Hey all, been lurking for years, love the site. Got my 64 from my step mother after 10 years of begging her to sell it to me. It has been in their family since it was new. Checked the VIN code, the thing was built in north Jersey, and spent it's entire life in the garden state. It has the original 223 that was rebuilt in the 90's. Runs great and has perfect compression. Soooo, the 289/ 302 swap wont be happening for some time. At some point, the truck was converted from the 3 on the tree to a 4 speed Hurst,,,which is FINE by me! It is an east coast car that was close to the ocean its whole life, so, it has the rust you would expect. The frame is surprisingly in great shape. I plan on just fixing the areas of rust, and keeping the appearance pretty much as-is. It's going to be my shop truck, so after all the bad areas are fixed, it MIGHT get a shot of white primer. I plan on a 3 inch drop axle from Sid's, de-arched full pack leafs on front and back, and a flipped front rear hanger. Disk brakes on all 4 corners, and a should give me a nice stance without notching the frame. Other than that, just some chrome Steels and some firestone white walls. Here are some pictures of it sitting.....since 1999.
I started pulling the suspension off last week. I knew something was seriously wrong. The left front wheel cambered in significantly (you can see it in the pictures). I've built a lot of motorcycles, but this is my first real "Car" build so bare with me here. Being that it's a solid front axle, I couldn't wrap my mind around how the hell the camber was off, unless something was literally bent. After getting the truck up on stands, I could move the left front wheel in and out....I was kinda hoping the play was in the bearing...it wasn't. SO, after a few hours, 4 beers, a lot of PB Blaster, a torch, and an angle grinder,,,I got the front end out At this point, i knew the issue was in the spindle itself. Pulled it apart and here's what I found: Broken kingpin. The bad part, it had been this was for so long, it had worn an oval shape into the receiving portion of the axle, and the spindle itself. S%*t. Where the hell can I get these parts? LMC doesn't have them. Is this axle and spindle shared with any other ford models? Again, this is my first build, so any information or guidance is MUCH appreciated.
Good luck with your truck. I also have a 64 f100. These are fun trucks to work on. Sorry, i dont know where to get these parts brand new, but they made alot of these trucks so it should be very diffucult to find used ones
If Sid Can't hook you up with what you need, pm ( conversation) me...I know a guy with thousands of early truck parts!
The kingpins are readily available....it's the Axle and spindle I'm worried about. Getting the axle off in my garage with air tools and an angle grinder was tough....I can't imagine doing it with hand tools in a salvage yard If Sid cant help me out, I'll PM you (King ford), thanks for the help guys!!
It's probably happened before, but in my many decades of being in and around auto shops, I've never seen that. As stated above, there are LOTS of these trucks still in existence and a replacement axle shouldn't be too difficult to find. Any salvage yard worth it's name can whip one of those out from under in short order. You don't need the springs, just the axle****emble, That alone should simplify the process. As a very out there "plan B", the axle boss (and spindle) could be bored over size and sleeved, or oversized king pin bushings could be made. Any competent machine shop could do either/both. Chances are you won't need to go that route. Just wanted you to know there are options. Ray
Thanks Ray! I will start calling around here and see if a local yard has one. I want to keep this thing pretty much period correct. Outside of the disk brakes (sorry), I want to do this like any shop rod would have been built in the 60's. There are so many mustang suspension swap kits and stuff like that, but it's just not what I want. The appeal is simplicity. Anyways, the springs are getting re-rolled while I sort out the axle issue.
Hey guys, found an axle at a local yard. Crisis adverted. Sid has it, and is working away getting the front end sorted. Question: I'm flipping the rear front hanger and having the eyes reversed for the rear end. Anyone know of a drop shock that will work well? Sid recommended some type of bracket that extends the lower shock mount to allow a more standard shock setup. Any pointers/ advice or products would be really helpful. I will upload progress pictures shortly. Thanks!
Probably able to run the stock shocks with just an eye reversal. If they bottom out just meausure what it is at ride height, droop and compression then talk to your local off road shop or speedway tech line and they can sort you out. I bet youll end up doing at least a small c notch in the rear. I put my axle on top of the spring pack (way simpler than what youre doing) and needed a notch
I'm reversing the eyes AND flipping the rear front hanger. Just going to modify these (turn them 90 degrees) to fit the shock: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Rear-Shock-Mount,3334.html from everything I've read, notching the frame isn't necessary. Now, I just have to put it together and measure the uncompressed distance between mounts.
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