King Pin Replacement

[MY66AH]

Hello all. I'm replaceing the king pins in my 66 Sprite and I was wondering if I need to compress the coil spring? Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[smaceng]

You need to disassemble the front suspension....the answer is yes. Put the front of the car on jack stands. put a screw jack under the lower spring pan, jack up the suspension, then remove the spring pan bolts, and slowly lower jack. Spring should pop out the bottom. Then remove the king pin from the upper and lower knuckles.

 

[BigGreen]

To be safer ...

Replace the bolts one by one with longer bolts
Than lower the jack and when the plate comes free remove the long bolts
Lenght of the bolts depends on the type of car and the free space you have

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Sounds like you need the step by step to take the front suspension apart and put back together. Look here again on a few hours and I'll senmd you a step by step. Not at my PC now.

 

[MY66AH]

Thanks Jim

 

[Rut]

This is a pretty nice tutorial!
Rut
https://www.mikeamick.com/76midget/

 

[65_BRG_Sprite]

It is easier to remove the springs if the engine is still in the car. Without the weight the car body will lift instead of the spring compressing.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Rut beat me to it. Hope that helps. Peter Caldwell at World Wide Imports has a turnkey service to Ream Kingpin Bushings. You may or may not need to replace the Wishbone Metal Bushings or replace the Wishbones. If there is any fore and aft slop in the kingpin after you get things apart you will need to get bushings replaced. With price drops for Wishbones it is often cheaper to buy new rather than refurb the wishbones. Exception if a RB Car, wishbones are better gusseted and reinforced. Consider having someone like Apple Hydraulics replace the bushings.

When taking things apart. A SawZall is your friend. Jack stands under the front of the frame rails and rear wheels blocked. We're here to help.

 

[Rut]

Jim Gruber: Peter Caldwell at World Wide Imports has a turnkey service to Ream Kingpin Bushings. You may or may not need to replace the Wishbone Metal Bushings or replace the Wishbones. If there is any fore and aft slop in the kingpin after you get things apart you will need to get bushings replaced. With price drops for Wishbones it is often cheaper to buy new rather than refurb the wishbones. Exception if a RB Car, wishbones are better gusseted and reinforced. Consider having someone like Apple Hydraulics replace the bushings.

I finally said to heck with it and just sent my spindles to Peter Caldwell at WWI and he put together a nice package for me. The new Aarms are pretty cheap in the grand scheme and the front end along with the brakes are the 2 most important things to me and are worth farming out.
Rut

 

[Jim_Gruber]

The best tool in your box is sometimes your credit card.

 

[AN6-TX]

Along those lines, are replacing the bearings as easy as it looks/sounds? I recognize there are some "poor" bearings on the market so I am also interested in supplier (e.g., Peter C.?)...

 

[nomad]

If you are talking about the spindle bushings/bearing's.....no....it's not anywhere near as easy as it look's!!

Kurt.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Peter C's comments to me late last year. were that the bearings MOSS is now supplying fit properly for the first time in several years. That's what I bought for Bugsy II. I have not yet installed but will be interested to see how they fit on my BE with '71 Stub Axles and Disc Brakes. Front end comes apart this week and hopefully will be a total shell with rear end and suspension removed as well and on jack stands waiting to get on the rotisserie.

 

[MY66AH]

This is just what I needed. Thanks Rut!

This is a pretty nice tutorial!
Rut
https://www.mikeamick.com/76midget/

 

[Rut]

This is just what I needed. Thanks Rut!

Its always a group effort and PeterC is the secret weapon!
Rut