Help!! I purchased a king pin reamer from Mac's Antique Auto Parts to do the spindle bushings on my '39 Ford pickup. I know you are supposed to ream both bushings at the same time to maintain proper alignment. The reamer I bought is 19" long - plenty long enough to do both. Well, this reamer can't do both at the same time because it has bore thru the first bushing in order to get to the second one. So, I ruined the first set of bushings because the reamer was almost 1/4 inch off by the time it got thru the first and down to the second bushing. Any ideas how to maintain alignment?? Or should I just send the overpriced reamer back and go to the local machine shop?
OK, calling Mac's in the morning to see about sending the $160 reamer back. Then off to the machine shop.
If you have a tapered reamer why would you think going only from one side to do both would result in them being the same? Try using it from the other end for the second bushing. IMOP a brake hone is a superior method.
It is a PILOTED reamer ,pilot lines up in the second bushing. Turn reamer to size first bushing slide through to second bushing ,body of reamer is same size as hole to keep alignment for second hole. Shinysideup: surely you jest ,a brake cylinder deglazing hone to fit kingpins ??? how would you keep alignment between the 2 bushings ??? A Sunnen pin hone is the only other usual way to finish kingpin bushings correctly.
I'd send that reamer back to 'em too because its not the right reamer for that job. Article here on the hamb showing bushing installation and reaming. Scroll down to the 4th pic and it shows a proper kingpin bushing reamer with the pilot necessary to keep things in line. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=247360 The right reamer makes the job easy. But its probably not worth buying one for one set of spindles. Couple used ones on ebay now, but you'd have $80 or more in one of them with no guarantee that the reamer is actually sharp. An automotive machine shop will likely hone them with a Sunnen mandrel type hone unless they happen to have a reamer. The Sunnen will do a nice job on them too. Be sure to take your kingpins along so they can use them to check fit and alignment. A reamer without a pilot for keeping both bores aligned is near useless for this job. I ruined a set of bushings years ago by setting the spindle up in a vertical mill and trying to ream them with a standard chucking reamer. Even doing that resulted in enough misalignment between the two bores that it would've taken some good whacks with a hammer to drive the pin thru, and that's not worth a shit. Mentioned it to my dad, and it turned out he had the right reamer still around from when he was fooling with old Fords in the 40's. Damn thing made the job effortless. Once I bought another new set of bushings, that is And, FWIW, attempting to hone them with a wheel cylinder hone is guaranteed to result in misalignment too. By the time both are honed far enough to pass the pin they're likely about as far oversized as the ones you're replacing.
John, heres a pic of the $160 reamer they sold him. Useless for kingpin bushing work if it only cost ten bucks. Wonder why people supposedly specializing in this stuff peddle such crap as that. http://macsautoparts.com/images/400/A3111R_pJPG.JPG
Thats pretty bad That Macs is selling those to do kingpins. absolutely the wrong tool. I use an adjustable reamer with a long pilot shaft, and a tapered mandrel that slips on from the bottom. usually do one or two passes at .005 then.002 under, then creep up on a push fit. dont set an adjustable reamer to .813 and expect to get it in one go! its a lot of material to remove, and its best to slowly approach the finished size, from my experience.
don't use a reamer. take to auto machine shop. tell them to fit bushings using piston pin hone machine. soooo good
Yep if that's the reamer he has it ain't worth a shit for doing kingpins. Speedway has had the right style for $80 as I recall. As few as I do anymore I just barrow one form one of my friends.
I took my spindles to a machine shop to have the bushings installed and fitted to the kingpins. When I got them back each bushing was really loose, they had made each one oversize to get the kingpin to slide through both. In other words they didn't line up. They seemed tight when I got the kingpin through both, but they were all messed up. I bought some new bushings from Macs and bought this reamer on Ebay, now I do them myself.
One other thing on fitting these bushings. Several people, me included, mentioned a Sunnen wrist pin type honing machine as a good method for bushing sizing. Actually, that's only partially true. If the shop is using a diamond abrasive coated hone then it'll do a fine job. But if they're using standard aluminum oxide or silicon carbide grit stones the abrasive particles will embed themselves into brass, bronze, or any other soft bushing material. The fit might be fine initially, but the embedded grit will cause wear on the kingpin itself much faster than natural causes ever will. If they aren't using a diamond hone then a reamer will give you a much better job over the long term.
Here's a picture of a couple of styles of the piloted reamers that should be used for kingpin bushings. Do one bushing, flip it around and do the other. You can usually find both used and NOS reamers on the auction sight.
And just to add to the fun some of the bushings now furnished in the kits have a smaller than normal/correct ID and the correct piloted reamer won't fit into them. Gota do a bit of work opening them up first.
You can usually tell the undersize ones as they don't have the little interlock in the seam. I think they are a little oversize too as they are harder to drive than either NOS Ford or NORS bushings.
I have been marketing these reamers, They are US made and have an expandable pilot for the lower bushing. This insures that the upper and lower bushing are reamed on the same axis to eliminate loose king pin fit. This is a high quality tool and very accurate for home builders. Machine shop usually charges $40.00 to machine bushings, do 5 sets and its paid for.
What I did was pretty simple. I purchased an old non piloting tapered Ford kingpin reamer off the web cheap. I then found which bushing on the spindle was in the better shape of the two and LEFT IT. I then pressed out the other and pressed in the new one in its place. Once that was done I used the old bushing as a guide and pilot for the new bushing. Once the new bushing was reamed, I then removed the old "pilot" bushing...pressed in the new one and flipped the spindle and reamer and used the recently reamed bushing as pilot. Worked fantastic. Good luck
I found an old .812" king pin bushing reamer in a box of tools a friend gave me. So I looked in the old JC W catalog, because I remember they used to sell reamers...they did, in the early 70s a new king pin bushing reamer cost between two and three dollars. I guess times have changed.
VW bug (pre 66) king pin reamers cut both at the same time. It had cutters on two sections of the reamer. Those worked real nice and I am surprised that someone has not copied the design for Fords.
That method will make things fi together, but doesn't keep the two holes round, straight, or in line with each other. On the other hand....... Even when routinely lubed, king pins tend to wear fairly fast. That being the case, maybe it isn't too important that everything starts out perfect.
Thanks for all the info. Sounds like Mac's is selling a genuine piece of useless crap. I talked to them on Friday and they want me to talk to one of their techs before I send it back. I don't think there's anything he can tell me that will make this thing work correctly. They should send me some new bushings for all my trouble. Then, I'm off to the local NAPA machine shop.
The bushing have a lot to ream out.I use a adjustable one and little at a time ,they when close take a full size and ream to size.Some timing they don,t quite line up so get the hammer.LOL
I sent the reamer back to Mac's and told them they shouldn't sell that piece of crap. But, do you think they heeded my suggestion? They're still selling it if that's a hint. As a couple of you suggested, I took the spindles to a machine shop and had it done for about $25. Off to battle new problems!
I dont have access to a machine shop and will need to buy a reamer, having not done that before just want to check that this would be an appropiate way to go.
I do it the easy way. I use needle bearing kits. No reaming, hard to screw up. Makes steering much smoother and easier. Besides, I'm old and tired don't remember where I put my reamer. Pete, what you have is a line reamer and should work properly.
Thanks @Glenn Thoreson , if you have a few mins would you mind telling me about the needle bearings and fitting those?
Go on eBay and buy an adjustable reamer with a guide. Only way to do it. Go slow, small cuts at a time and NEVER reverse the rotation of the reamer when your using it.
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