Ford pilot king pins

[weemark]

im looking for a pair of Ford pilot king pins - just wondered if anyone had a set kicking about? preferably looking for NOS, if not then they need to be very good.

[Mart]

There are some regularly on ebay, they are over a hundred quid the pair however.
Mart.

[weemark]

mart yes thats pete from nordian, he gets them made up from someone, thought they were a bit expensive though. someone else is selling them but they have taken later kingpins and machined a new lock groove in them on the opposite side from the original groove so it suits the pilot setup but thought i might be able to get a pair from someone on here. ive got new bearings/bushes etc here for them so only really need the kingpins.

[rem]

I saw them recently - £125 a pair? Plus postage? How different are they to '37-up kingpins, as I thought the axles were the same, and they don't need brake pivots or anything??

EDIT: Lost out on the old speed-typing again...

[weemark]

phil not spoke to bob yet, need to speak to him as hes got my axle just now. thanks

[Mart]

..How different are they to '37-up kingpins, as I thought the axles were the same, and they don't need brake pivots or anything??

...

Well, This is a sort of educated guess, as I have never had pilot parts. The Pilot axle is similar to 37-up. The spindles are earlier style though, where the thrust bearing sits on top. Like model A or any others pre 37.
All those have mech brakes, the 28 to 34 have an extension on the top of the kingpin for the brake mech. The 35-36 also have the extension, but are a different part number so must be different.
It may be that you could source 28 -34 or 35 to 36 kingpins from the states and cut the brake gubbinry off the top, yet leave plenty to support the thrust bearing.
I have some 32 ones I could measure here if it would help.
One other thing, I have heard of people using the earlier type spindles with a torrington needle roller bearing below the axle. I think this would allow the use of 37-up type kingpins.

Mart.

[Pez]

Mark,
I have details of a guy who does Pilot Kingpins at home....
Will contact you later..

Pez

[Pez]

PM'd you......

Pez

[rem]

Well, This is a sort of educated guess, as I have never had pilot parts. The Pilot axle is similar to 37-up. The spindles are earlier style though, where the thrust bearing sits on top. Like model A or any others pre 37....Mart.

Thanks Mart, I understand - the later kingpins are not designed to support the weight of the car, just keep the axle in line with the spindles (or v/v).

Mark Etheridge(?), black-listed 'ethov8' seems to deal with a lot of Pilot stuff - he might be able to help? I have his number at home somewhere if you can't get him through here.

[weemark]

mart dont want to move to later spindles, which would be easy, because i cant get steering arms for a RHD car which havent been dropped, not sure I can even get dropped arms - if anyone knows any differently then i would be interested.

all the early ford kingpins fit all the spindles to a lesser or greater extent, some of them need some modifications- there are a few differences though.

earlier and up but specifically 35-36 - they have a cap/extension on the top of the spindle and the bearing sits above the spindle but below the cap they are also hollow to allow for the rod brakes to function correctly.

pilot - they are exactly the same as 35/36 (i know this because ive got a pair i borrowed to compare) except they dont have the cap on the top as they didnt have rod brakes on them and they are solid - the bearing runs in the same place as the 35/36 at the top of the kingpin which means the groove which allows them to be locked in place is in the same place as 35/36.

37 - up - these are solid kingpins, the bearing runs on top of the bottom mount on the spindle therefore moving the groove cut for locking them in place.

pez ive tried that bloke he wanted 125 as well...

never tried giving marka call rem but i think i have his email address somewhere so will drop him a line - can you send me his number anyway. thanks

[Brizey]

mart dont want to move to later spindles, which would be easy, because i cant get steering arms for a RHD car which havent been dropped, not sure I can even get dropped arms - if anyone knows any differently then i would be interested.
Mark, i`ve seen RHD dropped steering arms, though i cant remember who manufactured them, possibly Super Bell or Magnum. The ones i saw were described as being made for the Aussie market (as if we in the UK don't exist). They were definitely made by one of the big US axle company's.

If you need to connect up a cross steer setup, i assume thats what your after, but have no taper hole for the cross steer link in the left spindle, you could use one of these from Speedway. It replaces the track rod joint, L or R, and the cross steer link joint fits into the extra hole. I think it`s an early Jeep item.
I used one on my roadster for years before going side steer, it worked fine...
http://usera.imagecave.com/BRIZEY/hSmallSmall.bmp.jpg

[weemark]

brian, gordon brennan actually bought steering arms from somewhere in CA, as you say they were sold for the aus market, he thought it was fat fendered rods in CA or chassis engineering? - ive looked on the superbell site but cant see anything, cant find a magnum site, I think the chassis engineering arms would fit becuase it looks like they are not sided as such http://www.chassisengineeringinc.com/page57.html

kerry tate had already mentioned the part you have shown and I did think about it but instead of changing it all out it would be cheaper to buy pilot kingpins at £125 :-)