Jump to content

37S2de

Members
  • Posts

    209
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by 37S2de

  1. Once I knocked out the tapered pins holding the king pins in place, I removed the Welch Plugs (old-timey freeze plugs) from the top of the spindle and used an old deep socket and hammer to knock the king pins out the bottom. When I got the Welch Plug out I couldn’t find any evidence of the wick that was supposed to come up from the pancake oiler. I did find some shreds of felt on the top of the king pins. I then knocked out the bushings from the steering knuckle with a custom knock out / insertion tool. I found only one .010 shim on the passenger side. I stated in my first thread that I had ordered the blueprint for the king pin itself from the Studebaker National Museum.At the same time, I had also ordered the blueprint for the bushings. Because the king pins and bushings were going to be precision machined parts, I wanted to see what the factory used for material specifications and tolerances.. What convinced me that I was not the first person to work on these king pins is that when I got everything apart, the king pins themselves showed fairly significant wear, but the bushings did not. In addition, the bushings that were removed were split bushings. The factory blueprints did not show a split bushing. I suspect that the bushings had been replaced, but the king pins were re-used. Tom Tom
  2. Once I knocked out the tapered pins holding the king pins in place, I removed the Welch Plugs (old-timey freeze plugs) from the top of the spindle and used an old deep socket and hammer to knock the king pins out the bottom. When I got the Welch Plug out I couldn’t find any evidence of the wick that was supposed to come up from the pancake oiler. I did find some shreds of felt on the top of the king pins. I then knocked out the bushings from the steering knuckle with a custom knock out / insertion tool. I found only one .010 shim on the passenger side. I stated in my first thread that I had ordered the blueprint for the king pin itself from the Studebaker National Museum.At the same time, I had also ordered the blueprint for the bushings. Because the king pins and bushings were going to be precision machined parts, I wanted to see what the factory used for material specifications and tolerances.. What convinced me that I was not the first person to work on these king pins is that when I got everything apart, the king pins themselves showed fairly significant wear, but the bushings did not. In addition, the bushings that were removed were split bushings. The factory blueprints did not show a split bushing. I suspect that the bushings had been replaced, but the king pins were re-used. Tom
  3. Back in August I started a thread on this forum about looking for a king pin kit for my ‘35 Commander. I checked with most of the usual suspects who deal in pre-war Studebaker parts and it became evident that I wasn’t going to find a complete kit easily. I decided to make my own. This will be a series of posts that I will use to go over the journey to get that done. I could have posted this months ago, because it really didn’t take all that long to make the king pins, but I knew I was going to have time on my hands after knee replacement surgery, so now that that’s done I’m going to get this done. I have also noticed over the years that I can’t attach more than two or maybe three photos to a post. First of all, I got some surprises. I noted in George Vassos’ article in the Antique Studebaker Review the pancake oilers used to lubricate the king pins. I had not paid any attention to these when I bought the car. I just got out the grease gun and shot lube into every fitting on the front axle and steering. I do remember being irritated that a couple of the fittings wouldn’t take any grease. The first photo shows where you do NOT want to see a grease fitting . There is nothing behind it except the taper pin that holds the king pin in the spindle. No wonder the grease didn’t flow. This was my first clue that I was not the first to get into this system. Those grease fittings (four in total) looked like they had just been driven into the holes, even though they (the fittings) were threaded. I used a punch to drive out the tapered pins. They drive out from the rear towards the front. To be continued
  4. Many years ago Jerry Kurtz gave me a fender support bracket that was better than this one that came out of a parts car that I found near Amarillo, TX. I used that bracket when I converted my Coupe-Express to Planar suspension with the chassis that I found. I very seldom throw away parts like this even though I wasn’t going to use it. It will need some repair, but is a good, serviceable part if you want it. The price is what Jerry charged me—— whatever the postage is on the box when you get it. I knew someone would need this part if I waited long enough. The Black Widow egg sacs attached to it are also free. Tom
  5. I received the blueprint for part number 181282 from Andy Beckman at the Studebaker National Museum. I have used this service a number of times and I am still amazed at what a resource this is for Studebaker owners. I am thankful for everyone, past and present, who have saved these treasures and now make them available to us. I have ordered the steel that I will use to make the pins, but it hasn’t come in yet. I went ahead and made a sample out of hot rolled mild steel round stock that I had on hand. What fun. I’m glad I’m just a hobbyist. For the length of time I took to make this perfect I couldn’t make a living as a machinist Tom
  6. Thanks Gary. That’s exactly the type of information that I’m hoping the blueprint for the ‘35 kingpins has. One of my local friends has a heat treating oven. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve been thinking about using 4140 tool steel that is already hardened but is still machinable. 4140 is used to make shafts and crankshafts, gears, collars etc. It is tough, abrasion and impact resistant and has high fatigue strength. Tom
  7. Rex— Here is a picture of George V’s original king pins as shown in the “Review” article he wrote describing the replacement of the king pins in his ‘35 Commander. They have what look to be oil holes and are different from the ‘36 king pins you show. Please keep looking. I am sending a request to Andy Beckman for a copy of the blueprint for ‘35 king pin part number 182828. I will be interested to see if it specifies what AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute) number steel is used to make these pins. Then, if I haven’t found any, I’ll make them. What’s the use of having the fancy lathe and milling machine if I can’t use them to make needed parts for the only hobby I have? Tom
  8. George — Thanks for looking. I’m trying to stay original too. I like those oilers and would prefer to not go to a grease system. Rex — Yes, please, keep looking. It will probably be some time before I am able to get to this and, if I have to, I can make pins and bushings. I can’t do case hardening, but wear resistance is probably not an issue with the number of miles I can expect to put on this car in my lifetime. Tom
  9. Back when I was young and dumb and thought I could make a living transporting antique cars, I transported what was labeled as a 1911 model ALCO for the Dragone brothers. I think it was in Nebraska and I moved it to CT. About two days before Hershey in year 2000. They said they were going to work through the night to detail it to go to Hershey. I dropped the ALCO off and loaded up the Model T in the background of the photo and took that to Hershey for them. Some of you might recognize the young man in the photo Tom
  10. I took my ‘35 Commander out for a little drive last weekend and was real disappointed with the steering effort required. I suspect that the king pins weren’t lubricated for years and what oil I put in there now won’t fix it. I’m hoping to find king pin kit S-342 as shown in the attached photo. If a complete kit can’t be found I’d be happy to get some of the individual parts as shown by the parts numbers in the kit. It looks like quite a few of the parts are one-year-only. The thrust bearing was used on some other models, but I’m sure it’s still scarce. The things I’m really hoping to find are the king pins themselves, part number 182828. I’m not going to take anything apart until I have replacement parts on hand. Thanks in advance. Tom
  11. Herman Do you have a Rockne Shop Manual? I ask because Studebaker produced fine Shop Manuals for the Studebaker branded cars and, of course, Studebaker made the Rockne. I have enclosed several pictures from the 1935 Studebaker Shop Manual that go into detail about what this device is and how it functions. I don’t know if Rockne or ‘32 Studebaker Shop Manuals go into this detail, but maybe what they had in ‘35 will help It is a “Backfire circuit breaker”. It is designed to delay the Startix from engaging immediately if the engine backfires. It prevents damage to the starter motor and bendix if the engine is momentarily in reverse rotation. To be continued in the next post. I’ve learned that I can’t upload more than two images Tom
  12. Studebaker had a Band-Aid for those pesky oil leaks from the fan hub. Pictured is Studebaker part number 189733. It is described in the parts manual as a “Pan, fan drip” and was installed on ‘37 Presidents after car #7110031. That’s the 31st President down the line in ‘37 I think it was mounted on one of the timing gear cover bolts and I assume was intended to divert leaked oil away from the crank pulley and fan belt. ”Well, we know we have a problem with oil leaking, and we can’t figure out how to stop it, so let’s at least try to make less of a mess” Tom
  13. If you don’t bring a car to drive on the tours someone will have room for you to ride along. We’re a welcoming bunch. Not comparable to Hershey or Carlisle. The last update I saw said we had 50 some odd people and 18 pre-war cars registered. The ASC does not have a swap meet of its own. Any swap meet activity is with the SDC later in the week. Tom
  14. That one looks like a nice one. All you really need is the left one. I think (operative word “think”) that a passenger side wiper was optional on the trucks. Yes, the hole is there on the right, but it can be blanked off. I used the tongue side of a house door latch and fabricated a rubber gasket to blank mine off. You still need that impossible-to-find captive nut thingee under the cowl that the screws should go into, but that can be fabricated too, because no one is going to crawl under there to look. I’m sorry about the lighting in the picture. I had to use a flashlight because my C-E is all loaded up in the trailer and ready to head to South Bend next week. Tom
  15. I was told that Mark Hyman bought this truck and Jerry Kurtz’ ‘37 Studebaker President Coupe as a package deal at Hershey last fall. The “anticipation” was just kind of wondering when Mark would market it on his website. Those of us who knew Jerry and his collection were looking forward to see what the market would be. Tom
  16. As I recall, he used small components from either radio controlled aircraft or radio controlled cars. Jerry Kurtz had one of them, and showed the wig-wag to me, but I didn’t ask to look inside the housing. I remember that Jerry seemed to be pretty impressed. Tom
  17. Nate —- I used a propane safety switch used on forklifts to activate the vacuum on my wig-wag. I wired it to the brake light switch on the master cylinder. The forklift switch is 12 volts, and I think had to be wired backwards to work on a 6-volt negative ground system, but it can be placed anywhere on the vacuum line, was really simple and works really well. I’m pretty sure this was the system Jerry Kurtz used on his cars and he’s the one who told me about it. Dick Quinn had a complete NOS system several years ago, but I don’t know if he sold it or not I can take pictures of my installation and I might be able to come up with the part number my local forklift dealer used for that switch. I haven’t seen that receipt for years, so I’m not sure what file I have it in. Tom
  18. I have about 10 sets of water transfer decals for Dictator instruments. (not at home right now to go out and count or take pictures). How many do you need? I also have several sets of glass to cover the instruments for those who have had the misfortune to have vandals trash their instrument panels. Tom
  19. I don’t think that I have any more of those parts. You might check with Don Axlerod (Headlight Headquarters) in Massachusetts. He has reproduced the “A” shaped clips. I bought some from him several years ago. The clips need some slight modification to fit. Not sure if he would have the spring or the spring seat Tom
  20. This post intrigued me, so today I finally remembered to take the cover off my ‘35 Commander sedan and look at the spare tire mounting. I remembered that the access door to check the tire pressure on mine was at the top, and Rex’s Roadster has it at the bottom. I tried rotating the tire around so that the valve stem is at the bottom, but no matter which mounting studs I put it on, it was not going to line up. So there’s another difference between Roadsters (and maybe Coupes) and sedans the real question is: How did Rex manage to install the covers without ruining the paint? I know the answer, but I’ll put it out there for a consensus. Tom
  21. I’m with you, Gary. It’s astonishing the speed of the disease. Tom
  22. On the General Discussion forum page of our AACA hosts here there is a Hershey Fall Meet page and on that there is a thread for pictures of this year at Hershey. These are mostly pictures of cars for sale and on the first page is an image of Jerry Kurtz’ ‘37 President Coupe. Does anyone know if the car sold? The Car Corral space is registered to David J. Prueitt. I don’t recognize that name. I always look in the background of pictures of events like this. I’m sure that the AACA will tout how his year’s Hershey was a great event, but when I look at the photos, there are very few people present. My Brother-in-Law (only lives about 100 miles away) went and said the crowd was very thin. I’m glad that Brenda and I decided to not go this year. It’s a 2500 mile round-trip for us, and there’s no way I could sell enough to make it worthwhile and I saw just about everybody I wanted to see in Indianapolis at the Studebaker meets. In any case, I am now a 50 year member of AACA and will probably be back to Hershey next year. Attached are pictures of what happens to excess swap meet space stickers from back in the days when I had multiple spaces So does anyone know if Jerry’s car sold? Tom
  23. I just realized by looking at the picture of your car that it’s RHC and by your sign-in name that you are probably in Australia. You might rather e-mail the museum at: sboocher@studebakermuseum.org Tom
  24. The Studebaker National Museum has the production records for 1937. I don’t remember if the key number was on the production order I bought for the ‘37 President that I used to own. I think it was, but can’t be positive. You might call the Museum at 574-235-9714 to see what they currently charge for a copy of the production order that will tell you how your car came down the assembly line. All you need to tell them is the serial number found on the tag that should be on the frame behind the left front fender. For ‘37 Presidents the serial number should start with “711” Tom
×
×
  • Create New...