A40 Somerset king pin bush reamers

[charlie-farlie]

Hi folks.

Can anyone please tell me where I can find a suitable set of reamers for the king pin bushes, please? Failing that, if anyone can tell me the correct sizes and whether expandable reamers will do the job, I would be most grateful. I currently have one side of my car in pieces on my hoist

I am aware that the club has a pair of 18G 64 and 18G 65 reamers that they loan out but for obvious reasons at the moment, I cannot contact anyone about them.

Many thanks.

Kindest regards

Robin

[number5]

Hi–if reamers cannot be obtained,  to reach the desired bush diameter, a small brake cylinder honer can be used in the same manner a main piston bore is linished.  When the new bushes are pressed in, they will be parallel, and with carefull use of the honing tool, and some fine paste,   the soft bush material is easily be able to be removed.  Do the top first, and I would suggest initially to a tight, but turnable fit with oil.  Then, after undertaking the bottom bush, with the top bush allowing the swivel shaft to be entered into the assembly,  the bottom shaft section can then also be gradually fitted into its bush, again with a tight, turnable fit with oil.  Knowing that the top bush was deliberately  tight, once the bottom bush is first able to accept its section of the shaft,  with the swivel pin removed, the top bush can then be given a final “clean” to ensure it clearance is free and correct, then with this done, the swivel pin can then be again re-inserted from the base to check its clearance and be adjusted accordingly.  A good cleaning at the end is necessary to ensure all grinding paste is removed.  Done with care, it does work.

Hope I have explained this adequately enough.

All the best-Peter.

[charlie-farlie]

Hi Peter.

Many thanks for your message. Thank you also for the advice of doing them tight with oil. I don’t remember doing that when I did the king pins on my Austin Seven, but it was a long time ago!

I did consider a cylinder honer as I have one that I purchased years ago  when I was unable to obtain wheel cylinders for my Vauxhall 12/6.  I still have more work to do removing the rust from the new king pins. Ray obviously had them in stock for a long time and they have quite a lot of surface rust on them.

The other thing that I considered was to buy some adjustable expanding reamers and gently using those. I have three grades of grinding paste and I suspect the ultra fine will be most suitable.

With regards to cleaning up afterwards, I am meticulous about cleaning everything that I work on. I have a small parts washer so this will be easy to do.  When it is reassembled, everything will be as clean as the bodywork! I need to get the job finished so I can free up my hoist to work on my wife’s Figgy.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Kindest regards and best wishes.

Robin

[MikeN]

Years ago I did the king pin bushes on my A35 using expanding reamers. But I was fortunate to have had the use of a set with the the screw on pilot guides.

[charlie-farlie]

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for your message.

I already had those thoughts about a wheel cylinder honing tool. I have got one and when I looked at it, I wasn’t confident that it would have been 100% successful. Cleaning it wouldn’t be an issue as I have a large ultrasonic parts cleaning tank.

Ray told me that he had a set of reamers that I could hire but they didn’t arrive with the kit and I was never able to speak to Ray again to find out what happened to them.

I have never seen a set of Austin reamers on ebay, but my local engineering works have got two sets of 18G 64/65 that they purchased at Newark auto jumble in 2019 that they purchased very cheaply, along with several tools for the A30/A35 and the ADO16 models. My car is the first one they have used them on. I will tell them how much they sell for and maybe they can earn some money by selling one set on ebay.

This small company does a lot of work on Austin A30/A35,  A55/A60 and Morris 1000 and Oxford Farina models and do a lot of king pins on many different makes and models.. I took the parts and one hub to them and they have reamed one side for me and charged me £20.00, which I was more than happy with. They even had a genuine BMC spring removal tool which they loaned to me. I am hoping to refit the suspension in the next few days so I can turn the car round and do the other side so I can have my lift back and finish my wife’s Nissan.

The biggest problem for the guys doing my reaming for me was removing all the rust off the genuine new/old stock king pin set that I purchased from Ray just before he sadly passed away. They were quite a mess really. There were cork washers, cutter pins and grease nipples missing from the kit but thankfully, these guys had some in stock. Obviously I had nobody at the club to contact at the time when the missing parts were discovered. It doesn’t really matter now.

If a parts service resumes in the New Year. That will be good news for the members. I have an engine issue with my car but there is no point stripping it down at the moment in case I end up with an ornament again.

Thanks again for your help.

Kindest regards

Robin

 

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