NickPickToo

Couple of tips. Grease the inside of the bushings and the king pin and pack the bearings with grease before assembling. make sure the grease cert wholes are not blocked with old crusty grease as well. Kanter's king pin is more well polished and easier to work with than Andy Bernbaum's but then the set on AB's site for the P15 cost less. That said, AB's bearings seemed to be better quality but needed to be packed with grease while Kanter's bearings were pre-packed with grease. The caps in AB's set were easier to work with. We only know this because we messed up the job before getting it right and were able to try different sets. Make sure you keep the left and right side knuckle and the support arms matched together. If you forgot to mark them as such check the manual to be sure. Good tip is that the stud that receives the the shock absorber will be facing he front of the chassis when installed as will the "stop screw" (I think I'm making that term up) on the spindle knuckle that is used to limit the movement of the knuckle from side to side.

Its best to assemble the parts from the bottom which allows you to add the shims (first) and the bearings (second) before adding the support arm (last). I recommend adding extra shims first then removing the shims if the fit is too tight until the whole assembly pivots freely. MAKE SURE the notch in the king pin is facing the correct way so that the lock pin can be added once the assembly is together and also MAKE SURE that the top of the bearing is facing up and the moving portion of the bearing is facing down.

First make sure the king pin fits the bushings well. It should move up and down in the knuckle assembly well but there should be no play at all side to side. Notice I'm using a paper towel folded several time to hold the assembly in the vice for this test. The assembly is upside down, but that does not matter here.

Now you are ready to reassemble the whole thing. For each side you will need the knuckle assembly and the support arm. you will need a king pin, a barring, spacers, caps, lock pin and new grease certs. You will also need grease, a punch and two hammers (rubber mallet and a ball pean hammer). Safety goggles, paper towels and grip gloves recommended.

We used a press to push the new bushings in (no pictures) and we also needed to ream the bushings out to fit the pins correctly (again no pictures). We outsourced the reaming to Harold's Frame Shop in Novi MI. They specialize in trucks so still know king pin suspensions well.

Now the knuckle assembly with the spindle will separate from the support assembly and you can remove the king pin bushings from the knuckle assembly either by pushing or tapping them out with a bushing driver tool. Tapping the bushings out is fairly easy but Tapping the new ones in is not easy. Its best to press them in and out. In the picture below I should have used a cloth to hold the knuckle in the vice. Again, no pictures of us using the press.

next you want to remove the caps. Assuming this is the first overhall the caps will be staked at four points. Again staking is simply chipping the housing in to hold the cap in place. This is as opposed to caps that have threads. We planned to replace the caps along with the pins etc. so removing the caps with care was not a priority. We simply pressed the top cap into the assembly and into the king pin until the bottom cap was pushed free. Then we flipped the assembly and pressed the pin back the other way until the top cap was pushed free. The king pin then will slide out easily, but if it does not you can press it out the full way. We used a hydraulic press (neighbor had one in his workshop -- he's a retired engineer from GM) and a carriage bolt for this step. (sorry no pictures of this step).

First remove the Lock Pin from the spindle housing. It is holding the King Pin in place. Look for the side that has been "staked." It is also the side of the lock pin that will be fully round while the other side will be half round. "Staked" simply means the assembly housing has been chipped in to keep the pin from slipping out (we talk about the caps later which are also staked). This side is the opposite side from where the pin should be pushed (or tapped) out.

Completed rebuilding the spindle assemblies on my 47 Plymouth deluxe. The following thread provided details, tips and tricks. Apologies in advance that we did not capture every step in photo, but I will try to be complete in the description. Details from this point assume the assembly has been removed.

Rebuilt spindle assemblies with new kingpins, bushings, bearings and caps ? I'll post the details on the Technical forum

Mr. Burnbaum's is a veritable cornucopia of wholegrain mechanical goodness. I'm mentioning sources as we build back up, and his shop will receive a lot of credit before this is done

This picture shows that this started off well, but I think we learned a lesson the more experienced on the forum already know. We won't post the following pics. We got lucky. The Plymouth Doctor let me and my dad pull the right spindle assembly from a parts car sitting next to his shop. Reasonable price too. Actually great price. Thank you Mr. Brandon. Advice from the Doctor, "Press, don't pound." Now we need to get access to a press. Dad had advised I tap not pound, but who hands a teenager a three pound hammer and say's tap don't pound.

Completed: Rear Suspension with new Leaf springs and Shocks. First time so far that Im not just tearing down, but building up. Leaf springs from Eaton Detroit Spring. Fit well and silent block included. Used rear bracket original to the Plymouth, but replaced grommets with Steele Rubber products Shocks from Kanter.

Eaton Detroit Springs on Michigan Avenue right off Rosa Parks Blvd. These guys are artist and can make the originals. We used these guys (we could pick up so no shipping) and they called us to confirm all the modifications for weight changes and then asked us how we wanted the hight to ride relative to OEM before making the front coils and the rear leaf springs. Highly recommend if your still looking for springs. I see I'm late on this now. Sorry

Eaton Detroit Springs on Michigan Avenue right off Rosa Parks Blvd. These guys are artist and can make the originals. We used these guys (we could pick up so no shipping) and they called us to confirm all the modifications for weight changes and then asked us how we wanted the hight to ride relative to OEM before making the front coils and the rear leaf springs. Highly recommend if your still looking for springs.

Eaton Detroit Springs on Michigan Avenue right off Rosa Parks Blvd. These guys are artist and can make the originals. We used these guys (we could pick up so no shipping) and they called us to confirm all the modifications for weight changes and then asked us how we wanted the hight to ride relative to OEM before making the front coils and the rear leaf springs. Highly recommend if your still looking for springs.

POR-15 on the frame today. start painting suspension parts soon and then we begin putting it all back together.

When you get to Old 23 we may pull in behind you if my 47 is driving by then.

Anyone else planning on doing Cruise in Shoes run?

Probably better off. It’s like going to the beach and not getting a chance to shower off right away. We’re rebuilding the front end and upgrading to disks so no issues there but I’m about to shift to the rear and hope it’s as simple as replacing the leaf springs and cleaning the drums but suspect we’ll be scooping sand out of the axle and differential too.

Agree completely that it would have been better to flip the chassis and weld straight down, but we still haven't broken down the back half and the wheels are providing the stability. The body is still on the rotisserie too and it would be a bit before we could get enough friends together to switch it out. So I just lifted the front end of the chassis up so I could work on it.

This was the before photo. I will have to re-drill the holes for the two bolts.

Stepped up to the edge, looked over, and dived right in. My first chassis patch ?

Thinking more a like making it a hood ornament or get a second off ebay and using as a door handles. But thanks for warning me about the nuckle busting risk. I would of jumped right on to that exaust manifold bolt with this had you not warned me

Grandpa gave me this one. Said old cars need old tools.