Jason in TX
Well-known member
I'm running the needle bearings on two cars. Works great.
The Needle bearings are required to to fit 1939 Lincoln front brakes on 1934 spindles on a 1934 three window coupe. 1937-1941 Kingpins are used.
Is there a tutorial on king pin r&r
- Thread starter corvette8n
- Start date
I'm running the needle bearings on two cars. Works great.
The Needle bearings are required to to fit 1939 Lincoln front brakes on 1934 spindles on a 1934 three window coupe. 1937-1941 Kingpins are used.
Jason in TX
Well-known member
What you need to do it yourself.
$32 bushing driver tool. Can be bought from Amazon by clicking here, or from Harbor freight.
You also need a .814 reamer. - available on Brattons for $150, or from ebay occasionally for around $25.
I like owning the tools, so that's the route I went. I've done about 6 sets of spindles now since owning the tools.
A machine shop will usually do it for you for around $30. You supply all the parts.
$32 bushing driver tool. Can be bought from Amazon by clicking here, or from Harbor freight.
You also need a .814 reamer. - available on Brattons for $150, or from ebay occasionally for around $25.
I like owning the tools, so that's the route I went. I've done about 6 sets of spindles now since owning the tools.
A machine shop will usually do it for you for around $30. You supply all the parts.
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corvette8n
Well-known member
grumppyoldman
Well-known member
Yes I installed them in my 41, easy job, but still had the shimmy. Found I have a bent axle and that may be the cause, so I can't say yea or nay as to whether it's a fix or not. A few posters say they don't work. Al
That's an excellent price. Seems like going rate in NJ for a Sunnen hone fit is $100-$125.
Frank Miller
Well-known member
So isn't geography. Morgans is in Auburn MAINE. I'm in Mass. I do know where I can get some stuff done but I have seen the 3 major shops in the area close. Automotive machine shops do not exist like they used to.
woodiewagon46
BANNED
The only way to properly do it yourself is with what is called an "aligning reamer". This type of reamer is used when two holes (bushings) are to be reamed in alignment, such as in your spindles. It uses what is called a floating pilot sleeve to align the holes. These reamers are fairly expensive so a machine shop is an option. I'm sure some will chime in and say they do it all the time with a standard reamer and it's done all the time. You want both holes, bushings, to be in perfect alignment so that the king pin will push in with minimal resistance and an aligning reamer will do this. As to the needle bearing question, my answer is to not try to use them. I know of two cases where the bearings failed. Bearings are designed to rotate at an engineered speed and will last a long time doing so. The limited rotation of a left and right turn will allow premature failure. Also needle bearings are not designed to take the "shock load" that a front end will take. I'm sure people will chime in and say that the needle bearings they installed are great but there are thousands of early Fords and other makes that are using standard bushings with great success.
jake197000
Senior Member
i agree with having them honed.u can do it other ways and thats fine but an accurate hone job is hard to beat.
PeteVS
Well-known member
Shimmy can be related to:
Loose tierod or draglink ends, worn steering box sector bushings or low tire pressure.
PeteVS
Well-known member
A while ago, I spent $100 for a local engine rebuilder to do a pair. He acted as if he really didn't want to do them. But, then, I read GBSisson's post (#14) and I thought that maybe I could do it this time around. So, my wife didn't have a wooden spoon with the right size handle and the Depot didn't have any 5/8" dowel but I realized that some 1/2" copper water tube is actually 5/8" diameter. I cut one piece of the tube 8" long and another 3" long for use in a floppy coupling. There's also a piece of 1/2" dowel and some 1/4" brake line in it. (See photo.) GB doesn't say exactly what the sanding material he used was but I did buy some assorted wet/dry paper, crocus cloth and settled on 3M medium emery cloth which worked just fine. I cut a piece 7-1/2" square and used some Gorilla Tape about 1" wide to tape the emery to the long tube. That wouldn't roll up tight enough to fit into the unsized bushings so I cut off an inch or so so that it would fit inside the bushings. (Cutting a 45º angle on the outside end of the emery will help get the sanding drum into the bushing. I drove it with my 1/2" drill and it cut pretty well, oscillating in and out as the drum turned. It will cut well for a little spell but it soon lost "compression" and not cut so well. When it does this, withdraw the drum, unroll the emery insert a piece of paper under it. (I used a cover from a Harbor Freight flyer about 1-1/2" wide and 7-1/2" long.) When I was spinning the drum, I could see dust coming off the emery when I moved it in and out. I repeated the sanding operation and when it was no longer cutting, I switched in a piece of paper 3" wide. When that stopped cutting, I put in both pieces of paper, and then added some more. Keep sanding, switching ends of the spindle to ensure that you don't get too much material removed from one of the ends. When adjusting the paper fillers, keep an eye on the ID using a pair of calipers. As it gets near to the king pin OD, check fit with the king pin. If the king pin enters one of the bushings but not the other, remove a couple layers of paper from under the emery at the end that already fits.
This worked out really well. The drum cuts nice and slow so you don't have to worry about machining the bushings too large too fast. It also leaves a nice finish. AND, I GOT TO DO IT MYSELF!
This worked out really well. The drum cuts nice and slow so you don't have to worry about machining the bushings too large too fast. It also leaves a nice finish. AND, I GOT TO DO IT MYSELF!
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I would highly recommend honing over reaming. It gives a much better fit. I do them that way on my sunnen machine. If you HAVE to use a reamer, DO ONLY ONE BUSHING at a time! if you push both out you cant get the reamer to center on the opposite bushing and the hole will come out crooked.
GB SISSON
Well-known member
Excellent job Pete! I use strips of aluminum oxide cloth backed sanding belts, beginning with 80 or 100 grit and finishing with 120 grit. Because of the slot I put in the dowel (or spoon) I use two strips of sanding belt about an inch wide and folded lengthwise into an 'L' shape. An advantage I have found is that by running the drill in reverse the abrasive strips tend to cam out and speed up the cutting process when needed. But Pete in the true shade tree spirit you used a variation on a theme and improvised with what was on hand and made some improvements such as the flexible coupling. Well done!
Curt in AZ
Senior Member
GB & Pete: it's nice to read about people creating innovative solutions out of necessity. Shade tree mechanics at their finest! A while back I had to press a bearing onto shaft so heated it a little in my wife's oven and cooled the shaft in the refer. Worked perfectly. When she got back she smelled the hot oil/grease in the kitchen. Moral to the story is ask if you're going to use the kitchen for automotive uses! 
PeteVS
Well-known member
What you need to do it yourself.
$32 bushing driver tool. Can be bought from Amazon by clicking here, or from Harbor freight.
I got the exact set of bushing drivers a while back and I had to modify both sides of the 13/16" - 15/16" piece. First, I had to reduce the large diameter so it would fit into the spindle as I was pushing a bushing out. Second, I had to reduce the smaller diameter so it would fit into the new unsized bushing to press it in.