32buick67 Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 My car has 54kmi and the kingpins/bushings are worn and in need of replacing. I will be embarking on replacing the kingpins etc on my 32 Buick this winter. This is a first for me on a prewar car, and after much research, seeking advice, searching this and other forums, I noticed a wealth of distributed info, but nothing consolidated. My thought was to make a post where interested folks contribute their thoughts, experiences, mentoring advice, successes and struggles for myself and others to learn. I plan to try to do the work in my garage, I have a NOS kit with kingpins and bushings, etc. I have been researching pilot reamers, modern vs vintage, adjustable vs fixed. I think this work will be fun and satisfying and a good learning experience once I get into it. Some pics for entertainment - Curious of your thoughts... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Ash Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 It looks like you have all the right pieces for new bushings, bearings, and king pins in your axle. I took my axle, the king pin kit, and the knuckles for my 1929 Studebaker axle to a local truck spring shop. They pressed out the old bushings, put in the new ones, and reamed the bushings to fit the pins. A long, piloted bushing ream is expensive for a one-time use, so a truck shop was better. All went well except for a final detail: the Welch expansion plugs just need a tap on the convex centers to seat them but the shop decided to stake the axle openings to retain them. I was pissed, but it was too late - I thought they would know how to do the Welch plugs. When I got the axle home, I did tap the plugs to thoroughly seat them. About 25 or 50 years from now, someone else will have to deal with the staking. King pin kit with axle. Knuckle assembled on axle. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 I took mine to a local auto machine shop where they pressed out the old king pins on a hydraulic press, and honed the bushings with a Sunnen hone. Saved me a lot of work and did not cost much money. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NailheadBob Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 (edited) I have no experience with Prewar vehicles But I had knowledge with late 40's, 50's, and 60's king pins I had a 1959 Chevy pick up with frozen king pins, yes frozen and I purchased a Snap-On king pin press #CG-220A still was not easy but I was able to remove the frozen king pins with the press at home, then took the spindles to a machine shop to have the bushings replaced and reamed, all worked out great and truck steering like a dream, I still have the press today. I will attach a photo from "WorthPoint" to show what the press looks like. Bob Edited November 17, 2023 by NailheadBob Add photo (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1gt Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 I think what you are asking is some help/advice on how to do this. First you need to let us know where you are. I would be happy to help but it is obvious you are not in socal. Everybody is real busy in their lives but a lot of people, like me are getting into things that you can not find on youtube. Hopefully someone can step up and help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 Strongly suggest you take the axle to a competant shop for the pressing and reaming. Everything else is just everyday work....bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c49er Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 I just did this job on a 1956 Chrysler 300B. Not an easy job to do correctly unless you have the bushing press tooling and know how to use both styles of reamers. Fitting of the pins to bushings needs to done precisely for a long lasting job. As for the top/bottom expansion plugs..yes they need to be driven down only enough to fully expand them and lock them firmly in place. If they are not set tight the grease gun will easily pop them loose. Have seen that way too many times. Chrysler Corp. stakes their plugs in either three or four places very firmly as do I when doing these jobs. Other manufacturers do this staking too. Look for stakeing indentations. This 32 Buick is a Reverse Elliot type axle so I too recommend have a shop press and fit the bushings to the new pins. The owner owner needs to remove the two steering knuckles which have the bushings in them ......this requires removing the top plug and king pin retaining bolt and or steering arm. Then useing a heavy drift and or the above Snap-On press tool to force the pins down and out. They usually are a tight fit in the I beams or steering knuckles if the Elliott type. Once the steering knuckles are removed take them with the king pins and bushings to a shop able to do the bushing press and bushing hone. Up and down steering knuckle to I beam play is adjusted usually by shims on top of the thrust bearings. Deburring of the knuckles needs to be done if necessary...especially if the pin end plugs/caps were staked. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 My 1908 Model F Buick kingpin holes in the axle were "egged out, but the kingpins were OK.. Standard bushings wouldn't fit in the egg-shaped holes. I had to remove the entire axle and had a machinist friend machined the holes round. Then we made new bushings to fit the axle holes & kingpins to complete the job. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 I won't tell you how a friend's brother used my hydraulic press one day to fit the king pins in his 63 Ford pickup front axle.....😱 Hey, that was 40 years ago and I watched in amazement, against my objections, that it actually worked....somewhat.... Passed state safety inspection, that's all he cared about!😃 🪡🏎️ 🦃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPVT Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 Years ago , the kingpins in my early 60's GMC step van were very stiff, almost frozen, and wouldn't accept grease. I drove it from upstate NY to the west coast and back, avoiding 90 degree turns. Finally, in West Virginia, I pounded out the pins on a wood stump using a sledge hammer, put them back in with grease and then I could steer. It's amazing what you can do if you have no experience, no advice, and low enough standards. 1 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demco32 Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 A job is never difficuld if you have the knowledge and correct tools. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32buick67 Posted November 18, 2023 Author Share Posted November 18, 2023 Surprisingly, I am kind of looking forward to digging into this winter work, and so far, the idea of kingpin replacements sure beats my other upcoming project which involves replacing the failed clutch pilot bearing, again, oof. My 32 Buick doesn't appear to have been abused, or in an accident, thankfully. I think this is likely just a worn-out scenario, so hopefully after I pop off the top dust caps and drift out the hardware and clean things up, this just becomes an interesting, patient and meticulous experience. This 1931 Buick drawing shows the Reverse Elliot design, bearing on the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32buick67 Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 This was fun wrenching for me, turns out the I beam axle was in great shape, thankful for that. The kingpins were unremarkably worn, just in need of replacing due to mileage age, nothing ominous with the base parts. I installed the bronze bushings and pilot reamed them and am very appreciative and happy with the results, can't wait to drive this summer! 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1gt Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 I was amazed with the quality of the kingpin set up on the 29 cad. A huge bearing up top, no wear to the bushings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joao46 Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 I’ve been looking at the procedure people place on utube on replacing king pin bushings and they say you need to ream the bushings . To what size , the king pin size? Im new to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 20 minutes ago, Joao46 said: I’ve been looking at the procedure people place on utube on replacing king pin bushings and they say you need to ream the bushings . To what size , the king pin size? Im new to this. Your shop manual should have a reamer specification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joao46 Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 There is no shop manual for a 31 Chrysler Imperial. Maybe it’s the same as a later one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFeeney Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 It looks like you have mastered the "Kingpin" replacement. Pat yourself on the back as that is not a easy task. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32buick67 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 11 hours ago, Joao46 said: I’ve been looking at the procedure people place on utube on replacing king pin bushings and they say you need to ream the bushings . To what size , the king pin size? Im new to this. For those working with old stuff and pre-spec - The idea is to sneak up the reaming on the pin fit by trial. My kingpins are 7/8" OD, so I used the smaller pilot reamer and worked up toward the max range of the reamer tool. First, loosely dry fit the adjustable pilot reamers in the raw bushings and then increase the OD of the reamer to shave just a bit off the bushing ID. Test fit the pin by hand, and repeat until you can dry insert the pin by hand with low-moderate hand twisting force, no tapping with a mallet allowed. Do the top and bottom bushings with the same pilot reamer setting in the reverse elliot setup - this method is a pain to keep clearing chips and flipping the hub in the vice, but it was worth it for keeping the bushing bores nicely aligned. Sounds like a long procedure, but it actually took less than an hour to ream all four bushings and test fit on the yokes. When installing the kingpins into the bushings and yoke on the vehicle, if you need to apply more than light tapping of a mallet, then the setup is too tight and you need to likely ream the bushings just a bit more, or the yoke is not true and needs to be inspected and possibly re-machined. Be hyper-diligent when lightly reaming and making bronze shavings - clean them from the surfaces before checking pin fit and incrementing reaming steps. Use much air to blow away chips and brake cleaner to keep dry. Little chips can make things out-of-round or cause misreading of the fitup. Don't use any lube, be sure things are dry for these steps, lube makes things artificially sticky and tight. Don't forget to either align the grease fitting holes to the ports in the bushings, or don't forget to drill the grease fitting ports into the bushings before reaming if the bushings are blanks. Oh, and I am learning that modern pilot reamers might not be as good as the old stuff because the modern reamers are being reported to have peculiar tapers and aren't parallel. I have an old pilot reamer set, which is parallel and true, so be sure to take caution with modern pilot reamers, or maybe check out ebay for old-school pilot reamers which might be more trustworthy to make a nice ID. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 You need about 2 thousandths of an inch clearance or they won't take grease. Any old time machinist should be able to figure out exactly how much clearance you need. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcslr Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Nicely done Mario! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32buick67 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 I found the original 1931 Buick engineering-manufacturing info to be invaluable, thank you Tom! Note the 0.001" bushing clearance, and "light drive fit" of the pin, and 12 pounds of pull on the arm per Buick manufacturing specs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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