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Thanks Dave. I was taught never to hone a bushing, always ream it for fitting. I recall my father having many reams, but don't recall any burnishing tools. Probably, my aging memory. Happy holiday weekend.

Since most of my other cars have ball-joint type suspension, I'm a bit confused about the need to burnish king pin bushings.

Mind you, I do understand the difference between reaming to remove metal as opposed to burnishing to compact/polish it. Yet, while the 51-54 shop manual specifies reaming undersize, then burnishing to size, including a pic of the tool, the 55-56 shop manual only talks about pressing the bushing - doesn't even mention reaming. As a mechanic, my dad worked on a variety of automobiles, up to and including medium- and heavy-duty trucks, but he only ever talked about reaming king pin bushings - never mentioned burnishing them.

More recently, I've read that some front-end kits (in general) are being supplied these days with a warning to NOT hone or burnish the king pin bushings as it will damage them and void the warranty - that they should only be reamed to fit.

Perhaps some bushings are of a different material and require different techniques. Any thoughts?

Recent pic's of Barry's '54 Convertible resto.

EDIT - As it has been made so obvious that it's a '51 and not a '54, see the next four posts, I have retitled the pic's to show the correct year but left my post line intact.

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1954? I assume 1951, with this cormorant, PACKARD spelled on the hood and teeth in the grille.

Tom

Can't say I'm a fan of "resale red", but it looks like a lovely restoration on that 51. I shudder to think what the cost was for rechroming the grille!

Mal,

Pretty sure that Convertible is not a '54. Wrong grille, side trim, bumper. Also with the fender ventlets, and "Packard" on the hood I would think that is a 51.

Looks like '51 to me. Those "Pre-War" guys can't tell the years apart!

Doesn't anything get past you guys? Although my Packard recognition skills are not up to speed I did know it was a '51. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll blame it on a computer glitch the 6" one between the ears.
and sorry Barry.

Having Wade's cleaning abilities outed on the site I sort of hoped they may have been transferred to the house - not so. However, yesterday wheh he wanted to use the oven, I was overcome with excitement - maybe cooking instead of cleaning! Packard wins again. Gina

Pic posted here is for Gina, Wade's wife. Unfortunately she couldn't get the pic to upload so I've been asked and I'm very happy to do so. What it relates to is, after blasting out the rust in the internal vee between the rounded outer shell and the inner mounting surface Big Red's hubcaps were cleaned with Marine Clean. And although extensively dried using compressed air there would still be some moisture trapped between the inner and outer shell. So to ensure all moisture was removed they were baked in Gina's oven, I'm sure much to her horror! But being the faithful and dutiful Packard wife she is, she obviously acquiesced to Wade's request for him to use the oven

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