F100 suspension rebuild thoughts
- Thread starter Jesse73
- Start date
That's too bad. A good small business owner takes a personal interest in the people who come to him. Without relationship, works are lifeless.
. . He's really too busy to take the short time it will take him with the right tools to do your K pins? . .
Sledge hammering on k pins should be a last resort IMO. IF the spindle gets fractured, bent or galled you have a bigger problem even harder to solve.
Welcome to Bozeman. Its very busy these days to put it shortly.
I'll find someone to do it eventually.
Here's an oddball thought. Set up the coil springs to closest possible ride height, then after they settle in add some inside-the-coil air bags to maintain the proper ride height at all times. If a bag was lost to failure the vehicle wouldn't be undriveable, just not exactly correct.
Ah yes, I know your small city. Passed thru many times on I-90. I like that part of the country very much, including in winter. Montana is nice. Hope you get the parts machined soon. . . Air bags is doable, but too much work for me. By the time my new springs sag, I'll be too old to notice. 
Blairsville Ed
Famous Member
One trick is to get a something round, like a 1/2 inch drive extension, put it on the bottom of the king pin and slowly lower the truck so that the weight of the truck is on the 1/2 inch extension. You need to be careful But once the kingpin starts to move you can tap it out with a hammer.
When I was with Ford dealer in the shop we had a piloted reamer to use for each different size of bushings. That was many years ago but I also remember that they also had plastic bushings as well has bronze - the plastic did not have to be reamed. They had to be well maintained with grease not to wear out quickly though. I also like the idea of adding a front sway bar. I did that on my 75 f100 and it made a world of difference.
It would be cool to find the correct reamer kit, I have seen tools that are meant to press and ream king pins with the axle still on the vehicle. Back in the days when kingpins were defacto I guess. I'm considering the swaybar. I'll have to take a look next time we go to the Ford yard. I'm sure some camper special will have one.
Tonight I installed the Redhead steering gear. The initial impression is that it has about zero play and feels nice and smooth. Too bad the rest of the stuff is shot, doesn't go down the road much better yet.
Does anyone recall which Saginaw power steering pumps fit on a Ford? I have a cast aluminum style bracket from an 80-something model. My current pump is a motorcraft C2 type and it is already whining. I'm on my third pump in the last few years. I'm thinking about going to saginaw and not looking back at this point.
You can also pull each pin bushing into place using an appropriate length bolt and nut with a few good washers as back-up. After you remove the old bushings of course