1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[Army]

Well I got my money back which was nice. On questioning the seller further it seems likely there's been a bit of confusion and that the sill covers were actually from an Amazon after all...

...never mind - it was worth a try - back to square one with the sill covers. As Baldrick would say...

[Army]

...is particularly good if you've just suffered a set back.

Forget about the sill covers for now - focus on the left hand king pin problem you've been ignoring for the last twelve months.

The kvk club that I'm a member of do a king pin replacement service of sorts - send in your old knackered bits and get a repaired one for 180 euros (it isn't really any different from a shop - but you know it is the club blah blah blah). I was toying with the idea of "getting someone else to do it" but the curiosity itch got the better of me so I took the one I have to bits =>



I started by removing the grease nipples and the end caps...





...the end caps looked like they were lead but didn't seem that heavy - so I dunno exactly what they were - treated them as a health hazard just to be on the safe side

Removed the tapered locking pin



It would have been nice to spend hours and hours making a copy of the special tool to remove the king pin (a punch with a hole for going around the arm that goes to the upper ball joint) but mine was so loose I managed to get it most of the way out with a narrow parallel pin punch...



...this is a less than ideal method - the chances of damaging the internal bushings is high. However, as I'm replacing those too I wasn't especially fussed.

After getting the king pin to stick a little way out the bottom I just whacked it in a vice and tapped the assembly off the king pin.



Now I need to think about removing the bushes and thinking of a good way to fit the new bearings and shims with out graunching them to bits like however was before me





I have a feeling my first trial will involve something being really cold and something else being rather warm

To be continued

[Army]

...I had hoped to have been able to press the old bronze (?) bushings out by now but plan A looks like it isn't going to work.



As you can see in the picture above I cut a notch in a bit of steel flat to make sure I don't knacker the opening between the two bushing housings.

The bushings however seem to be pretty much stuck in there - I have a feeling I'm probably going to break something before I get any bushing movement.

Whilst I consider the merits of plan B and plan C I was wondering if anyone here has done this job before and if so - tips?

[Derek UK]

The Volvo tool, SVO1442, for removing and fitting the kingpin bushes, is just a stepped drift. Drift is used with a hammer rather than a press. Should be easy to make if you have access to a lathe. Accurate measurements essential of course. Do you have the PV Green Books?
Critical refit stages for the bushes are positioning so the greasing holes line up with the nipple holes and having a long expanding reamer to match the bushes to the kingpin. The latter is where a "pro" who knows what they are doing is worth paying for. Hiring a reamer and then removing too much metal means doing it again. Expensive!

[Ron Kwas]

Army;

(Having never removed/fitted KP bushings, but following with interest...) if you can get that SVO, or make an equivalent, impact will likely make the difference between getting it started to move and not...otherwise, as you previously said "will involve something being really cold and something else being rather warm"...finally, cutting a slot in the old bushing with a hacksaw to weaken it (WITHOUT ALSO CUTTING INTO THE KNUCKLE!) would be my order of procedure and preference...and as Derek mentions: Reaming to a precision fit is critical...get it wrong and needing to repeat with a new bushing is a painful lesson...

Good Hunting!

[Army]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

The Volvo tool, SVO1442, for removing and fitting the kingpin bushes, is just a stepped drift. Drift is used with a hammer rather than a press. Should be easy to make if you have access to a lathe. Accurate measurements essential of course. Do you have the PV Green Books?
Critical refit stages for the bushes are positioning so the greasing holes line up with the nipple holes and having a long expanding reamer to match the bushes to the kingpin. The latter is where a "pro" who knows what they are doing is worth paying for. Hiring a reamer and then removing too much metal means doing it again. Expensive!

Thanks Derek - I do indeed have the workshop manual for the PV (and a few others) - I also RTFM - to not do so for jobs like this is asking for trouble,

The Volvo special tools seem to be as common as rocking horse **** - I haven't been able to find any of them for sale either second hand or new. Even hardcore sellers like VP don't seem to have them.

If you happen to know where they can be found then I'd be interested to know of the potential savings I might make (!)

My objection to the use of the special tool drift is that it needs to be used from the outside of the steering spindle assembly - knocking the bushings inwards...



...the gap between the bushings in that casting is absolutely crucial - hammering away on that could skew the parallel-ity (so to speak!). May be I'm being too cautious but plan B is going to involve a solution that will allow pressing / hammering in the direction of the green arrows shown in the picture above.

The reaming does indeed have the potential for problems (though to be fair the bushings are "only" 6 euros a pop from the VkV club shop at the moment)

Originally Posted by Ron Kwas

Army;

(Having never removed/fitted KP bushings, but following with interest...) if you can get that SVO, or make an equivalent, impact will likely make the difference between getting it started to move and not...otherwise, as you previously said "will involve something being really cold and something else being rather warm"...finally, cutting a slot in the old bushing with a hacksaw to weaken it (WITHOUT ALSO CUTTING INTO THE KNUCKLE!) would be my order of procedure and preference...and as Derek mentions: Reaming to a precision fit is critical...get it wrong and needing to repeat with a new bushing is a painful lesson...

Good Hunting!

Thanks Ron I agree that just getting it going is half the battle - Plan C will be the application of heat - but as Baldrick might say plan B is a good cunning plan if it comes off.

Again the reaming - oh the reaming!


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In other news - some things have finally got sorted - there's often a lull in the post Christmas "when are you going skiing?" commercial activities of suppliers. It took absolutely ages to get this =>



Now I can see if expensive epoxy bearing surface fixing goo is going to solve the pitting on the steering box shaft

I have poo loads of the stuff so if anyone else here needs some send me a PM - I'll scrape some into two sandwich bags and pop it in the post for you (!)

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It also took a ridiculously silly length of time to have two tubes of this put in a box and given to the postman =>



Now I can see if following Ron's electrical connection advice gets me in the good books!

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And finally - I've been scratching my head about this one for about a week or so...

...the wires that run to the rear of the vehicle go from the front of the car up and over the door and into the boot. Simple you would have thought - they came out easy enough! I was jabbing wires from the front under the dash on the side of the car into the bit I thought it was meant to go and got really shirty when they wouldn't...

...tried threading from the top down - couldn't find the ends of the wires to pull them into the foot well area. They just got stuck.

Eventually I found a ledge =>



(I hope Volvo doesn't mind me using this picture from the spares book - it is an old car - and it does help others who might be crazy enough to want to re-wire their PVs)

You have to poke the wires through the upper oval hole - feel inside and it is easy to find a gap that seems to have potential to send wires up the A pillar - but that ain't it! (That's the orange diversion arrow on the picture)

Feel above the obvious bit for a ledge (green line showing approximate position) and in there you'll find a cavity that runs into the A pillar and out on top of the door "ledge" just under the roof.

I hope that helps if others are flummoxed. (Follow the red line - not the yellow brick road)

[Ron Kwas]

Army;

Good update...thanks!

Regarding the bushing drift...it should be simple enough for a machine shop to make one up for you when you give them the important dimensions (ID of the bushing and a step which fits into ID of the forging (between the two ends!), but picks up the bushing edge)...
"it needs to be used from the outside of the steering spindle assembly - knocking the bushings inwards..."...not necessarily...if you insert stepped drift into the bushing from between the two (green arrows), support the forging just below the bushing to be removed, and with a beefy extension coming in through the other bushing, (you wouldn't be putting any undue forces on the forging)...first apply impact until you notice movement, then let the hydraulic press do the rest...I hope you can follow this explanation...if not, I can sketch up something...and BTW, the term you are looking for would be "alignment" (you'd have to apply some incredible forces to deform that forging...none the less, only apply as much force as necessary, and with proper support fixturing!)

You found ACZP...good on you!...you won't regret efforts to procure and use it!...it ain't failed me yet!!

Cheers

[Army]

Originally Posted by Ron Kwas

Army;

Good update...thanks!

Regarding the bushing drift...it should be simple enough for a machine shop to make one up for you when you give them the important dimensions (ID of the bushing and a step which fits into ID of the forging (between the two ends!), but picks up the bushing edge)...
"it needs to be used from the outside of the steering spindle assembly - knocking the bushings inwards..."...not necessarily...if you insert stepped drift into the bushing from between the two (green arrows), support the forging just below the bushing to be removed, and with a beefy extension coming in through the other bushing, (you wouldn't be putting any undue forces on the forging)...first apply impact until you notice movement, then let the hydraulic press do the rest...I hope you can follow this explanation...if not, I can sketch up something...and BTW, the term you are looking for would be "alignment" (you'd have to apply some incredible forces to deform that forging...none the less, only apply as much force as necessary, and with proper support fixturing!)

You found ACZP...good on you!...you won't regret efforts to procure and use it!...it ain't failed me yet!!

Cheers

I should have explained in more detail. Looking at the photocopy of a FAX of a photocopy of a picture taken of the original picture in my workshop manual it looks to me like the original tool can't be used as you describe.

I will be supporting the outer edges as you describe when trying plan B.

I could indeed go to my local friendly machine shop and try to drag them away from their cups of coffee to get them to turn down a bit of stock for me - unfortunately that'll cost at least 80 euros before sales tax at 21%. This could "turn" (pun intended!) into a big old whinge but labour costs here in Holland make me want to spit. I really need to set up my own lathe. I did buy a cheap little hobby thing but I think I went too cheap as it is now in parts awaiting my attention...

[Ron Kwas]

Army;

It seems to me , a Stepped Drift is the key...here is what I came up with (I expect the SVO was something similar)...probably obvious to you, but maybe helpful...I hope.

Good Hunting!

[Army]

...Partial success!

I went back and repositioned stuff on my hydraulic press and got past the stiction.



One bushing is out. The top one (shown in the picture) is still in there because the steering arm is in the way of the supports on the hydraulic press.

I could remove the steering arm

I expect that's gonna cause trouble so I'm doing the "see no evil" bit at the moment and trying to work around it.

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As there has been partial success I think it is worth listing the plans I've thought of for removal of these bushings.

PLAN A

This was to roughly cut out a shape in a bit of flat bar and use that to bridge the support on the hydraulic press and hold the outer side of the assembly so that all important gap doesn't get altered =>



This has worked for one side

PLAN B

This is going to be similar to the hydraulic press solution in PLAN A but this will be done with threaded bar, nuts and washers - I'll show a picture of what I mean later on this week

I'll also see if it works. I can only get a bit of M10 threaded bar / 10 bolt down through the socket I have that fits nicely on top of the bushing - this might not be man enough for the job.

PLAN C

This is a revised plan order.

If PLAN B doesn't work then I'll try this =>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77UXeqlK6nY

Whilst this is for a Mercedes king pin bushing - screwing in a M20 tap should be possible - and with any luck will enable the judicial use of a copper drift to get the damn thing out.

I've ordered a set of coarse threaded M20 hand taps just in case I need to do this (cheap cheap on the bay of ee - coming from Bulgaria - along with an adjustable reamer that will be needed once the new bushings get fitted)

PLAN D

If all else fails then I'll resort to heat. I'm not really keen on this idea but if needs must...

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I've considered other options so there's a few tricks in the bag just in case those first four plans don't work out but they are getting more and more destructive which increases the chance of damaging the part you want to keep (best not mention them yet!)