Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

[Mike E.]

I started rebuilding the rear Trailing Arms for my '65 and found some bad rust on one of them; I'm thinking I should probably replace both. Paragon seems to be one of the few sellers that sell arms without rear sway bar holes and their price seems fair so I've pretty much decided on them for the arms. With used part like a used TA you never know what you’re really getting.

After tearing down the rear wheel bearing assemblies I found one of my spindles looks like it was twisted and needs to be replaced. From what I've read this is somewhat common after a bearing seizes up, I never had rear wheel bearing issues with the cars so it must had happend prior to me buying the car in 1977. So my question is should I look for a good used rear spindle or a reproduction? Has anyone here had any experience with reproduction rear spindles?



Mike

[Joe L.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

I started rebuilding the rear Trailing Arms for my '65 and found some bad rust on one of them; I'm thinking I should probably replace both. Paragon seems to be one of the few sellers that sell arms without rear sway bar holes and their price seems fair so I've pretty much decided on them for the arms. With used part like a used TA you never know what you’re really getting.

After tearing down the rear wheel bearing assemblies I found one of my spindles looks like it was twisted and needs to be replaced. From what I've read this is somewhat common after a bearing seizes up, I never had rear wheel bearing issues with the cars so it must had happend prior to me buying the car in 1977. So my question is should I look for a good used rear spindle or a reproduction? Has anyone here had any experience with reproduction rear spindles?



Mike

Mike------


I don't think that the minor scoring of the bearing surface is going to be any kind of problem here as long as you still get a good interference fit between the shaft and bearing. Much more of concern is that the splines appear to be "twisted". This might just be the photograph but if the splines are, indeed, twisted, the spindle is absolutely not fit for re-use.

If you replace them, I would go with new spindles. Spindles manufactured by International Axle (now called Corvette International) are very high quality, USA-manufactured pieces. The only problem with them, if you want to call it a problem, is they are finished differently than originals. The originals have an as-forged finish for the non-machined areas whereas the International Axle parts have some sort of chromate, "greenish" finish. For the most part this cannot be seen but with the hub caps off, the centers of the spindles can be seen. There are other reproductions on the market that are finished much more like originals. However, I suspect the source of these may be "foreign". That does not automatically make them bad but it raises questions.

I would not go with used spindles. Even if the spindles appear OK, you don't know their history. For a used part like this, you want to know its history.

[Mike E.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

Thanks Joe,
The twist had me convinced the part would have to be replaced. I'll start looking around at new parts.

Mike

[Larry M.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

I believe that Bair's offers spindles that are made in the USA. You might call and inquire about the manufacturer and the finish.

They are also an excellent source for trailing arms.

Larry

[Dick W.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

The twist can also come from side stepping the clutch at 5,000 rpm's one time too many

[Larry M.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

The twist can also come from side stepping the clutch at 5,000 rpm's one time too many

This is the MOST LIKELY scenario. Possibly with slicks on.

Larry

[Thomas H.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

I believe that Bair's offers spindles that are made in the USA. You might call and inquire about the manufacturer and the finish.

They are also an excellent source for trailing arms.

Larry

I agree.

Bairs did the trailing arms on my C3. They will even ship you boxes to send your trailing arms in. Great source for quality parts also.

Tom

[Gary R.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

Mike
I have come across spindles twisted like that, toss them out. I use the USA Spencer Forge 17 spline stock spindles, Bairs will have them. For HP use I step up to the 31 spline Tom's axles with the full shaft and huge flanges. If you are under 450hp and don't abuse the car the 17's will be ok in most cases. If a used GM spindle is not undersize,twisted, has good stud holes, and no rolled threads they can be reused. Typically they will break at the threads/spline area.

There is a lot of info on setting them up and some have various procedures in doing them. I don't go strickly by the endplay spec alone. I grind the shims to size to just remove the lateral play and maintain the endplay and free rotation. Be sure to check the caliper brackets too, if someone used a puller on them they will bend a lot of times. Before tearing down the arms look to see if the caliper is centered on the rotor. Look at the caliper seam it should be center on the rotor.

[Michael H.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

I put reproduction spindles on my 67 as my original ones were scared up from previous failures. When I bought the reproduction spindles the told me as long as I did normal driving and not drag racing that these spindles would be fine. Well I have over 5000 miles on them and I've had no problem what so ever, plus they were a lot cheaper instead of new GM.

Mike

[Joe L.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

I put reproduction spindles on my 67 as my original ones were scared up from previous failures. When I bought the reproduction spindles the told me as long as I did normal driving and not drag racing that these spindles would be fine. Well I have over 5000 miles on them and I've had no problem what so ever, plus they were a lot cheaper instead of new GM.

Mike

Mike------


New GM is no longer an option as they are discontinued. However, even when they were available they often had so much runout on the flange that using them became VERY complicated. That's one of the things I like about International Axle-----they guarantee no more than 0.0001 (yes, one TEN-THOUSANDTH) of runout.

[Gary R.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

Hi Joe,
Have you been able to measure those axles, man a tenth is pretty darn good. Keep in mind a rotor, new or used, may or may not fall in spec once installed on them. I have to admit I haven't checked the flange on the Spencers in a long time but they too are ground. I just built a set of T/A's too and although I dialed in the new rotors to 001-002" runout I didn't check the flange.

[Joe L.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

Hi Joe,
Have you been able to measure those axles, man a tenth is pretty darn good. Keep in mind a rotor, new or used, may or may not fall in spec once installed on them. I have to admit I haven't checked the flange on the Spencers in a long time but they too are ground. I just built a set of T/A's too and although I dialed in the new rotors to 001-002" runout I didn't check the flange.

Gary-----


I've never measured one but that's what they claim. I agree that the rotor also has to be right. I think one is better off using a NEW rotor, though. A used rotor may have been machined to "compensate" for excessive runout on the spindle flange it was originally riveted to. So, by itself, the rotor could be way off. A new rotor should have been machined with reference to the flange seating surface.

[John G.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

The threads on one spindle on my '64 were in bad shape due to a previous owner having banged on it a la 'spindle knocker' style. New spindles from Duntov Motors replaced the originals. It was said modern replacement spindles have better metallurgy than the originals. I'm not sure if the Duntov provided spindles are American or foreign produced, but just the same they appeared to be good quality units. End play set up came out 1.5 thou on one side. 2.5 thou on the other.

[Gary R.]

Re: Rear Spindle...Repop or Good Used?

Gary-----


I've never measured one but that's what they claim. I agree that the rotor also has to be right. I think one is better off using a NEW rotor, though. A used rotor may have been machined to "compensate" for excessive runout on the spindle flange it was originally riveted to. So, by itself, the rotor could be way off. A new rotor should have been machined with reference to the flange seating surface.

Joe
Yes I agree.