warped kingpin bushing

[Ian G.]

I just bought an NOS chevy 49-53 kingpin set for my 59 and one of the bushings is warped and won't slide over the kingpin. The guy says that's fine and it will round out when pressed in the steering knuckle and honed. I'm skeptical. Opinions, experience? I'm inclined to send it back as I think it will lead to a headache and at best the kingpin might wear prematurely...

[Mike M.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

use a venier caliper to measure the inside diameter of the bushing(to determine if bubba droped an anvil on the bushing). if its not deformed, it may just need reamed to fit the kingpin. its unusual for 3 out of the 4 bushings to fit and one be tight. i recall having to ream the bushings on kits i purchased in the 1970's but lately the kits i've been using(bought within the last 10 years) seem to fit without reaming the bushings. mike

[Ian G.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

I can see looking at it it is slightly warped... Are the new repop king pin sets OK? I heard they don't lube the kingpins properly, but looking at them online they look the same.

[Bruce B.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

The new kingpin sets are new kingpin sets.
Why call them "repops" when they are made to spec by reputable companies like TRW, Fed. Mogul and many other companies.
I have never had problems with those and other manufacturers.

Saying warped do you mean dented, flattened or not true through the length of the bushing?

[Ian G.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

A lot of new stuff doesn't fit right. I've heard in the past the new sets are inferior to the period sets. If that's misinformation, then great!
By warped I mean someone flattened it a bit and then tried to bend it back into shape.

[Ian G.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

So if it's deformed from abuse, that bushing is bad then right? The guy is pushing back on me returning it so I want to be sure I'm not overreacting since I'm a bit ignorant in this regard. Pretty much everything I do on this car is the first time for me.

[Mike M.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

if its deformed, some event( accident or abuse) occured after its manufacture that caused the deformity and as such, it isn't usable. mike

[Ian G.]

Re: warped kingpin bushing

That's what I figured but the seller was claiming "oh we've been doing this since 1959 and you can just push it through and hone it". I figured that was a line of BS.