I just got off the phone with the Machinist and it was a bit frustrating.

I took my suspension apart and took the steering knuckle assemblies to the machine shop to have the kingpins driven out and the bushings replaced and reamed inline. So I talk to the guy and tell him that the bushes have to be aligned a certain way and I even xeroxed the little picture of the bushings from the manual. And he said something like "ya the hole lines up with the grease fitting, I usually put them in the way they come out." So I gave him the picture and the parts and let him do his work (he said he used to have a 444.)

Well I got them back but when I go to paint them today I notice that the bushings are all pressed in various ways, and that only one bushing is in the correct orientation. I call him up and he lets me know that he wants to make it right and that he wants me to bring them down. He has some idea that he might be able to fix them by either cutting new grease chanels or by pressing them out and in, but that he would buy me new ones if necessary. Niether one is a good option and I went ahead and ordered 4 new bushings since I was wanted to get my order into sweden asap (16 bucks plus shipping). He seemed a bit annoyed that I ordered new bushings, and he couldn't understand the importance of the grease chanels being setup as designed. From looking at the pictures it looks like new grease is forced to the sealing caps at the tops and bottoms of the kingpins so that the old grease is can be pushed outward from the deepest point.

Oh, well, he won't be happy till I take the parts back to him and show him the picture again. Communication with some professionals can be so difficult, trying to walk the thin line between making sure that they know what you want and not insulting thier intellingence.

Uggh, just had to vent and remind people that even competent professionals screw things up, double check and communicate even if you end up looking like an anoying ass.

Thanks