Fluted reamer for spindle kingpin bushing needed.

Smooth_One

Senior Member
Hi all. Hope you guys had a good Christmas.
Anyone in the eastern Michigan area or north of Detroit I 94 area have a reamer I could rent to get my kingpin bushings done?
 
I understand an automotive machine shop. Can hone out the kingpin bushings with better tolerances then the reamer.:eek: Just a thought.;)
My last rebuild I used a reamer with good results.:cool:



Bob-A:D
 
I understand an automotive machine shop. Can hone out the kingpin bushings with better tolerances then the reamer.:eek: Just a thought.;)
My last rebuild I used a reamer with good results.:cool:



Bob-A:D

Thanks. My buddy has a small shop but does not have the correct size reamer.
 
Thanks. My buddy has a small shop but does not have the correct size reamer.

You buddy does not need a reamer, ...he needs a pin fitting hone such as a Sunnen. I use a 13/16th (0.8125") hone that I can adjust to float the pin. This is a common size used in most automotive machine shops.
 
I am by no means an authority on reamers, but when I did my king pins in my 29 I used bushings and king pins from Snyders along with their reamer. The reamer did not adequately ream out the bushings. Either the reamer was undersized or the king pins were over sized. My local mechanic took the whole works and finally got the bushings reamed. Snyder gave ma a full refund for the reamer. I wish it had worked better. I have since heard of adjustable reamers.
 
King pins are largely a thing of the past and this sort of puts the reamers in the same category. The better king pin reamers from the era of their use were generally long pilot type reamers that had a smooth transition from the pilot part to the fluted area. The flutes has a spiral cut and had slots cut to allow for a small mount of expansion adjustment of the flutes through a conical expander that was turned at one end. These reamers were available in the 13/16", 7/8", and 15/16" as well as a few other standard king pin sizes. These reamers cut a flawless finish as long as grease was used liberally and the operator was careful about adjustments, cleaning, and use. This is what I use and I set them up for light push fit.

This link is to a set of piston pin reamers that illustrate they type I'm referring to.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324562106139?hash=item4b9168b71b:g:2lUAAOSw-NFgb5qW
 
I have always used an adjustable reamer but on one occasion, the tolerance was a bit tight. The car was almost uncontrollable at any speed. I dismantled everything and used one of the old king pins to burnish them. I was very pleased with the results.
 
Dynamic in Westland just did mine about 3 weeks ago. Wayne Rd and Cherry Hill area.


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King pins are largely a thing of the past and this sort of puts the reamers in the same category. The better king pin reamers from the era of their use were generally long pilot type reamers that had a smooth transition from the pilot part to the fluted area. The flutes has a spiral cut and had slots cut to allow for a small mount of expansion adjustment of the flutes through a conical expander that was turned at one end. These reamers were available in the 13/16", 7/8", and 15/16" as well as a few other standard king pin sizes. These reamers cut a flawless finish as long as grease was used liberally and the operator was careful about adjustments, cleaning, and use. This is what I use and I set them up for light push fit.

This link is to a set of piston pin reamers that illustrate they type I'm referring to.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324562106139?hash=item4b9168b71b:g:2lUAAOSw-NFgb5qW

I looked at this set today already. Thanks for the info!
 
My buddy just ordered me a 13/16. He owns a machine shop and is not going to charge me for the reamer. Ill see what it looks like
 
So did he order a 13/16” + 0.001 reamer? If not, you are going to find the finish size of the bushing is going to be 0.0015 too small.

I’m going to measure the diameter on the kingpins when I get home today.
I’m taking a few family members to Stahls Automotive collection in Chesterfield, mi today.
 
So did he order a 13/16” + 0.001 reamer? If not, you are going to find the finish size of the bushing is going to be 0.0015 too small.

The work around on that is to wrap a thin shim, .001” or .002” around half of the reamer and run it through again. This will open the bushing up a bit.
 
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