king Pin Bushing Reamer

Yes, I have one of the Brattons King Pin Reamers. Had it 'bout ten years and have used it probably dozen times. Good tool. As Jackson said, never turn it backwards - that will dull it immediately. ken
 
Thanks for the input, I "had" a keystone reamer for many years, until the other day,
I managed to drop it and of course it shattered.
The bratton one looks like i would be able to stay in alignment with both bushings.
 
My local machine shop honed my king pin bushings for a perfect fit and finish for $35. The end result is better than any reamer can do.They were line honed on a Sunnen honing machine. It doesn't pay to buy a reamer.
 
Honeing is the best, but I have had good results with a reamer if carefully used. Mine is at least 50 years old, but I have only used it less than 10 times in 50 years.
 
A reamer works just fine. I've done it on 3 front ends. Honing works also. I don't think it make much difference which way you do it. I think some people over think this operation.
Rusty Nelson
 
Honing is the perfered method. Done right it will give a round hole the proper diameter.

A reamer will always leave a little high spots which will wear fast. So it will be tight and rapidly loose a small amount until it is round and a bit loose.

Again you are better off with honing. Careful reaming with a good tool will do the job too, just know the difference.
 
The idea of a reamer is that it does the top and bottom bushing at the same time, ensuring they are concentric. Yes, the reamer leaves high spots. But I've been told that you should leave it real tight after reaming, and spin the kingpin in place to burnish the bushings and get a nice fit. I dunno...
 
Will N said:
The idea of a reamer is that it does the top and bottom bushing at the same time, ensuring they are concentric. Yes, the reamer leaves high spots. But I've been told that you should leave it real tight after reaming, and spin the kingpin in place to burnish the bushings and get a nice fit. I dunno...
Click to expand...

Burnishing the bearing surface is what I do. If the bush is left too tight, the car will be all over the road and VERY scary. Burnishing leaves a round hole. The same can't be said for honing. A hone only follows what is there. Hone an oval hole, it will end up oval. I NEVER hone king pin bushes.
 
UPDATE !!!!!!
Received my new reamer from Brattons, Put it right to work and the bushings came out great.
The only thing that would make it better is having a guide down to the second bushing
to help get the cut started straight" it has under sized cutters on the first stage", other than that it worked just as well as my Keystone reamer that i dropped and killed.
 
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