Our "New to Us" Winnie

[T1 Terry]

Terry, is there actually any wear in the kingpins or did that bloke just assume there was because there was play in the steering?

I don't think he actually tested them, I feel it was all concocted to generate shop work. The real tip off was his stunned silence on the phone when I told him all parts had to come from the states ...... he came back with something about him trying to find a local supply ...... him being "away" every time we turned up at the yard, to me, indicated he couldn't find a local source and had now backed himself into a corner ......
Now the Winnie is officially past the point of paying back rego and requires a full blue slip inspection (3 mths from rego expiry 20/11/25) I guess he realises he just killed yet another potential customer connection ..... The workshop being that quiet on the lead up to Christmas says he has burnt a lot of potential trade .....

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

All the parts in there are extra heavy duty, 24mm socket, breaker bar, pipe and a steel rock breaker bar to get enough leverage to get the only calliper carrier bolt I can get access to at the moment, even the calliper slider bolts were 16mm socket size ..... I'm hoping the torque multiplier that does the wheel nuts will fit in place to undo the this steering arm nut .... and I may as well remove the arm from the other position that connects to the steering box pitman arm ......

Can you split the nut? But then, how do you get it apart?

More the problem, where do I get a replacement? This is now a 26 yr old chassis, no one in the states carries parts for that long, this NOS OEM kingpin kit is part of something a business that buys up stock from workshops and spares businesses, has turned up and put on EvilBay by part number on the box and it had the Ford Blue Oval on the box .....
I wouldn't have found it if the spares bloke at Wano truck parts doing the search using the Chassis number and finding the part number from archived Ford spare parts records and getting the part number for me .... I don't think the place selling it knew just what it fitted either ..... I'm just hoping that when it arrives, the kit is complete and they are genuine parts ...... the after market stuff doesn't have a very good reputation according to You Tube workshop videos .....

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

The only socket I have that will fit over the steering connectors that pass through the spindle where the kingpin lives, is 46mm and it's a bit big .... when it stops raining, or tomorrow, I'll measure across the flats to get the correct size and head down to Gears & Cogs to see if they have a socket I can borrow ..... hopefully 1" drive, I know that thing is going to be tight, required a lump of pipe on the 30mm socket and breaker bar to get the tie rod end nut off ..... naturally, I no longer have any of my tie rod end cracking tools and the ball pane hammer has zero effect, so I'll have to wait for that to arrive from Temu

T1 Terry

[Dot]

So what are you up to now, are you nearly ready to hit the road?

[T1 Terry]

So what are you up to now, are you nearly ready to hit the road?

Did that a few times back in the motorbike days, in no rush to repeat it now I'm old, seemed to take for ever to heal the last time and I was in my early 20's then .... I'd probably shatter if I repeated any of those now days Dottie ......

I actually managed to undo the big nuts on the steering arms that go through the steering knuckle on the right hand side ..... I'll wait for this tie rod end and what ever pressing tool to arrive from Temu and see it that will remove them .....

That should then give me clearance to get a socket on the bottom bolt of the calliper mounting thingy .... and then I can get the hub off and with any luck, get enough room to work on the kingpins ......

I saw on a You Tube video, they'd used a 20 tonne press gadget to get the king pin out There might be a tad more equipment manufacturing still to do, just to get it apart .......
Maybe a really thorough cleaning with a wire brush and lots of degreaser to get it all clean, a coat of black paint, a grease without any of the load on it, then put it all back together, if it looks new then it must be within spec ..... worked with the NSW pit inspectors for yrs

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

Ever have that thing that you know you have seen the bit you are looking for somewhere, but can't narrow down just where .....
I keep wondering if I'm remembering seeing it in the workshop before it burnt down, or the house before that burnt down, or if I've rescued it each time and it's somewhere around here .....
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/18807111804 ... R5ad5uyRZw

The top bit that the hydraulic press part threads into is the part I can't seem to find anywhere, but I have found 2 x the hydraulic press parts .... one a lot more rusted than the other ......

I know as soon as I buy a replacement kit, the part will magically turn up, but not until after it has arrived of course

T1 Terry

[Noggins]

A small trick used back in my early ( read broke) days as a Hotrodder was to tighten slightly loose kingpins, remove the grease caps, get a socket that fitted the hole perfectly and sat neatly on the bushing, then with the short arm Mashie, belt the socket a few times.
This expanded the bushing and moved it up/down a little and tightened it on the kingpin, then put grease caps back on and it looks like a nice job.
Of course, wire brush it up nice and clean !
I don't know if something like that will work with the Winnie




Ron

[T1 Terry]

I've seen the trick of pumping the space with liquid metal with the weight off the wheel, letting that set and then dropping the weight back onto the wheels and repeating the process ..... not quite sure how well that would work with the weight of a motorhome on it.

If I find any movement one I reach the stage of actually getting to the kingpin, I'm hoping it isn't in the axle eye like the Fuso ..... or if it is I can use Jon's trick and ream it out, get the kingpin hard chromed and ground, then ream to existing bushes out to the new size .... but I don't think there is any movement more than what is required for grease to get into the bushes if that .....

T1 Terry

[jon_d]

I just bought a 10 thou oversize kingpin. The bus is only 53 years now.

Surely, there are OS king pins for a young winnie?

[T1 Terry]

I just bought a 10 thou oversize kingpin. The bus is only 53 years now.

Surely, there are OS king pins for a young winnie?

:LOL: It's an American chassis, at 10 yrs it was deemed to be old in the US market, so 26 yrs old ..... it's a relic that very few would spend the time/money/effort to keep on the road ......
I could get one made, but hard chroming I think would work well for this sort of service type ..... yet to see if any of that sort of thing is needed.

The mains powered induction coil heater unit arrived today, I had a go at heating the eye of the arm where they had over tightened the biggest tie rod end from the steering box drag link to the right hand steering arm that fits into the top of the righthand kingpin spindle, I could get it hot enough to smoke and the penetrating oil sprayed in there to bubble out, but it still won't let go ..... I'll try again tomorrow, only get 2 mins continuous operation before the unit shuts down on thermal overload .... read that in the instructions when it shut down It seems multiple 90 sec applications might be the go, but after heating and cooling, who knows, it might come out tomorrow ....

I'm making a press type of thing with threaded rod and 1/2" bits of plate to use a 20 tonne bottle jack to try and push these steering arms out of the kingpin spindle .... that 16mm all thread 1 mtr length are expensive, hope they do the job .....

T1 Terry