I got my spindle tool kit yesterday in the mail, but didn't have a big enough socket to torgue the spindle setup tool to 100 inch pounds. I wanted to just practice before I do the actual thing. What I did was I placed the outer bearing on the setup tool, then the spacer, and then the shim. I placed the tool through the support and placed the inner bearing on the shaft, then threaded the nut onto the setup tool. I tightened it down as much as I could with a monkey wrench. I then used a dial indicator to measure the endplay. I was able to get to .005 endplay. My question is, when I do the thing for real and actually tighten the nut down to 100 inch pounds, will the endplay go smaller? I know this is a stupid question, but I was just wondering becuase i want to get within .001-.002 endplay. I might have to buy a smaller shim or something...I'm not too sure. Also, is it bad to hive the endplay within GM specs? I mean, everybody keeps telling me that .008 is too much, and that GM wasn't thinking straight when they set those specs. Is it okay to have the endplay at like .007? Don't you think that if it wasn't safe to set the enplay up to 0.008, GM would have mentioned something about it? Is there no trust in the engineers at GM or something?

Thanks

 

Theoritically, yes you may loose one or two thou when you torque the nut down to 100 pounds. Tolerances are tolerances which are allowed for mass manufacturing of products. There is a difference between "blueprinting" for an optimum setup as in obtaining .001"/.002" of end play and rebuilding to within the acceptable tolerance range given by GM. If you are at .005" and you get to .004" at proper torque you are fine, IMHO. Remember that you are checking this with the bearings dry, no grease. If you want to massage your shim by hand another thou, use 220 crocus cloth on a hard flat surface like a piece of glass or table saw top, and mineral spirits and applying equal pressure, sand it in a figure 8 and periodically check with a micrometer. If you find you need to remove more, take it to a machine shop with a surface grinder.

My biggest recommendation is to use high quality Timken bearings for the job and do it once.

 

any more comments guys?

 

Did you read Gary's thread?

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...=rear+bearings

 

There's nothing wrong with setting them up at .008". They'll last just as long as .001" and will not cause brake probelms if your rotors are true.

 

Mike Ward, that is exactly what I thought.

 

bump