Front Axle / Front Suspension: Home-made Kingpin bushing & A arm spreader tools

[Jeff_H]

There are frequent posts here about how to replace the bushings in the kingpins and where to get the J tools shown in the shop manual.

When I did this job on my '53, I made my own tools. I thought I would post some pictures and discussion of how I made them

This initial post will be on the bushing tools and I will do a reply post with the A arm tool.

Materials and tools needed:

-Thick washers, preferably fender washers. Thicker is better
-Some bolts, preferably with longer threaded sections.
-Drill Press
-Angle grinder

To use the tools I have a hydraulic shop press but I suppose a large enough vice or even a hammer may work. A press would be the preferred route.

I had carefully studied the photos in the shop manual of the kingpin rebuild process and the J tool shown. After taking my kingpins apart so that I was looking at the knuckle with the bushing and bearing, I came up with these 2 pusher tools to remove the old and install the new.

I used 2 bolts with specially modified washers. The smaller one is for the needle bearing and the larger one for the sleave bushing. The 2 nuts trap the washer onto the bolt. Depending on if you are removing or installing the bearings/bushings the tool must be disassembled and then reassembled with the washer inserted in the knuckle between the bushings.

The hardest part of these 2 tools to make is the special washers. These need to be the correct diameter to fit inside the knuckle forging snugly so they will not slip off the bushings or damage the edges when they are pushed against them to force them in/out. Also, the washers must have flats on 2 sides to allow them to slip down inside the bushing to get to the "center" of the knuckle between the 2 when set up to push old ones out.

If you don't have a lathe to make a "proper" one, my method is to fit the washer onto a bolt or threaded rod that fits snuggly (drill out hole in washer if necessary). This will center the washer. Then the rod goes into the drill press. Set the speed medium fast and carefully grind down the OD of the washer with a angle grinder while its rotating in the drill press. You are going to want to have a calipers handy to check your progress (stop drill first!!). This way your washer will stay round. Only grind until the washer will just fit in the knuckle w/o getting stuck. Too small and it may slip through the bushing or damage the edges of it. Try to keep the ground edge of the washer as square as possible w/o any chamfer or radius.

Once the OD of the washer if OK, 2 flats can be ground onto it until it will flip and slip down and through the bushing.

The factory tool is designed so that you get the new bushings in the right spot w/o any effort since they have shoulders or stops on them to prevent pushing the new ones in too far. With these homemade ones, that is not provided for so you need to carefully watch what you are doing when pressing the new part in. Measure the depth of the bushings into the forging before taking the old ones out and make sure to get the new ones the same.

[Jeff_H]

Next, the A arm spreader tool.

This tool was my 2nd attempt at this. The first one I made was too wimpy and bent when I tried to use it.

This tool is made of 1" square steel tubing, a couple pcs of 1x1" angle iron, some bolts, threaded rod, and a couple of pieces of 1/4" thick flat stock.

I needed a welder, grinder, and drill press to make it.

It looks pretty ugly but it got the job done.

Its important the threaded bolt/screw has a dimple to fit into on the opposite arm to keep it from bending when you tighten it to spread the arm fingers.

[Tom Bredehoft]

Good job, Jeff, I'd not thought of the grinder/lathe process. That will work on other projects, too.

You might change the title to include "How To" so it's searchable.

[christophe]

That's very neat and also very kind of you Jeff.
Remind me to offer you a beer when I'll do the job.
Nice weekend to all.

[Jeff_H]

I'd not thought of the grinder/lathe process. That will work on other projects, too.

I learned a variant of this "trick" growing up on the farm. On 2 or 3 occasions that I recall there was case of a bad bearing that damaged a shaft on some farm machinery. One time it was a ear corn sheller and one other time a feed grinder mill. These were large and long shafts maybe 3" dia and several feet long (I think the corn sheller was more like 7' long). The proper repair would involve taking the machine completely apart to get the shaft out and either replace with a new one (fat chance of that given the age/obsolete of the machine) or welding it up and getting it into a large lathe. Taking the shaft out was considered darn near impossible and time consuming as well. So, the fix was to remove the bearing and as much of the machine around it as possible. Then, weld up the damaged surface and while someone was turning the shaft by hand from the other end with whatever pulley there may have been there another person would slowly grind down the weld with the angle grinder. This was a slow trial and error process and also required that the new bearing be slid down from the undamaged stub past where the welded area was to check for fit many, many times After some point, the grinder was replaced with a hand file and finally emory cloth. This was not a precise process!! Usually the life of the new bearing was not what it would otherwise be either but it DID get a few more seasons out of the machine.