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Topic: (SOLVED) Need advice on spindal / bearings issue (Read 1888 times) previous topic - next topic

(SOLVED) Need advice on spindal / bearings issue

SOLVED

ok,, i posted this on the old site and i need some advice.
and just for you tom,, ill try to keep it short :)

my spindals are OEM.  I have about 320kmiles.  I replaced the bearings and the race mounted in the rotor also with the race that came with the bearings.  Prior to the change i replaced my tie rod ends and ball joints.  I still noticed that i had up/down/side to side play in the tire. 

i wore myself out just now with the help of my wife to move the tire as i tried to determine where the slop is at.

i think the slop is mostly gathered around my inner bearing between the spindal and the bearing. I added a shim between the notched washer and the bearing when i added the nut to see if that helped.  it was just like i ran out of threads on the spindal as it got so thight but the wheel moved just as free as i felt acceptable.

i pressed both new rotor races in to the full stop point.

THREE QUESTIONS
when i replaced the rotor races, should i have *****not*****pressed it in to the full stop on both the inner and outter race of the rotor and used my nut on the spindal to finish pressing it? 

should i have left the race on each side slightly un seated so that this would maybe split the difference on wear.?  kind of let the bearings fall where they want to vs where they originally were when the spindal was new.

do people typically notice the spindal wear to be on the inner bearing area?

Re: Need advice on spindal / bearings issue

Reply #1 –
I've ran into the "out of threads" situation you talked about before.  Also, at that time I'd bought new rotors and bearings and I didn't realize that I'd probably be better off using the races that came with the new bearings.. the ones that were machined to fit 'em.

Re: Need advice on spindal / bearings issue

Reply #2 –
im wondering if i should pop out the inner race then reseat it but not all the way,, then put everything on and allow the nut to finsh up any slack avail so that the race only seats as far as it has threads.


or............................

should someone out there just slap me around and tell me its time for spindals? :confused:

Re: Need advice on spindal / bearings issue

Reply #3 –
ok,, here is what i have come up with.
i just had a pretty long talk with a mech on the way home after work today.
he advised me that ford did use shims in some areas of a vehicle in order to keep one bearing part number interchangeable with several type cars.  the shim would be the difference.

I was also told that if i have slack in between my inner bearing race and spindal, that i should buy something called "SHIM STOCK".  It is sold in sheets (brass) of 1, 2, or 3 thousandths thickness.  I bought the 1 thousanths because it could be folded up to make what is needed.  It is installed around your spindal and your bearing inner race will be forced up over it.  What ultimately happens is the inner race of the bearing is once again in a bind and cant freespool after you tighten up everything. 

never heard of this stuff before but i knew a couple days ago that i needed something along those lines to keep my inner bearing from freespooling on my spindal.  I almost considered making a shim out of my empty pop can before i heard of this stuff.  Now i know i was on the right track. 

I have new bearings once again and i will make up shims.  im gonna be sooooooooooo happy if the age old problem finally takes a hike.

i posted this mainly for you 84kat50h because you mentioned you had a similar issue.

(SOLVED) Need advice on spindal / bearings issue

Reply #4 –
well,, that worked out slicker than snot.

I ended up not using the "shim stock" cause it was too thin.
I ended up slicing my feeler guage (.003 one) into a couple of "L" shaped tabs.  I slipped one of these tabs onto the face of the inner race of my inner front wheel bearing.  As i guided the rotor back up on the spindal,, i managed to keep the .003 shim right where it needed to be(in between the race and the spindal.

after i tighted up the spindal nut,, no slop at all.  I was amazed at how tight things came out and using the feeler guage metel vs the brass makes me feel better about the life span of my shim.

I talked to another person about this stuff and he said he used it all the time in a machine shop in California so thats the second person i know of thats heard of this.

It seems this might be a way to save your spindals for furture ref if anyone cares to note it.