Right from left king pins. Who knew...

Great Lakes Greg

Great Lakes Greg

Well-known member
...there was a right and left? Well, I didn't, and apparently the guy who wrote my restoration manual didn't either.
F-bombs applenty and an hour of lost work on this oversight. I learn something every time I work on this project. There, I feel better now.
 
Last year at the Iola swap I saw a nice pair of NORS kings in a box with all the parts, but something looked a little funny. They were either both left, or both right. I suppose somebody bought them. Hey, at least you had all the necessary parts to fix the problem!
 
I have a number of kingpins, some NOS Ford and some not. Some of them have a R and L on the back of the top part and some are marked R or L on the middle of the shaft near where the retaining pin slot is. Some are not marked at all. If you look at the brake operating shaft housing, you can see the end that fits in the kingpin head is offset toward the front of the car, therefore the kingpin should have its head circular offset toward the front also.
 
Just hold the kingpin as it would mount on the axle. The open pocket faces the center of the axle and is located to the front. In other words the pocket is forward of the kingpin centerline.
 
Whomever that did the job, must have had to turn the perch to obtain alighnment for the brake shaft housing to engage completely.
 
Bruce said:
Confused? Wait 'till someone throws in one for a Model B or 18
Click to expand...
Yep, that will cause some confusion. The groove for the locking pin is milled at a different angle to A pins. From memory, its 3 degrees offset to the face for the brake shaft mount for the A, compared to 7 degrees for the B/18. Not an easy difference to see until installed.
 
,,,OK then, if you reset the cotter pin angle would B model pins work or is the verticle cup angle different ? ,i have 32 spindles for my A ,and want to use mechanical brakes ,i have 32 axle and perches,,,,
 
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