I bet your king pins are wiped-out. The Sprite Haynes manual encourages you to squirt-in some grease every 3000 miles, but the original Sprite “glovebox” handbook suggests a 1000 mile interval, and I encourage you to follow that guildline. From what we see in the field, it seems like few people do.
Check out the swivel axle in the video below… this car came for a disk brake conversion and upon disassembly, we were surprised to see a nearly seized bushing on this swivel axle, which required major effort just to swivel.
On the back of each front swivel axle are two grease zerk fittings. These two zerks are used to provide lubricating grease to the king pin bushings, two brass bushings that are pressed into the steering knuckle on which the king pin rides. After long periods of driving without replenishing the grease, the bushings can begin to seize to the king pins, creating galling and pitting on the king pins and shortening their service life.
New original king pins for drum brake cars are available, but installing them requires the installation of new bushings which have to be reamed to the proper tolerances, which is something outside the skillset of most home mechanics. Better to change to an entire new disk brake assembly, and upgrade the swivel axle bushings and the brakes at the same time.
Our disc brake conversion kit is a complete, ready-to-install kit that includes everything you need to convert your Bugeye into a front disc brake car. Most importantly (relative to the worn drum brake bushings featured in this post), the kit includes two pre-assembled swivel axles specifically designed for use with disc brakes, eliminating the need for complicated bushing replacement and reaming them to fit. It is a true plug-and-play kit! Click on the photo above to order yours today, or click here for our full catalog!
