Kingpin heck

[RenoHuskerDu]

I'm no Mormon, but I don't like to swear much. These Bullnose kingpins do bring out the Expletive in a man.

I talked to 3 local shops today that I trust, nobody has the proper line reamer anymore to line bore the kingpin (steering knuckle) bushings after pressing them in.  Two shops turned down the job.  One guy says he used to have a reamer but lost it, and he'll "git er done somehow."  Not terribly confidence inspiring. He did give me a tip to try to get grease into the one that won't take any. That could hold me off till Spring.

So the idea hit me to just get some Bricknose I beams at a junkyard and put them in there. No more expletive-ing kingpins. An FTE guy just suggested the same. Great minds stink alike.

Has anybody BTDT? Did the newer spindles accept your Bullnose calipers?

Or, wait, what about CV frontend under an F-250?  Too light duty? I know it's all the rage with 100/150 guys. Sean P Holman's Project Speedbump has a CV frontend in it.

[Gary Lewis]

Your sig doesn't say, but the truck is a 2wd - right?

What are your uses for the truck?  I ask because a crown vic front end won't carry much load.  So if you use it as an F250 then I wouldn't think that would work.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Yeah, F-250 use includes our miles-long dirt road driveway. I did buy a CVPI for eldest, and she toodles along the dirt road just fine, but her 4.6 must weigh 1/3 of a 420 IDI.

[Gary Lewis]

That IDI is heavy!  I think it would collapse the CV springs.

[85lebaront2]

I may have the reamer you need if the kingpins are the same size as the F350 ones. Somewhere if it didn't get left in Newport News by the fellow who was working on getting the tools out of the garage I had a kingpin press.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Thanks for the offer. I believe that 250/350 are the same.  But my plan now is to remove the kingpin swingarms and update to 87+ swingarms with ball joints.  There are a fair number of low-rust Bricknose parts trucks around Texas.

[Steve83]

RenoHuskerDu wrote

...update to 87+ swingarms with ball joints.  There are a fair number of low-rust Bricknose parts trucks around Texas.

I had no trouble finding several good JYs around DFW a decade (or 2) ago; I expect it would be even easier now, using GoogleEarth, etc.  I like looking at the aerial photos to see what kinds of vehicles a yard has, and noting the imagery dates.  If you use GE installed on a real computer, you can turn back time, and see how the yard's inventory has changed.

[85lebaront2]

You go right ahead, I will stick with my now 33 year old kingpins. They still have no detectable side play and drive fine. I have seen too many of these ball joint twin I-beams that are sloppy as all getout and need aligning frequently. My last full alignment on Darth was 25 years ago and my front tires wear dead even.

The only things I do like on the newer system, it can be aligned without bending the beams and the later disc brakes have less rolling drag.