Should I reuse this spindle?
- Thread starter 85 Cutlass Brougham
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bearings often use a light soft metal for the cage. it may have melted a bit and jammed the washer. regardless, a MAPP gas torch is your friend! 
roast the nut then apply the breaker bar--works every time.
roast the nut then apply the breaker bar--works every time.
The washer had melted around 3 of the flats on the nut, so I had to cut it back a bit. Sadly, this did nothing to free it as it is still on there tight and solid. I didn't have time enough to go find the right size socket (seems to be 1 1/16), so all I was trying to use was a pair of vise grips and a BFH. Didn't even budge! I guess tomorrow I will try to find the socket and breaker bar and see how that goes. As for now, I have to go to work and just hope some little ******** kid doesn't egg it because no one was home on Halloween night. It's been egged before, but never with paint on it. After the mailbox incidents of the last month, I am a bit more paranoid than usual. Hopefully, I will be home by 8pm and I can keep an eye on it.
I got the rotor off the car today, and what an ordeal that was! I ended up using my angle grinder with some Russian made Harbor Freight cutoff wheels to cut through the metal so that I would have a chance at getting to the bearing. The inner race was stuck to the spindle, and too fat to let the rotor come off. I had to cut down it's OD once I chopped off some of the bearing hub. After I got it off, the inner race was still stuck solid to the spindle. I had to cut it in half to get it off. One piece just fell off when I cut it, the other was welded to the spindle. As you might have guesses, once I took off the inner race, I found the spindle was blued around the outer wheel bearing. I also had to grind down the piece of bearing that was left after I pounded off the other half of the bearing. Sadly, the spindle is deformed in such a way that the outer bearing will not slide on. I am thinking about taking a piece of crocus cloth or emery paper and polishing it back down to size. I should just get another spindle, but I am a bit broke, and a bit scared of doing it. I can't think of a way to pull a spindle without a spring compressor and do it safely on a coil spring car. If there is a safe technique to harvesting one from a junkyard donor, will somebody please post it? I would really appreciate it!
i would put a floor jack uder the lower control arm and lift the car with it but strap a chain around the frame of the car to the bottom of the jack just incase the shock is too long extended and you cant get the upper down far enough to get the upper balljoint taper back into the spindle once youve replaced it., good luck :?
Pulling a spindle off a junkyard donor is easy, just leave the shock absorber in place. The spring won't go anywhere.
When it comes time to swapping yours, with the floor jack underneath the lower a-arm, it's not going anywhere, just be careful you don't smash the grease zerk for the lower ball joint... I learned that one the hard way...
When it comes time to swapping yours, with the floor jack underneath the lower a-arm, it's not going anywhere, just be careful you don't smash the grease zerk for the lower ball joint... I learned that one the hard way...
I fixed the spindle today using emery paper, and the bearing slid right on. I didn't remove much material, but I still do not see this as a very long term repair. I hope to have the money for the front brake pads in the next week or so, which will finally make the car mobile again. I would just reuse the old ones after a good cleaning, but somehow one of them is missing. If this all seems half-assed, that is because it is. I just need the car to be mobile enough that it can move around the driveway, and let me change the engine in the other car. After that, it goes in the garage for a while as I take some time to figure out what to do with it.
Finally spent the money to buy brake pads today, and it seems fine. However, I did notice that the hub was a little warmer than the passenger's side (the good one) when I checked it with my infra red laser thermometer.It was about 105 degrees as compared to 90 degrees, so it wasn't excessively hot, but it was still warmer. But, it runs and drives once again, even though I had to spend $19.25 I didn't have to make it happen.
It could be just the pads breaking in for causing the slightly higher heat....glad to see you're back on the road with it...
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