Hudson Essex 1928 King Pins

pjwilko

Happy New Year.

I have about 3mm (1/8") up and down play in the king pins and as I have the backing plates off for new brake bushes, I thought I should eliminate it. There is no play in king pin bushes, only the up and down play. How do I disassemble and what parts do I need? Are these part available? I see from a recent posting that 2 kingpins, 2 cotter pins, 4 bushes, 8 welsh plugs & 2 thrust bearings are in kits.
Should I stop and ensure I have parts before proceeding? i.e. do the welsh plugs get destroyed when removed? My guess is that the king pins and bushes have been replaced.

Peter

Geoff

If the thrust bearings are okay, all you need is to insert some shim washers in between the top faces between the stub-axle and axle to eliminate the end play. You will have to take the assembly apart to do this, which entails removing the backing plates, punching a hole the welch plugs and removing them, then drive out the cotter pin that locates the king pin, drive the king pin out, fit the shim washers and re-assemble. The thrust bearing is a T82, or T83, and is identical to a Model A Ford thrust bearing, so you shouldn't have trouble getting these.
If you want to take a short cut and not dismantle the assembly, then you can cut the shim washers with tin snips and make them into "C" washers, and push them into the gap at the top. You must fit them at the top though, as all the weight of the car rests on this bearing, and it will soon crunch the washers around if fitted on top of the bearing itself. Good luck!

pjwilko

Thanks Geoff.

What metal should the shim washers be made from?

Are the welsh plugs used on and bottom of the king pin as seals? I do not have one on the top! Were do you obtain welsh plugs? Same as engine welsh plugs?

Peter

Geoff

Shim washers are usually hardened steel. I buy them from the local bearing shop.
The welch plugs are to keep the dirt and water out, and are the same as used on engine blocks. I get them from the local Repco store.

pjwilko

For the record...
After hours of bashing, I drilled out the king pin locking pin(cotter pin) with 23/64" drill (front & back as it hit the king pin). The king pin was a Dufor 0.80" x 5.85"(20.3mm x 148.7mm) & the bushes were the full length of the yoke hence no welsh plugs. The only shim was a single copper washer in the top which was not load bearing & therefore probably not warn (too thin to take up play ).

Solution - Remove play with hardened washers (as above)& insert welsh plugs inside bushing or cap top & bottom with a plate possibly glued. The bushes have grease channels from grease nipples and may explain why the bushes were not shortened to allow for welsh plugs. As for the locking pin I may use a bolt as the flat on the king bolt is not large enough for a full sized pin 0.4" (10mm). This small flat is probably what locked in the locking pin.

As for the other-side - I may do the quick method now I know what is missing & why there is play up & down and use the saved time to help flood victims (half of Queensland in flood affected - about the size of Texas USA).

Once again - Thanks Geoff.

Geoff

Sounds like you may have been hammering the cotter pin the wrong way - it is tapered flat on one side and fits against the cut-out on the shaft of the pin to lock it in place. A tip - if you use heavy oil, like steam cylinder oil, instead of grease you will extend the life of the king pin bushings exponentially. Give them a shot every 500 miles.
Geoff

pjwilko

Spent most of time trying to remove from back to front after removing burred over edges. Eventually removed head of pin on front in case the axle had been rotated - still no success. The pin bore measures larger at front than back as it should. Will try local nuts & bolts shop for new cotter pins.

Looks like the pin had been "Loctite'd" in - red - brown around bore for pin.
When I replaced the original grease nipples, the bottom one squeezed the bush to tighten the assembly which may explain why the up and down play was not removed when the bushes were replaced :woohoo: .

I used a bicycle pedal cotter pin filed down to replace the lock pin.