Many of us have probably seen or heard of TG's new spindle nut upgrade and pondered it for our 80's, recently I had some issues with my hub and thought I'd share some pics and my thoughts.
I'll make my long story short: replaced brake rotors, noticed hubs were bad from the flood water contamination, repacked and tightened them up, 9 hour drive north for hunting later the driverside outer bearings destructed and had to source parts, replaced bearings and a part time hub. About 20 hours worth of driving later I noticed another bad hub (same side), looks like I burred the spindle when the bearings went and the new bearings didnt get pressed all the way into place. Had really worn spindle nuts and star washer so I replaced another bearing and ordered the TG chromoly spindle nut kit.
Pics:
On the first pic is the aftermarket spindle nut kit compared to the used parts, the next pic of it shows the overall thickness of the two nuts compared to the TG nut, I actually think a single TG nut would be stronger then two different nuts at different torques though.
Third pic, another comparison, you can see how bad my star washer was, I actually worn off the little tab on the inside of the star washer when I checked the hub in edmonton, I ended up getting to my uncles shop, borrowing his mig to weld a new tab, then bench ground it and filed it to fit the slot.
Fourth picture, the spindle nut retainer is really tight on the 80 spindle for some reason, I had to hold one edge in with my finger, and hold a screwdriver in place to tap the bottom in with a hammer. I had a 60 series hub handy and found that it fit ever so slightly easier without being tapped into place.
Last picture, after you install the ring, you will have to make sure a hole lines up, your 54 mm socket will not fit over the retainer, so I had to pry mine out with the screwdriver, turn the nut about half a degree then knock the retainer in again. You will also have to add a 2.5mm allen key to your tool kit now if you don't have one already. One of the holes was a bit tight against the screw, for the little tiny allen key I found it easier to grab it with vise grips and twist, but a T handle'd allen hex key would be ideal.
Overall I think this is an upgrade, you can see in my pic above the star washer is done, one of the tabs broke off when removing it last, but the TG retainer ring needed to the edges to be addressed with a file to chamfer the edges slightly to get it on the 80 series spindle, and overall, messing with the little screws, tapping in and pulling the retainer to adjust the nut a degree actually probably takes more time then the star washer and folding the tabs. But, I would buy another set if I were to do it all over again, and now I have a couple spares from the other side.
On a side note, a 12 point 54mm socket may clear the retainer ring to make things easier.
I'll make my long story short: replaced brake rotors, noticed hubs were bad from the flood water contamination, repacked and tightened them up, 9 hour drive north for hunting later the driverside outer bearings destructed and had to source parts, replaced bearings and a part time hub. About 20 hours worth of driving later I noticed another bad hub (same side), looks like I burred the spindle when the bearings went and the new bearings didnt get pressed all the way into place. Had really worn spindle nuts and star washer so I replaced another bearing and ordered the TG chromoly spindle nut kit.
Pics:
On the first pic is the aftermarket spindle nut kit compared to the used parts, the next pic of it shows the overall thickness of the two nuts compared to the TG nut, I actually think a single TG nut would be stronger then two different nuts at different torques though.
Third pic, another comparison, you can see how bad my star washer was, I actually worn off the little tab on the inside of the star washer when I checked the hub in edmonton, I ended up getting to my uncles shop, borrowing his mig to weld a new tab, then bench ground it and filed it to fit the slot.
Fourth picture, the spindle nut retainer is really tight on the 80 spindle for some reason, I had to hold one edge in with my finger, and hold a screwdriver in place to tap the bottom in with a hammer. I had a 60 series hub handy and found that it fit ever so slightly easier without being tapped into place.
Last picture, after you install the ring, you will have to make sure a hole lines up, your 54 mm socket will not fit over the retainer, so I had to pry mine out with the screwdriver, turn the nut about half a degree then knock the retainer in again. You will also have to add a 2.5mm allen key to your tool kit now if you don't have one already. One of the holes was a bit tight against the screw, for the little tiny allen key I found it easier to grab it with vise grips and twist, but a T handle'd allen hex key would be ideal.
Overall I think this is an upgrade, you can see in my pic above the star washer is done, one of the tabs broke off when removing it last, but the TG retainer ring needed to the edges to be addressed with a file to chamfer the edges slightly to get it on the 80 series spindle, and overall, messing with the little screws, tapping in and pulling the retainer to adjust the nut a degree actually probably takes more time then the star washer and folding the tabs. But, I would buy another set if I were to do it all over again, and now I have a couple spares from the other side.
On a side note, a 12 point 54mm socket may clear the retainer ring to make things easier.
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