cerino2000

Oddball and I are working on his 78 vette. We are going to re-do the wheel bearings and such in the rear of the car. We have the half shafts out, the castle nut off, and can't quite figure out how the heck the spindle is supposed to come out. The rotor is off and we took off the nuts on the 4 long bolts that go through but the thing won't budge. How to you get them out?

Twin_Turbo

It's a snug fit in the trailing arm and rust will hold it together, if you whack the end a few times the bearing support will come out, after that you need a press or special tools (spindle press) to get the spindle out of the ebaring assembly as the bearings are a press fit and the spindle won't jsut come out. BTW, those 4 long bolts are actually studs w/ knurled ends pressed into the machined bearing assembly mating surface of the trailing arm.

original76

Need a puller to remove spindle. My book says to reinstall the nut flush with the end of the threads and pull from that point.

cerino2000

Is it required to take out the 4 nuts on those long bolts? We really need to get the spindle out for easy access to the rear emergency brake shoes. That is how all this started, a spring popped out of one side so we figured while it is out, lets replace a few things. The bearings are actually pretty tight, we just figured while we were there, might as well replace them.

After we got the spindle nut off the back, I put it back on flush with end of the spindle and whacked it a few times with the hammer. It don't budge but I missed on one swing and slightly mushroomed the end of the spindle making the nut a BEAR to get off. Threads still look good otherwise. The idea was to 'just pop the spindle off of there' and fix the mushroom effect, 'pop some new bearings in' and be done. Not looking like it is going to be an easy battle.

cerino2000

You have the same book we do. I don't get that however. That seems to say that you pull the spindle towards the inside of the car. That doesn't make sense if you could see it. Gonna be awefully hard to pull that spindle through a hole only as big as the spindle shaft.

original76

Save yourself some trouble and expense. If the bearings are good replace the emergency brake spring in the area available. It is a bitch, but can be done. I believe that their is a crush when torquing the spindle and a puller is needed to remove it. A hammer will probably just get you in trouble. That is my favorite tool also and I should throw it away.

1971corvette

Dalannex

I have a 40# slidehammer that I built that bolts onto the flange where the wheel goes, then I take the halfshaft and nut off the inside and slidehammer the spindle out from the outside.


-Justin

62fuelie

That spindle doesn't just "pop off", and that hammer is going to turn a minor problem into a major problem if you aren't careful. You need to either use a proper spindle press or remove the bearing housing from the trailing arm and use a regular press to remove the spindle. There is a lot more to R&I'ing the rear bearings than meets the eye. Reassembly needs to be done very carefully and the end play accurately measured with a dial indicator.

Edzred72

Just pull the rotor, and do all your E-brake work with needle nose pliers.
Eddie

NHvette

This is the first response that addresses the real problem.
If the bearings are good - leave 'em alone.
It sounds like the rear rotor is still rivetted to the spindle ... must drill
and punch out rivets to get rotor off. Then, it isn't easy to get the
Ebrake stuff replaced - but you'll have to do it like this - even if re-doing the bearings.

Good luck - needle nose pliers - and use 20 lb fishing line to tie the
brake shoe retaining springs in compression while installing.

Twin_Turbo

actually in his first post he only asks about the bearing carrier and how it's seperated from the trailing arm.

Tying the brake shoe retainer springs is a pita, I always use a special tool for it, looks like a screwdriver w/ a funky end on it (circular) to depress the cup so you can rotate it while holding the little anchor pin. These tools are cheap and will save you a lot of headaches.