How much clearance on ford 3000 front axle pin and bushing

Jeffery Rightmire · Jul 2, 2012

I am replaceing the front axle bushing on a 1972 Ford 3000, but the clearace on the new bushing that is pressed into the axle and the piviot pin has about 1/16" clearance all around. Is this normal or should the clearance between the bushing and axle pin be a tighter tolerance? The original bushing was in bad shape and half worn in two. The axle isn"t egg shaped looks good. The axle pivot pin is the type thats threaded into the back side of the bolster. thanks

Anonymous-0 · Jul 2, 2012

If the pin screws into the bolster alright you may have the wrong bushing , the id is not right, it should be pretty snug it seem as though the pin and bushing are not matching up
rc

Beststash · Jul 2, 2012

I just changed out most the front end on my '69 3000. If you are talking the axle bushing [34] then it is a tight fit. I was somewhat surprised how thin this bushing was. In my case it has wallowed out the bottom of my axle a bit. However the bushing was still a snug fit. Before inserting my bushing I had a friend put a little metal in the wallowed out part and ground it down enough to get the bushing in. I also turned over the center axle so the former top (perfectly round) was now the bottom. There is also a spacer [39] up until late 74 (I think). That is a snug fit in the bushing with no play and the pin is a tight fit in the bushing. Everything is a tight fit. If you have that much space I suspect it is worn but strange that it is not oval??
Maybe some of the more knowledgeable and experienced folks can give some feedback.

Jeffery Rightmire · Jul 2, 2012

Yeah I got the wrong bushing, a trip to the ford shop and got the right bushing. Thanks for all your help.

Bern · Jul 2, 2012

Good idea on turning the axle over. For the wallowed out part, what I do is mix up some JB weld and paste it in there, then install the bushing. The JB weld will nicely fill up the extra gap. Much, much easier than trying to weld up and then grind it out.

Country SFFS · Jun 5, 2017

(quoted from post at 14:09:46 07/02/12) I just changed out most the front end on my '69 3000. If you are talking the axle bushing [34] then it is a tight fit. I was somewhat surprised how thin this bushing was. In my case it has wallowed out the bottom of my axle a bit. However the bushing was still a snug fit. Before inserting my bushing I had a friend put a little metal in the wallowed out part and ground it down enough to get the bushing in. I also turned over the center axle so the former top (perfectly round) was now the bottom. There is also a spacer [39] up until late 74 (I think). That is a snug fit in the bushing with no play and the pin is a tight fit in the bushing. Everything is a tight fit. If you have that much space I suspect it is worn but strange that it is not oval??
Maybe some of the more knowledgeable and experienced folks can give some feedback.

Country SFFS · Jun 5, 2017

How much clearance on ford 3000 front axle pin and bushing

Jeffery Rightmire

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