The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1940 spindles

having a hard time finding a pair of spindles for my 1940 chevrolet 1/2 ton. my question is can new ones be had and if so from whom?

one more question...is it possible or even advisable to have a machine shop machine the original spindles and sleeve them for the new standard size bushings?

I don't know of a source for new ones.

Also, depending on your goals, you can put on a 47-54 axle and upgrade to disc brakes.

hey inmy40s, heres what happened, i got a new kingpin kit, before i pressed out the old bushings, i noticed that they had "spun" to where the grease holes were not lined up,hard telling for how long, they came out in one piece but with alot of "leafy" bushing material. anyway after i had cleaned them with solvent and went to press in the new bushings, well, they just fell straight through. is there no "repairing" these spindles that you know of? thanks.

I think perhaps you got the wrong kingpin kit?

The eye in the spindles should show some extreme wear or be ovaled out if the bushings fell through.

An oversized kit is only for the kingpin itself. You should take the old kingpin and set it in the hole of the axle to see how much wear is in the axle itself, not the spindles. If it has to much movement then you go with an oversized kit.

As for replacing the bushings, your much better off letting a shop with a press install them. While theyre at it they can hone/ream them to size to fit the kingpin.

Jeff

1955first6500,

You can take your spindles to a machine shop. They can bore the spindle bushing fits round and concentric to each other and machine new bushing from bushing stock.

This won't be cheap but it isn't a impossible chore. You would still need to find new king pins and make sure the pin to axle eye fit was good.

If you did this, I would have the machine shop leave the bushing bore a thousandths or so undersize, then take the spindles to a automotive machine shop to have the bushings honed on a Sunnen type hone to a slip fit with the new pins.

This whole thing sounds much more complicated than it is. If you can't find replacement parts, keep this in mind.

Stuart

There was a posting on here a while back regarding exactly what Atomarc is talking about. It might actually be in tech tips.

Some of these old trucks had floating bushings. Maybe it's one of them.

atomarc and truckernix, you hit the nail on the head, found the tech tip you were speaking about,("spindle bushing replacement") its exactly my situation and what i need. thanks to everyones input.

Funny that you had the same problem I did. I had a 40s parts truck that I took the front axle off of as the one I had was "modified" by someone in the last 68 years.

I purchased the 40 king pin kit and just like you it fell strait through.

I couldn't figure it out until I checked the part number on the axle. Turns out someone had put a 46 axle on my 40. So if you have the same problem new spindles won't help.

very interesting InMy40's , is there a site you found to check your axle number against to find the year out? many thanks InMy40's!!

I just reread your posts and I see that you "pressed" out your old bushimgs. I would think that your new ones are not the right ones.

truckernix...the old bushings pressed out Very easily, and there was quite a bit of leafy like flake from the old bushings that had compacted itself between the outer bushing wall and the spindle bore,in effect taking up the extra clearance. one thing that i do wonder about though is the fact that even though the old bushings were very worn,they still came out in basically one piece, what i mean is that the bushings were still "good enough" that the kingpins were never touching the spindle bores. so how did the bronze wear down the cast iron? or am i just not thinking straight? InMy40s...i was able to run the numbers on my front axle, it is a 1940.

Maybe this is a dumb question, is it possible you have a 1940 axle with later spindles???

I guess that two possibilities are, someone did some previous machining on the spindles or two, the replacements aren't correct. Do your new kingpins fit the axle?

the new kingpins fit the axle very well. im pretty sure, by the looks of the caps, that someone had been into the spindles some time or another, after all the truck is over 60 years old. they just look like they were hap-hazardly installed with a ball peen hammer.

ill have to check the numbers on the spindles rustednuts.