I'm putting my '52 side-distributor 8N back together this week, and this morning I'm trying to tighten up the front end, which has always been pretty loose. The whole steering assembly seems tight and fine, for which I'm grateful, so I'm working on other things.Lots of play in the radius rods, so I replaced the front pins and shimmed with rubber (a temp. fix, I know) the rear ball joints. That should help a lot, it took a lot of play out, and I found that one of the old front pins was bent a good 1/4". I ordered a new brass bushing for the front (center) pivot joint, just put it in, and want to make sure I have things right. The pin itself seems fine, but the old steel bushing was quite worn. The new brass bushing fit in the axle OK, leaving the pin some sideways play, which I think must be right. My question - on the pivot pin there is another bushing, just a 1/2" spacer really (since it doesn't bear on anything, just limits front-to-back travel of the pin), which I put in front of the axle. Is that right? I now have about 1/4" front-to-back travel of the whole assembly in relation to the front axle. I think that may be right, because this rig would prevent a sudden jolt from being taken by the oil pan and possibly breaking it. Still, anything with 1/4" play seems loose and worries me a little. Does the 1/2" spacer go in front of the axle, and is 1/4" or so of front-to-back movement of the pin through the axle O.K.? If it's not O.K., I must be missing a spacer because none of the parts in this area now show any wear. Thanks for any help!
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