Alright here is my problem. On my trip to Virginia I noticed a noise coming from my driverside front tire. I thought either tire out of balance or bearings. So I took my tires and got them all balanced, same noise. Then I changed the inner bearing, same noise. My friend then told me to take off the rotor and check the inner race, it is fine, smooth as it should be. So a week later and the noise still irratating me, I decided to buy both sets of bearings and do it again. This time i cleaned out all the grease and noticed two rivits in the spindle. One of them goes inwords and the other the same but its like the metal has been pushed out and up. Causing it not to be smooth and when you rub your finger across it, its very ruff and sharp enough to cut your finger. According to everyone I have talked to this is my problem. I didnt feel a bolt holding it in on the back, maybe I missed it maybe I didnt. I have no idea how hard this is besides the fact that i have to remove both ball joints, which I am going to replace. Has anyone ever done this? Also, do you know how much they are or where I can get one whether be a store or online.

Rupert

 

Alright I am planning on attempting at least something on Sunday, I just wish someone had an idea of how to do this. Any imput would help

Thanks
Rupert

 

Sure, I've done it. You'll need to spend $12 on a "Ball Joint Pickle Fork", or a "Ball Joint Separator Tool". Looks like a fork you'd use for pickles.

Block back wheels, raise front of car up, put the front on jackstands. Slide a hydraulic jack underneath the spring perch of the lower control arm of the spindle you'll replace- You don't want the spring flying out!

Dig down to the spindle (as you've done before). You'll need to separate the outer tie rod joint. If you have a separator tool, use it. If not, remove the cotter pin and castellated nut from the tie rod end. Spin the nut over the stud upside down, but don't tighten the nut. You want the nut to be "slightly raised" above the tie rod stud. Now smack the nut with a big hammer; the joint should pop free. This keeps the tie rod stud from getting damaged.

If the joint doesn't pop free and the nut starts to deform, STOP and go get a pickle fork for tie rod ends.

Remove strut-to-knuckle bolts, they're on tight. Remove cotter pin from balljoint stud, remove castellated nut, reinstall castellated nut upside down over stud. Now here, the idea is to keep the whole joint from flying apart! Insert the big pickle fork between the top of the balljoint boot and the bottom of the spindle. The fork's tangs might have one flat side, and one angled side- if so, put the angled side facing "up" towards the spindle. Now smack the fork with a BFH until the joint pops free.

Installation is reverse of removal. Use new cotter pins. Beg/borrow/rent/steal a torque wrench b/c you MUST torque everything (ball joint nut and tie rod nut and strut bolts and caliper and rotor and etc) to spec!! Make sure you lube the balljoint and tie rod joint up again... heck, give the whole front end a lube job while you're under there.

You don't need to replace the balljoints to replace the spindle. I got my spindle from my '84 parts Firebird. Any 82-92 spindle will do ya, as long as it's not from an IROC or T/A with the fancy 1LE front brakes.

 

Oh, wait a minute. I wonder if you're describing the normal cuts in the spindle shaft. There should be one "slice" in the front of the shaft, in the threaded area, which would have sharp edges like you described. There will also be a "hollow" center at the spindle shaft's tip. Is that what you meant by rivits?

How was the area on which the bearings ride? Is that part smooth?

 

Hey thanks for replying. Alright, no the rivits that I am talking about are not in the threaded area. They are on the spindel shaft more towards the back of it if you have the rotor and bearings off of it. They rivits are not uniform in anyway. I wish I had a picture of it but I dont. The best I can describe it is on the shaft as it gets larger, its more towards where the inner bearing would be. I just figured id change the ball joints since I had to take them off anyway to take the spindle off. Speaking of which, how does the spindle actually come off, is there a bolt holding it on or how is it held in?

Rupert

 

Also, If this helps the rivits are in the direction to which the tire moves. Like say you had the everything off and was staring at the spindle, the rivits would be facing to your right and left, not up and down. Also they dont seem to have a uniform shape Hope that helps some

Rupert

 

tomp pretty much summed it up real well. its not too hard to do. i replaced mine last winter when i slammed into a curb when it was icy out (yes i was stupid enough to drive it in the winter) and bent up one of the spindles. I ended up buying a pair of spindles but only needed the passenger side one so if you're interested in purchasing the driverside spindle from me shoot me an email or pm and we'll work something out.

 

rivets huh?

i wonder if that stock dust shield is just rivited onto somthing and thats just soming loose.


if that were the case, you could just drill out the old rivets, pop some new ones in and be good as new... or take the dust shield off completely.

 

Dude If Your replacing your ball joints and stuff their is a really nice front end rebuild kit from the third-gen resources link above. $200 for everyting you need. and it will be good for when when you drop that 350 in.

 

Jrupert99,
The spindle is held on the ball joint stud by friction and the castellated nut at the top of the ball joint stud. Tightening the castle nut presses the spindle down onto the ball joint stud. The stud and hole in the spindle are tapered so the more the spindle is pushed on the stus the tighter it gets. It is similar to the way the castle nut holds the brake rotor/hub on the spindle.

 

Oh yeah, one more thing...If you decide to remove the spindle keep in mind it may be on tight. TomP mentioned to hit the pickle fork with a BFH, he is right. I took mine off last night to make a mod for a brake upgrade. It took me about an hour of beating on it with my 2 lb sledge hammer before it finally came free. It knocked the ball joint out of the A arm and destroyed the dust boot. The pickle fork often damages the dust boot so don't be suprised if this happens to yours. It may be a good idea to just replace the ball joint.

 

Here's a link to my suspension rebuild, including replacing the spindles. This should help you out:

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tar...tos.yahoo.com/

More pics are at the link below.

Ed

 

Rupert,
Do you have any pics you could post? I'm having a hard time visualizing rivets in the spindle shaft. I've never seen them in there before. I'm wondering if you have a bad spindle that a previous owner attempted to repair.

Here is a pic of one of my 1LE spindles. You'll notice there are no rivets on the spindle shaft. In fact, there are no rivets anywhere on the spindle.

 

Brett,

If you look on your spindle shaft, the best way to picture it on the darker area on the spindle shaft towards the back, its like someone took an actual fork and stuck a prong into it, and the one next to it is about the same except that the metal where the hole or rivet is now is pressed over and up some. Its like if you had a tub of butter and pushed a knife in it the area with the hole is now the rivet and the butter that was in the rivet hole is pushed up. I know this is about the strangest analogy I have ever used but its about the only thing I can think of. I am getting the part hopefully on tuesday and maybe i can get my friends digital picture so I can post it up so you have a better idea as well as some of the other members. I bought the car about 3 and a half years ago and have replaced so many things, that I could name more parts on the car that I have replaced rather than those I havent. Drives me nuts sometime but I love trying to fix it. Ill try to get that picture up here maybe tues or wed. Thanks everyone for your help.

Rupert