Spindle Source Experience
- Thread starter jmvar
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I know all new OEM spindles come with bearings instead of bushings now. I also realize that if you have to ask, the answer is usually "OEM", but I was just wondering if the people above or anyone else who may have tried these spindles from cruiserparts had a good experience.
This is true--they all supersede to the roller bearing style which was introduced with the production of the 105 series/100 series (roller bearing is the same part number for the 100 series).
Now if one wanted they could keep the bushing style spindle by "rebuilding" their older spindles...if the exterior is still salvageable . The bushing is an available part from Toyota.
The roller bearing style version will need more consistent maintenance.
In term of someone "knowing" who the Toyota supplier for the spindle-- well I don't buy that. The roller bearing is a Koyo. That much we know. Possible candidates for the spindle assy itself: Aichi Steel and Toyoda Industries--- neither of which sell within their own supply lines for component systems to the aftermarket.
96beast said:
I think you may be confusing oe and oem.
In my mind oe= original equipment or genuine Toyota parts. can't go wrong with these.
Oem= original equipment manufacturer or aftermarket source for the stuff thats the same as genuine parts, just doesn't come in a Toyota box. Prime examples would be Aisin brake parts or Denso parts: fuel pumps, starters, etc. I have zero issues with using oem parts on any vehicle.
These spindles are made in japan and probably oem, and quite likely every bit as good as genuine. Only way to tell would be to have both parts side by side to compare.
Thanks for the responses and information guys. Guess the grand question I was trying to answer from this thread was whether or not saving ~$150 by going with the cruiserparts spindles would come back to bite me. Guess I might have to try them myself and come back with a full report.
One other question- I've seen in other threads that bearing grease should be packed into the bearings inside the spindles. What is the method for accomplishing this when servicing them? Can they be removed and properly packed or would that not be worth it? Also, would there be any concern for the bearing grease mixing with the moly? I thought the two mixing was bad news. Any input on this?
One other question- I've seen in other threads that bearing grease should be packed into the bearings inside the spindles. What is the method for accomplishing this when servicing them? Can they be removed and properly packed or would that not be worth it? Also, would there be any concern for the bearing grease mixing with the moly? I thought the two mixing was bad news. Any input on this?
I'm currently running these spindles. They seem to work just fine, although it's only been a few months. I DD my truck 54 miles a day and there hasn't been a problem.
When I installed them I bought some loctite moly paste and coated all the bearings/bearing surfaces. I then rolled the bearings around with my fingers just to make sure they were all coated. When I bolted everything back up I smeared the bearings and bearing surfaces with grease. I use the same moly grease for the birfs as I do for the wheel bearings so there won't be any cross contamination of greases. Plus you only need to stock up one type of grease.
When I installed them I bought some loctite moly paste and coated all the bearings/bearing surfaces. I then rolled the bearings around with my fingers just to make sure they were all coated. When I bolted everything back up I smeared the bearings and bearing surfaces with grease. I use the same moly grease for the birfs as I do for the wheel bearings so there won't be any cross contamination of greases. Plus you only need to stock up one type of grease.
To answer TheBigBoy
see this thread ... I believe as I discussed in this thread that I have sourced the needle bearing seperately from the spindle /// but there was some (unresolved) question about their fit to the old bushing style spindle ... still is I guess (I havent tried - nor needed yet - to install the needle bearing units I have fwiw) Beno didnt know. However one of our Australian friends was very well informed.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/174497-roller-bearing-retrofit-older-spindle.html
see this thread ... I believe as I discussed in this thread that I have sourced the needle bearing seperately from the spindle /// but there was some (unresolved) question about their fit to the old bushing style spindle ... still is I guess (I havent tried - nor needed yet - to install the needle bearing units I have fwiw) Beno didnt know. However one of our Australian friends was very well informed.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/174497-roller-bearing-retrofit-older-spindle.html
I purchased the needle bearings and short bushing combo from American Toyota two years ago to replace the original spindle bushings, they fit perfectly and I've been running them since with no problems. I'll echo what Beno said: eyeballing the pin bearings they look like they would be damaged quicker than the solid bushing if they went dry or if contamination got to them IMHO.
Thats good to know and thanks Kernal.
(FWIW Cat also sells a 5% Moly grease)
(From my original message a few years ago ..
"The pieces I have are..
"Japan KOYO BTM 344017A" in a bag with a Toyota sticker with "quantity 1" on it .. this is the needle bearing cage ..1.68" OD .665 depth (eg wide) and appears the same ID as the bushing ID dimension (below)
and the short bronze bushing in a small bubble pack with a Toyota sticker on it and the numbers 4128; .320" depth, 2.17 major diameter (OD) and 1.68 minor OD and 1.4 ID
I am measuring them through the baggy's and trying to round that error out (I know... piss poor approach!)"
that was the thread i was talking about.Originally Beno had said (see my previous link) that the "pin bearings" wouldnt fit the older style spindle without machining ... he was promoting the new spindle assy (complete)
But good to know they do fit and are available seperately.
Incidentally curious why you didnt choose to use the bushings vis the "pin bearing" if you thought the latter were inferior?
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IIRC I bought a set of the pin bearing/short bushings combo (two years ago) just after Beno and CDan did the leg work to confirm that the parts would indeed fit our 80 series spindles; apparently that information was not readily available from Toyota. At about the same time I had called around to half a dozen Toyota parts depts large and small and they didn't have the answer, so thanks are in order to American Toyota, CDan, and Beno for figuring that out for us.
I installed them as I felt my bushings needed replacement after almost 300,000 miles and the new style bearing/bushing combo made sense to me. Maybe they aren't as robust or bulletproof as the solid bushing with lack of maintenance, IDK, but that isn't a problem I'm going to experience. I have to assume that Toyota which is in the position to collect service and repair data from all over the world knows more than I do when they decide to update a part.
I installed them as I felt my bushings needed replacement after almost 300,000 miles and the new style bearing/bushing combo made sense to me. Maybe they aren't as robust or bulletproof as the solid bushing with lack of maintenance, IDK, but that isn't a problem I'm going to experience. I have to assume that Toyota which is in the position to collect service and repair data from all over the world knows more than I do when they decide to update a part.
Great thread, a bit of a high jack, but still related. Before doing all the work to replace the bushing in the spindle. have you check the surface on the spindle where the bearing rides? If not, that is where I would suggest one looks to see if the wear is too great. I have seen and replaced many spindles for this wear more than the wear of the inner bushings. Any wear more than a few thousands of an inch is unexceptable. Which in my experence most spindles that I have serviced has worn beyond it service. This is mostly due to lack of keeping bearing preload, thus allowing the inner race of the wheel bearing to spin on the spindle.
With only a few .00X" , and not keeping bearing preload, one accelerates the wear of the spindle surface to the point that even if you have proper bearing preload and the spindle is worn too much, one can grab the wheel and shake a truck and it will still fell like the bearing needs adjustment.
The only proper way to fix this problem is to replace the spindle, but I have used old tricks to raise the metal in the wear area to help hold the wheel bearing race, thus allowing the wheel bearing to work properly. The trick is to use a pin punch and dimple the wear area to raise the surface a bit. Do not be too had with the hammer when doing this unless you have lots of wear(again the best fix is new).
I usually can get one more service interval (30k) out of the spindles before I totally recommend getting new spindles.
Again, this is caused by not adjusting the wheel bearing properly or on a more timely schedule. Big aggresive tires will cause quicker wear to happen and allow the wheel bearing to spin sooner on the spindle. I suggest one with a bilt truck to check the wheel bearing often and if not tight, get to tightening them. I do believe the biggest problem is the claw washer and as soon as it starts to groove, it will not hold the outter wheel bearing properly and allow the wheel bearing to spin, thus accelerate the spindle wear.
Hope this all makes sense.
Again, I personally think most spindles that are out there, are out of any specs one could find, if they could find a wear spec on the spindle. This wear would cause me to trash a spindle sooner than bushing wear.
With only a few .00X" , and not keeping bearing preload, one accelerates the wear of the spindle surface to the point that even if you have proper bearing preload and the spindle is worn too much, one can grab the wheel and shake a truck and it will still fell like the bearing needs adjustment.
The only proper way to fix this problem is to replace the spindle, but I have used old tricks to raise the metal in the wear area to help hold the wheel bearing race, thus allowing the wheel bearing to work properly. The trick is to use a pin punch and dimple the wear area to raise the surface a bit. Do not be too had with the hammer when doing this unless you have lots of wear(again the best fix is new).
I usually can get one more service interval (30k) out of the spindles before I totally recommend getting new spindles.
Again, this is caused by not adjusting the wheel bearing properly or on a more timely schedule. Big aggresive tires will cause quicker wear to happen and allow the wheel bearing to spin sooner on the spindle. I suggest one with a bilt truck to check the wheel bearing often and if not tight, get to tightening them. I do believe the biggest problem is the claw washer and as soon as it starts to groove, it will not hold the outter wheel bearing properly and allow the wheel bearing to spin, thus accelerate the spindle wear.
Hope this all makes sense.
Again, I personally think most spindles that are out there, are out of any specs one could find, if they could find a wear spec on the spindle. This wear would cause me to trash a spindle sooner than bushing wear.
While we're high jacking, what do you do about the rear spindle wear? Dimple then replace axle housing?
Yes.....