king pin reamer??/

[erickmarciano]

anyone know what size reamer and where to get for the king pin's

thanks
Erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[Benz Dr.]

well, like most things this is something I thought I'd try myself. Forget it.  Take it to an automotive machine shop. I usually have a set already done up but I don't have any right now.

You have to remove the old bushings and have the new ones pressed in and then they have to be honed to fit the pin. Not as easy to do as it looks. Costs about $150.00 per side without the king pin kit.

Daniel G Caron

[Cees Klumper]

At the tech session at Van Dijk last year in The Netherlands, they demonstrated how this works. Indeed you need special tools like the hydraulic press to press out the old, and in the new bearings. Then the reamer. The process seemed to be straightforward enough, with a lot of trial and error to get the fit 'just right' and as I recall it took about 3/4 of an hour per side.

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[erickmarciano]

will try myself , anyone know the corect reamer size?
thanks

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[Benz Dr.]

What I mean is, it's not as easy to do right as it looks. The bushings are a brass alloy and you can damage them quite easily during installation. The old bushings can't be just simply pressed out. You can pull them out or use a saw blade and cut a slot on one side and then drive them out.
My point is, this takes a press, a puller and a honing machine. The bushingswill fit over the pin before installation but not after you're done. That's how tightly they press in. And you have to press themin too - can't hit on them even one time or they're messed up pretty good.

This is more bother to do right than it's worth for the DIY'er. Even though it's exspensive and I have the tools to do it ( not the reamer ) I let a pro do it. Same for valve guide installation and seat grinding. I do my own valve grinding but that's it.

Daniel G Caron

[ja17]

Hello  Erick,
The new king pins are 20mm diameter. You will have to hone or ream after installation as mentioned. For years I have been using a 25/32" to 27/32" adjustable reamer which covers the 20mm range.
In most cases the wear is in the king pins only and installation of the new king pins makes bushing replacement unnecesary. However the kit comes with new bushings and it is nice to have all the parts new installed.
Front end rebuilding is dirty and tough work. Often times a torch is needed to cut off badly rusted upper link pins. Often times you can be surprised by worn or damaged a arms.
Plan on replacing the upper link pins with kits, lower trunions and pin with kits and the king pin assembly with kits at the very least.
This is one job a 1/2" impact gun and a torch is worth their weight in gold!

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[erickmarciano]

Dr
what would you charge to fit press and ream the king pin if i mail it to you , I have the king pin
thank
erickmarciano@hotmail.com

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[mdsalemi]

Two things to add here--

1)  If you have a torch, make sure you know how to use it and have a proper fire extinguisher at the ready.  Might be a good idea to NOT try this by yourself but to have some help.

2)  The rear end can be nasty, too albeit simpler: when Precious Metal tore apart my car's rear suspension, low and behold there was a crack in the metal bushing that the suspension arm pivots on.  Had we not torn the car apart we'd never have discovered this.  How it affected anything, we'll never know.  But Miller's was able to locate a used arm and we got it all sorted out.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[erickmarciano]

Hi there
I am about to tackle to king pin job .
do you have to ream the bushing till the kingpin fits in the bushings ? do we get the endplay we need only with the compensating washers?

thanks
Erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[ja17]

Hello Erick,
If you replace the bushings you will have to ream them. Removing them can be a task also. You will need a bushing driver and/or a press to drive the old ones out. They are pressed in.
The endplay is set by using the correct compensating washer.
Your first hurtle may be getting the king pin unhooked at the bottom. It is a tappered fit and it usually puts up a fight before coming loose.
A lot of shops take the disassembled units to a neighborhood automotive machine shop to have the bushings installed and reamed.
I add some photos if I have time.




Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[erickmarciano]

Thanks Joe

does the machine shop ream exactly for the kingpin to go in ,tight fit? or should there be a clearance from kingpin to the bushing?

thanks
erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[A Dalton]

I remember talking with Gernold a few years back and he also mentioned , as  stated by J. Alexander in this thread,  that the KPs wear out way before the bushings do..
 I must admit , having worked with bushings/pins quite a bit, that I was surprised at this ... but here it seems to be the case.
 The point being, you may want to pull the pins and then try the new ones in the existing bushes.. a good comparison will be to put a new bush on the new pin and kinda get a feel for fit and then try it on the old bush.. do it clean and dry so the wear, if any, will be easily evident ..
 If the pins fit without much play , you may want to go with the old bushes/new pins
 Just something I would check first.. but certainly not as good as all new.
  The main reason for having to ream the new bushes is that  they collapse a little when they get installed..
 ..and when you are done .. LOTS of GREEEEEEZZ on those 3 zerks..
 You can never over grease a 113 front end, as far as I am concerned.

 PS.et al:
 The bottom trunnion and bolt [ that mounts the KP to lower control arm] is a high wear item and can fool the casual observer into thinking he has bad KPs. when the slop is actually in this bolt/trunnion kit.. this is a moving/bearing surface
Check these real close....

[ja17]

Hello Erick and Adalton,
The upper "eccentric" link pin also wears badly if not kept greased.

The radial clearance between the king pin and bushing when new is 0.020mm to 0.062mm.

The maximum permissable clearance is 0.4mm. This figure equates to about 1mm of wobble at the steel wheel rim edge. (specs from Technical Data Manual 1969)

The lower trunion has clearance designed into it to allow grease to fill in around the trunion, but can wear also.

Figure on replacing the upper link pin (kit), king pin (kit), and lower trunion (kit). hopefully you will not need any a-arms or a-arm pivots.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[erickmarciano]

took it all off earlier ,it is quite an easy job I did not even have to take the shock off. there is alot of wear in the outer arm kits . I will bring the kingpins to a local machine shop for the bushings .
I took about 2 Hours including the time to go to the hardware store to purchase a 27mm socket . will keep you posted

thanks
for all the help so far
Erick


1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[A Dalton]

Here you go..
 The real thing.

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2493902443&category=43998&sspagename=WDVW

[erickmarciano]

all done today , it was not to hard , I have an impact gun so it helped .took a whole 4 hours excluding the machine shop trip
I think any home mechanic can do this .
thanks for all your help
Erick Marciano

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa