Front spindle wear...

[Skillet]

Couple years ago, I put 4:88's in the 80 and, while they had it all torn down, the guys who did my gears noticed there was some spindle wear where the outer bearings sit and recommended I put new spindles on there.

Well, millions of dollars later and thanks to CDan, I had shiny new spindles.

Since then, I have only put about 10K on the vehicle.

This weekend, I tore it all down for a brake job to pull the rotors off.

After cleaning the grease off, I notice that the PS spindle has discoloration and a VERY, VERY slight "bump" on one side. So slight, that you can barely feel it and you certainly cannot see it.

Anyway, I checked the tightness of the bearings regularly and everything was perfect.

There was plenty of good grease in there and the bearings are in great shape.

Why is this happening and how can I prevent damage to my perfect, expensive spindles?

Perhaps this is just normal?

 

[timer00]

Though mine drives great and bearings are good and tight and everything greased as your situation I worry about mine too haha.

I had them off for the front axle job but never did really check them out at all since I was just a beginner mechanic in a way and wasn't sure how spindles even worked just how they go back on

 

[Kernal]

Do you have some old photos you could post up, maybe of the old spindles and the new ones?

 

[Skillet]

Do you have some old photos you could post up, maybe of the old spindles and the new ones?

No old photos, but I can take some when I get home, as I still have the old spindles.

Might be hard to capture on a camera, but I will give it a shot.

 

[-Spike-]

My understanding is that the spindle itself is not a wear item, should not be any wear in a perfect world. Any play in the bearings would allow wear. You mentioned checking the bearings for tightness, how so? How hard are you on your truck? Is it a wheeler, picnicker, or mall crawler?

 

[coax]

Did you replace the bearings when you replaced the spindles? (Maybe its possible that the inner race of the bearing was also worn down, making it a bit larger than it should have been.)

 

[Skillet]

My understanding is that the spindle itself is not a wear item, should not be any wear in a perfect world. Any play in the bearings would allow wear. You mentioned checking the bearings for tightness, how so? How hard are you on your truck? Is it a wheeler, picnicker, or mall crawler?

Usually, I will jack the vehicle up and check for play in the wheel / hub. It has remained very tight.

The vehicle is a weekend wheeler...

It sees more road miles than trail just getting to where I go.

Did you replace the bearings when you replaced the spindles? (Maybe its possible that the inner race of the bearing was also worn down, making it a bit larger than it should have been.)

new bearings.

I may be flipping out about nothing, just want to nip it in the bud.

 

[powderpig]

Well, did you happen to change out the thrust washer at the same time?
Any groveing in the Thrust washer(also called a claw washer by some) is bad.
As for checking the wheel bearing for play. I hardly ever lift the wheel. I let the wheel set on the ground to allow weight to seperate the wheel bearing(these are taper roller bearing). I typically grab the top of the wheel and shake it back and forth. If I feel any slop I know the wheel bearing are loose.
You made the statement that a shop did the work. It will be hard to get some one set on there ways to have the bearing tighter, if the shop thinks it was done right.

Anyhow as spike states, this wear only comes from the wheel bearings being loose. If there is not enough preload to hold the inner bearing race(the one that rides on the spindle) to the spindle, then the inner race will turn. So not comes the hard part. Learning to adjust it so the bearings are done just right.
Adjusting the wheel bearings will come with practice.
The next time you adjust the wheel bearing, try to see which method is telling you it is adjusted right, wheel up in the air full or wheel on the ground.