Removing knuckle

[eric wissing]

In the shop manual they are very brief about removing the steering knuckles. What are the "stakes" ? Are they tapered pins? Are they just driven out? Does the king pin then just drop out? I have never done any front end work? Thanks, Eric

[58prostreet]

I just completely rebuilt front end on my 52 wayfarer...put is fatman dropped spindles, disc brakes, new tie rod ends, upper and lower, inner outer A arm bushings etc. It sounds like u are trying to replace king pins...I had to drill the upper dust seal with a 3/8 bit and then took a 5/16 drift and drove the pins out. Oh yea, before that you need to drive the "stakes" out. They are tapered, so u need to look real close and see which end is smaller and drive them out from that end. If i remnember right, I held the proper size punch with a pair of vise grips and knocked the out. Took a couple of good whacks, but they finally came out and then drove king pin out with 5/16 punch from top......Good luck

Bob

[eric wissing]

Bob, Thanks a lot. I want to put discs up front. Thr dust cap doesn't sound fun to deal with. Thanks. Eric

[58prostreet]

Eric

If u just dril thru the dust cap with a 3/8 bit it's really easy. After i removed the "stakes" i drilled the cap and knocked the king pins out very easily. I had never done much front end work either, but it wasn't that bad...worst part was getting everything clean.

Bob

[eric wissing]

Bob, Thanks, I will give it a shot. I got nothing to lose at this point! ERic

[hkestes41]

Eric,

I am in the process of rebuilding the front end on my 48 coupe. I did like 58pro and used vice grips to hold my punch while trying to drive out the stakes. Bent my punch trying to get the stakes out even after half a can of penetrating oil.

Finally said enough is enough and took them to the machine shop. He removed the stakes, king pins etc and installed all my new parts for $100.

[eric wissing]

I am looking at the manual and it shows both ends with stakes (top and bottom) how the heck do you drive those out? I see one stake drive horizontally to lock the king pin. I am confused. So you removed the assemble from the upper and lower arms as one unit. Are you redoing all of the Bushings at the same time? Eric

[eric wissing]

Bob,

I just turned to the previous page in the shop manual DUH!! what a dope!!. Boy oh Boy,( the pretty pictures must have distracted me) It says to "install new bushings, seals, and lock pins". Not a bad idea for saftey if I am going this far. I take it all of these parts are available? Eric

[Don Coatney]

I had one pin that was so tight it would not budge even with heat. I finally drilled it out.

[eric wissing]

Don, are you trying to cheer me up? I think I will try getting th eassembly out and have a machine shop do what needs to be done. I was looking at Robert's Motor Parts, is the "King Pin Service package" what I need? Or is this stuff available through NAPA etc? Eric

[PatS....]

I had to take my whole suspension apart and have a machine shop press out the passenger side My useless drill bit wouldn't even scratch it.

The drivers came out easily.

[eric wissing]

I started with the rt. side. I got the drum off. I got the backing plate off and released the tie rod end. I got the nuts off of the pins that run through the upper and lower control arms. Do I just whack away at the pins to drive them through? Is there tension caused by the coil spring? Thanks, Eric

People have mentioned it before but what a load of crud built up around these elements!! I poked with an awl to clear out areas to make sure I could get sockets snug. Has anyone noticed how much sand and gravel gets into the chassis it self? I poked the awl into a few of those holes and it just poured out. I think I will gain a few mph by just lightening the load.

[PatS....]

"Is there tension caused by the coil spring?"

Which pin are you whacking away at????

The kingpin retaining pin in this pic is the shiney spot where I was trying to drive the pin out. There is no tension on this, it simply holds the kingpin from falling out...a bad thing.

The passenger side drives out from back to front and the drivers side from front to back.

The pin is part #42 in this exploded view: (Steering Knuckle Support Lock Pin)

[eric wissing]

Pat I am going to remove the unit as a whole. There are the two pins(more like bolts) that go through the upper and lower arms that hole the unit in. In your pick you can see the end of one I believe with the grease fitting. Eric

[PatS....]

Those are the bushings. Yes, they are under LOTS of pressure!!!!

[eric wissing]

Part # 48 and #19. These can be driven out? I have the 10 year old neighbor trying to hurry me up. Eric

[PatS....]

Well, heres how I did it. Place your jack under the lower control arm bar (30)

Tie the coil spring to the frame with a cable or chain.

Remove the four nuts and bolts from the control arm bar.

SLOWLY lower the jack until the spring is free.

Now you can dismantle the suspension components safely.

There are a couple of measurements you have to take before you go any further.

(thanks to Don Coatney for making these readable)

[eric wissing]

Pat I want to just remove the spindle not the control arms. That is possible isn't it? Eric

[hkestes41]

Eric,

#48 and #19 screw out you can't drive them out. There are threads in the control arms.

[eric wissing]

So I can turn them out, Even better!! Good thing I didn't get the big hammer out. Thanks, Eric

[Normspeed]

#60 and 17 are locking nuts, you take them off before you unscrew 48 and 19.

[eric wissing]

Norm, Thanks. The expolded view with the parts numbered sure is nice. My Plymouth Service Manual is not numbered. Thanks to all, I hope I am under way. Eric