well this is one of those stories where i wish i would have taken pics....

about a week ago i went to my dads and heard some squeeking... i thought it was the brakes because when i got to my dads the hubs, lug nuts, and everything else was cold......

anyways yesterday im going to take my gf to school and the squeeling is intermittent so i stopped at the bank and deposited my checks and continue on to her school...

about 5 miles from her school i feel a significant grinding threw the steering

and about a mile later the wheel on the drivers side tried to lock up so i pull off the road at this little doctors office and inspect the issue and notice that the breaks are fine and the hub is smoking and has that chard grease smell....

so i get back in and take her the rest of the way to school.... then i went down to lowes to let the truck cool off for a few so i dont get the pee pee burned out of me lol

i go to the lower side of the parking lot after it cooled off and take up 4 parking places so i dont get squished by some old fart lol

i took the wheel off and saw the dust cap fall out ans said f**k....

i inspected what i could and made a few phone calls lol.... called my dad and then my gfs step dad... hes a manager at the car quest

so i pick her up from school and go to her step dads work... and began the fixing....

the outer bearing was fubar'ed it was in about a million pieces and the bearing race that goes on the spindle was welded to the spindle.... so i took a cold chisel and beat on it of about 2 hours trying to get it to bust off.... i was using a 6 pound sledge hammer too

i had to take a cut off wheel and cut threw it in 3 places and continued to beat on it with the hammer and chisel...

i finally got it off and had to grind the rest of the race off the spindle...

this took me 6 and a half hours to do in a parking lot... and it was hot and sunny yesterday...

her step dad didnt think i could get it fixed but i showed him lol

so 6 and a half hours and 19 dollars later i have my truck back on the road and a greater appreciation for my skills and the people i know

 

Exactly how did you fix it?

From what you said, you need a whole new spindle, and probably rotor with new bearings and races.

After a hub and spindle gets heated up like that, it's most certainly toast.

 

He is right. If you had to take a grinder to the spindle to remove the race there is no way it is to spec. Your new bearing may be working now but if that race has any movement on the spindle, and it will have some because it was ground, it will eventually fail again. Also the amount of heat that the spindle was exposed to will have weakend it.

It is up to you but I would replace that spindle, it is an easy job with the proper tools and much safer then risking its' failure while driving down the highway at 80 miles an hour.

 

i didnt grind into the spindle i just took off what was left of the bearing until the new one would just slide onto it and not rotate

no i dont need a new hub and i just replaced the bearings and races yesterday

the heat from the bearing isnt going to kill it. it got a million times hotter when the brake line collapsed and caused the caliper to stick

so like i said i fixed it

i have several years of automotive experience and her step dad does too and so does the guy that owns the mechanic shop that i borrowed some of the tools from

if at any point they seen something that was unsafe im sure i would have been told

 

I have had to cut races off of spindles and clean them up with emery cloth. As long as the new bearing slides on snug you should have no problems. As far as the hub, as long as the race didnt spin in the hub and the new one drives in tight there is no reason to replace it.

 

I think everything you did will be fine. Heating the spindle while grinding will not change the temper of the steel enough to matter especially since you did not grind the spindle just the bearing. The heat from the bearing going out and continuing to drive it could have egg shaped the inside of your hub but if the new race went in there it should be fine. I am a machinist and cut, heattreat, and stress relieve metal nearly everyday. Am I an expert no. Do I think your tire is going to come off at 80 mph no. Do I think some deminsions changed from heat, stress, driving on a failed part, beating with a 6 lb hand sledge? Yes. If it works though you should be fine. I have done worse and got by with it.

 

Its time for Thunder Dome , two men enter , one man leave , there are no rules.....Lew

 

Personally, Hitokori-You made a reasonable repair....And if it DOES screw up, just replace the hub, races, bearings, everything else and then people won't make "Assumptions"...LOL

RJ-While I do see some of your points as somewhat vaild, the point of the race welding its self to the spindle/hub, etc....I'm not seeing it...A welder has to MELT the metal to make the bond, not a few hundres degrees for a few minutes....Just aint seeing it....Most worst case scenario, what Hitokori went through: The heatd metal expanded, therefore making it extremely hard to remove the race.....JMO

Another note-Even though we all have our differences on here, I think we should keep the tension down a notch or two.....Don't want a mod to lay the hammer down....Just saying.....But hey, I'm the village idiot, so what do I know....

-Wes

P.S-You can check my avatar, I AM the VILLAGE IDIOT....lol