Looking to buy king pin kit for ‘35 Commander

[37S2de]

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

[StillOutThere]

Have you tried Rare Parts, Stockton, CA ?

[George Rohrbach]

I looked, and sorry I don't have any. George V did one not too long ago. I will ask him where he got his.

Studebaker also made a different kit that has new kingpins, and parts, that change the oil feed to grease. It's listed in one of the Service Bulletins. It must have come out as an upgrade for 1935's, in 1936 when their design changed. to go to the new design. It gets rid of the very nice-looking pancake oilers. If you want, I will look up the Service Bulletin, and get you the Studebaker number. 

I think the original design was not great and created a lot of wear, as the felt wicks deteriorated and stopped the oil from reaching the pins and bushings, on the planar suspension cars.

Of course, when I did mine, I kept the original style! 

Edited August 6, 2022 by George Rohrbach (see edit history)

[studerex]

Tom, I think I have a set, but locating it is the problem.   Also there are many bushing suppliers that will make the bushings to your specs.  And if lucky with the pin size you might be able to buy the shaft from mcmaster carr.  The thrust bearing is available from bearing suppliers.  I'll look.

[37S2de]

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

[studerex]

So far only found this one.  I do have more, just have to locate them.

[rbk]

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/368674-studebaker-dictator-2a-1935-kingpin/

 

[37S2de]

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

[rbk]

 

[Gary_Ash]

 

I had posted the drawing for the M5 truck kingpins in another thread. The drawing shows two types of steel with their heat treatments for case hardening, might help if you make your own pins. 

 

 

[37S2de]

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

[37S2de]

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

[Johan N]

On 8/7/2022 at 12:20 AM, George Rohrbach said:

I looked, and sorry I don't have any. George V did one not too long ago. I will ask him where he got his.

Studebaker also made a different kit that has new kingpins, and parts, that change the oil feed to grease. It's listed in one of the Service Bulletins. It must have come out as an upgrade for 1935's, in 1936 when their design changed. to go to the new design. It gets rid of the very nice-looking pancake oilers. If you want, I will look up the Service Bulletin, and get you the Studebaker number. 

I think the original design was not great and created a lot of wear, as the felt wicks deteriorated and stopped the oil from reaching the pins and bushings, on the planar suspension cars.

Of course, when I did mine, I kept the original style! 

I would be interested to read that Service Bulletin. Have a spare front axel on which Someone tried to fit grease nipples directly on the pancake oilers.

 

[George Rohrbach]

Sorry, I looked, and I was not able to find the Service Bulletin reference today. I will try again later this week.

I did find the part number to put a Hill Holder on the 1935's!