Due to badly worn kingpin bushings on my 31 Roadster (with a '38 Ford front axle) i had to tackle the job of renewing the kingpins and bushings. I read vseveral threads here on how to get the kingpins out of the axle and found various tips ranging from hammering on them over heating the axle up to removal of the whole axle and putting it under a hydraulic press. I did not want to remove the whole axle from the car and only jacked the front of the car up high enough to remove the front wheels. After stripping the brakes etc. from the spindles and removing the retainer pins of the kingpins I found that the kingpins were quite tight in the front axle. Due to the limited space between workshop floor and kingpin underside it was not possible to bring sufficient force into the kingpin with a hammer to persuade the pins to move upwards and out. I was able to move them with the hammer for a couple of millimetres but then both pins got stuck (even though I soaked them in ATF/Aceton before). I then took a normal pull-off tool/gear puller of sufficient size and used it so that both arms were gripping the upper eye of the spindle and the tip of the thread-dorn was located at the centre of the lower kinpin end. In order to prevent the arms of the puller to slip from the spindle eye I used a C-clamp to hold the arms together. To my pleasant surprise it was now very easy and smooth to push out the kingpins by tightening the puller. As I did not found this method described here before (maybe only because I used the wrong search words) I thought it might be interesting for other members who want to remove their kingpins without taking out the axle or using excessive heat... Helge
Sometimes a simple thing overlooked is a slight bind caused by the weight of the spindle... I had a hell of a time getting one kingpin out. Was really having to work to get it out. By accident, I bumped the steering arm, and saw a bit of movement. Lifted the spindle snout up with one hand and the kingpin easily slid out. I felt like an idiot, and maybe it was a one off, but lifting the spindle snout brought everything back in line and reduced the friction. Not saying it was the cir***stance in your case, but just thought I'd post it in case it helps anyone else.
Never thought of doing it that way, always beat upward with a BFH or popped the top off the KP and beat downward. I like the puller idea cause you can keep pressure and use heat.
Cool, you should have put that up on tech week. I will give it a try on an old Mordrop 33/36 I just found
Nope, the only thing stopping them from coming out the bottom is that spot welded on washer top. Remove the retaining bolt, pop that washer thing off (most pop off pretty easy) and beat downward, its easier than hamering upward with no room to swing a hammer.
Great Idea! I like that puller. They also make pullers with a shaft going through them crossways so you don't need the C-clamp. I wonder with a floor jack under the axle if you could put a piece of pipe or round stock under the king pin then lower the jack and use the weight of the vehicle to pop them out? Again cool tip!
The puller is just a medium sized standard puller that i bought a while ago from a mail order tool shop. It is far from professional grade quality (those are really expensive - at least over here) but it is also no special bargain chinese junk item made from cheaply cast recycled soft drink cans. It is fabricated from good quality cast steel, has a correct puller thread (not just a normal bolt thread) and has sharply formed clamp ends on the arms. A thing like this costs about $ 60-70 over here... Helge
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