I have tightened my Rear Spindle nut (a new one) while installing my spindles with new bearings etc. It is tightened to 100 ft/lbs but the spindle hub is not turning very easy, like it takes some effort to spin it.

Have I not measured my shims correctly, and have I ruined my bearings?

Thanks

 

I would guess you did not measure the shims correctly but probably did not ruin bearings.

 

Rear bearings should be setup just lightly oiled, no grease, until you get the correct .001-.002 endplay. I know the book says up to .008" but you go over .003-.004" and you may start having brake bleeding issues. Once you get the end play set then you grease them and assemble them. The spindle nut should be torqued to 100 ft/lb min+ enough to line up the cotter pin hole. With them torques to the 100 ft/lbs they should rotate without any binding. If you have binding then the shim is too thin. If you didn't drive on the car you can reset them but if you put a load on them I would replace them.
Gary

 

I had mine TAs done by Bears. I was also concerned about how stiff the
bearings felt. A few mles and all is well. There is a post in the Forum
about it. Don't remember where.

 

depends on how much you inadvertently preloaded the bearings. tightening to 100 lb-ft can generate thousands of pounds of axial force which could leave line marks in the races, so you must carefully inspect them. but i image they will be ok if you were able to rotate the spindle by hand even if it was stiff.

 

OK, you might be just fine how you are. If you use new bearings and set them up on a bearing setup tool, setting the tolerance to .001 - .003 (that's what I like to set them up to) and that tolerance is set by setting your dial indicator on the end of the set up tool then moving the tool straight up and down after putting your bearings and shims together, or straight side to side if your bearing housing is still on the car, with no more pressure than it takes to pull it one way then the other by hand. If you get it set that way, then disassemble and pack both bearings and a good part of the housing, then install the spindle you will find that it is tight and seems too tight and difficult to turn. Drive the car a short distance then bring it back and take your driveshaft off of that wheel and it will be loose and your endplay will be good. The first one I did I had the same question as you and going on advice I got here I tood it back apart and used new bearings and seals and set more shims in to get more endplay. Then it felt fine after reassembly, but after driving it and rechecking it was too much endplay and I had to go back to where I started from.

Just don't drive it real far or real fast without rechecking to make sure all is well.


-Justin

 

Thanks for the responses, my car is not near drivable yet (frame off). I have an update...

I check the end play with the setup tool before I pressed the outer bearing on the spindle. They measured .003 and .004.

I use install tool to press in the outer bearing and all is well. I put in the seal, sheild and flange and hand tighten, but if I just make a half turn on the ratchet, less than 30lbs of force, I cannot even hand turn the spindle. I even went back and gradually used wider shims to the thickest to no avail.

Is it possible to use too much force with the install tool? After I use it to put in the outer bearing it still spins fine.

I am to the point where I am going to send them somewhere. I would much rather try to do this myself, but I am nearly at the end of the line with this problem. Any ideas.

Kurt

 

Something I found that was causing my spindles to be hard to turn after rebuild as the inner seal. The inner seal is difficult to install properly. It fits right up against the inner bearing and then when to put on the flange, the seal gets mashed between the two. Thats why after a little driving the spindle loosens up. The seal gets worn down to fit the flange, or it moves out of the way and lets the flange slip through it. Therefore, no more resistence. Just my comment.

 

What kind of seals are you using? The reason I ask is I had a similar problem with mine some years ago. I rebuilt the spindles but could not get the original style outer seal. It's been some years now, but believe I actually got the seals from Chevrolet thinking they would be the OEM style. Anyway, they were unlike the original outer seals that were in there. The supplied outer seal looked basically like a flat piece of rubber that they punched a hole in. It fit all right but when I assembled it together, I could feel a lot of drag. My endplay was on the money (.001) but it didn't set well with me. I waited until the next Corvette show and purchased the original style seal (Chicago Rawhide brand) seal. These have the correct lips on them and when I reassembled the spindle assembly, she turned fine with very little drag. Just something to checkout. Charles

 

If you can't turn them you have something wrong-simple answer I know. I'll IM you,you can call me and it will be easier to go over the problems on the phone.
Gary

 

I owdered my seals from one of the Corvette catalogs, Corvette Central I think. They all look the same, but there must be some difference that isn't readily visible. I'm going to let them wear in for now.

 

After getting new bearings, remeasuering endplay etc, I have discovered that the inner bearing dust shield is binding on the flange deflector when the spindle nut is torqued causing the hub to be frozen.

Is there any danger in either
A. Not installing the inner bearing dust shield and just using the flange deflector.
OR
B. Installing both and let the binding work itself out when I drive the car.

Thanks
Kurt

 

Hey Kurt, I was wondering how you made out with that problem. I like to re-use the original ones because of fitment problems I had with some replacements. I would use them though and wouldn't trust having them wear in. Sounds like the inner shield is sitting too high on the bearing housing bore, could you sand or file the end to bring it down? Chances are the shield on the yoke didn't move,so the inner sheild is the problem?
Gary

 

A friend did my rear bearings recently, he has a setup tool and did it for free, I supplied the bearings and seals . Mostly, I do all other work on my frame-off but I had never done rear bearings before and didn't want to buy the tool.
Anyway, he uses a lead shim to calculate endplay. He torques the whole thing on the setup tool with the lead shim, disassembles and measures the compressed thickness of the lead shim. The final shim is ground to that measurement minus .001 for endplay. He has done many, many rear C3 bearings and tells me that precise .001 endplay is easily obtainable using this method.

Craig

 

Hey - that lead shim idea sounds good.
I did mine the old fashioned way - but it is easy with a setup tool
or old spindle ground down for slip-fit (what I have).

To the original poster - I would remedy the fit by grinding the
inner dust shield to clear the yoke deflector. Don't leave these
off, as water and crap can get in there - and be trapped.