the way where can we get the reamer tool to size the spindle back to round, then bushing was larger to fit new spindle, was reamed round for the king pin. they were sold in sets bushings and kingpins and bushing were larger to compensate for wear in spindle thats why they needed to be reamed to size of king pins.

[rusty nut garage]

Stude cars 54 and later don't require a reamer. Not sure about the earlier cars. Stude pickups do require the bushings to be reamed to size once installed.

do you press in the pushing, then use a reamer in the bushing to make correct size for new king pin , that's how I remember doing king pins long ago on trucks like this . If this is still the way where can we get the reamer tool to size the spindle back to round, then bushing was larger to fit new spindle, was reamed round for the king pin. they were sold in sets bushings and kingpins and bushing were larger to compensate for wear in spindle thats why they needed to be reamed to size of king pins.

[nvonada]

No reaming on my 41. Don't take this as gospel but I think anything with a solid front axle needs reamed. Planar and independent suspension cars are already at the proper size. That said I tried to do a kingpin with a hammer and it did not go well. Took it to a machine shop and got back on track. My hammer was either too big, too small, or operated by an idiot. Pick two.

[1962larksedan]

Stude cars 54 and later don't require a reamer. Not sure about the earlier cars. Stude pickups do require the bushings to be reamed to size once installed.

Really?

The irony is I have a set of kingpin bushing drivers and a full set of reamers which I've actually used in the past.