King Pin Bushing Problems

[lalkie64]

I am in the process of replacing the king pins on my 52 b3b.  I ordered and received a king pin bushing set (moog part 8453B) and found the bushings were to large to fit in the knuckle.  I froze the bushings and heated the knuckle.  The bushings went in hard and one was distorted.  I found one machine shop in my area that would hone the bushing for about $100.00.  This seems excessive.  My questions is will oil impregnated bronze bushings that are .875 ID and 1.00OD work for king pins?  I purchased one and the ID fits well and it appears as if the od will press in without any problems.  I just wanted to find out if any one has tried these?  Larry

[sidevalvepete]

Haven't tried this Larry but seems a practical solution. Of course all steering mechanisms are critical for safety but I don't see any harm in proceeding with this and then keeping a close eye on it later. Not hard to check emerging free play.

[DJ194950]

Oil-lite type bushings hate being greased and get very sticky. If you never plan to grease the front king pins maybe ok but the original design is to be greased.

Why not find regular (non oil-lite) like brass to match the dimensions which are usually even cheaper to buy.

 

What do the king pins measure? Chances are they will need to be reamed for proper clearance. Around here the cheapest machine shop I know is $40 minimum which should cover a job like a easy ream job with correct tools.

 

JMO,

 

DJ

[lalkie64]

I haven't been able to find non oil-lite bushings (.875 ID 1.00 OD) without reaming or honing.  I think reaming would be sloppy.  I was able to find nylon bushings and may try them. It had nylon bushing in it.  I was also able to find a .875 reamer for about 20 bucks but it would take some work to  make a bushing to align the shank.  But again sloppy.  Just looking for advice and solutions other than throwing money at it .  Larry

[Sniper]

Reaming is required for oil lite bushings, honing them ruins the self lubricating properties.  There is nothing sloppy about a ream job, unless it's sloppy craftsmanship, after all valve guides are reamed to fit.  If you have no confidence in your machine shop's ability to do a precision reaming find another shop. 

 

You will need to ream to fit, it's part of the process unless you want a sloppy front end that wears out quickly and stay away from nylon.