Axle rubbing?

My apolgies for posting so much lately, BUT im having some not so fun times with my suspension. Front ends are a joy to work on..

Anyway, here is the problem:

I had a bent spindle, so i got another one from the junkyard, and now it seems where the axle(the outer CV joint) actually attaches to the spindle is getting really hot. It also makes a noise when the wheel turns that sounds like the bearing is shot(a like scraping sound). It is not the bearing becasue i thought it was that before, so i got a new one pressed in(and the old one had plenty of grease in it).

It looks like to me that the axle someone is rubbing on the spindle, or like a non-moving part of the axle is hitting something. Has this happened to anyone?

I have a LX model and i pulled a spindle off of a LX-I model. Are the whole spindle assemblys the same for both cars, or is one smaller? If so could this be the cause of the rubbing?

Also get this...i put the car on jackstands, started it, and put it into gear(so the wheels are free spinning), i walked to the left side, its fine, i walk over to the right side, and the wheel is not even spinning at all. WHATS UP WITH THAT??? Its like the wheel wanted to spin, but it is not spinning. I know its bad to do that, i didnt do it for long, but like i said the wheel was not spinning at all. Also it was getting really hot right where the axle attaches to the spindle, right above the lower balljoint.

Any info would be great...

The LX-i spindle is different!!! The LX cars have smaller brakes on the front, which means that the spindles are also different from the LX-i cars that have the larger brakes. This is exactly why the conversion to LX-i disk brakes up front requires the entire knuckle assembly instead of just rotors and calipers.

Would that cause on an LX for the wheel to not spin, and the CV joint right next to the spindle(and the spindle itself) to get really hot and stuff?

I am not sure if it would cause such problems, but the fact that you used an LX-i spindle may point in that direction. If you still have your old spindle, compare it to the new one. Maybe the bearings are different for LX and LX-i? My $.02

actually Rus is right. kind-of. I know the dx/lx and LX-i knuckles are different, but if I'm not mistaken, the only difference is the hub. The actual knuckle itself is the same, as is the bearing, but the hub is different. (at least that's what I've been able to come up with when I compare them. But i could be wrong.)

As for your problem, I'm not real sure. Can you give a little more background on this? What was happening when you had the bent spindle? Did the wheel spin freely, or did this same thing happen? Also, if you were to put the car in neutral, with the car jacked up, can you spin the tire by hand or is it stuck? After you do this, put the car in gear with the whole front end jacked in the air, and try and spin the tire again by hand. (do this with the car off.)

Actually, now after just re-reading the post you made... ...did the axle spin, but not the wheel? If that's the case, then the hub and/or bearing is shot. If I were you, I'd either stick with the current knuckle, and have the hub/bearing taken off the old bent knuckle, and pressed into this new one to replace the current hub/bearing. Either that or get another knuckle from any dx/lx or 86-87 lx-i. All of those are the same.

sorry for such a long post.

OK i did some tests:

The axle is not spinning. Well its spinning a little bit. Like its barely turning, which is bearely turning the wheel(like maybe an inch here or there turn). The axle seems like it wants to spin more freely coming out of the transmission, but down at the spindle its very jumpy.

I can spin the right wheel, but it is hard, and it feels like something is rubbing. SO what i did, in very detail, is map out all the parts from the CV joint to the spindle, and i found that there looks to be some type of metal spacer or something on the VERY end of the axle(right next to the spindle) that is not moving on the left side(good side), but on the right side, it is moving. It looks like maybe this metal ring thing is the bridge between moving and non-moving parts? Any clue what this is, how it attaches and what it does?


I had a bent spindle when i hit the curb. You could hardly tell it was bent(if you could tell), but it was throwing my camber off to .9, and that was causing some serious tire rub(and you could see that tire when jacked up compared to the other one, was really tilted). So i went to the junkyard and got one, but i got one off of an LX-I, i also got prelude arms(which work fine).

EDIT: I was looking in my repair manual, and i think the ring i am talking about is the outer ring. Is that supposed to be attached to the axle? On the right side, mine is off. What is the function of this ring, and stuff?

EDIT AGAIN: I looked even closer, and the outboard ring on the axle is still on thre, but there is another ring that looks EXACTLY like it, that is just loose and i can hold it in my hand, i think its called the knuckle ring. In the book it just says "Install Knuckle ring" does not list what you do. I notice on the other side of the car, this ring does not move, but when the spindle was on the right side, the knuckle ring did move. There also is a nice collection of very fine metal shavings right above the lower ball joint. And you can see on the outside of the knunckle where it is shinny where its been rubbing, but i cant tell how the knuckle ring sits in there or is rubbing.

Thanks

well, that one axle isn't turning because of the differential... we have an "open" diff... the power moves across to the wheel with the least resistance...

as to the rest of your problem, i'm not too sure...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 88accordlxcarb

OK i did some tests:

The axle is not spinning. Well its spinning a little bit. Like its barely turning, which is bearely turning the wheel(like maybe an inch here or there turn). The axle seems like it wants to spin more freely coming out of the transmission, but down at the spindle its very jumpy.

I can spin the right wheel, but it is hard, and it feels like something is rubbing. SO what i did, in very detail, is map out all the parts from the CV joint to the spindle, and i found that there looks to be some type of metal spacer or something on the VERY end of the axle(right next to the spindle) that is not moving on the left side(good side), but on the right side, it is moving. It looks like maybe this metal ring thing is the bridge between moving and non-moving parts? Any clue what this is, how it attaches and what it does?


I had a bent spindle when i hit the curb. You could hardly tell it was bent(if you could tell), but it was throwing my camber off to .9, and that was causing some serious tire rub(and you could see that tire when jacked up compared to the other one, was really tilted). So i went to the junkyard and got one, but i got one off of an LX-I, i also got prelude arms(which work fine).

EDIT: I was looking in my repair manual, and i think the ring i am talking about is the outer ring. Is that supposed to be attached to the axle? On the right side, mine is off. What is the function of this ring, and stuff?

EDIT AGAIN: I looked even closer, and the outboard ring on the axle is still on thre, but there is another ring that looks EXACTLY like it, that is just loose and i can hold it in my hand, i think its called the knuckle ring. In the book it just says "Install Knuckle ring" does not list what you do. I notice on the other side of the car, this ring does not move, but when the spindle was on the right side, the knuckle ring did move. There also is a nice collection of very fine metal shavings right above the lower ball joint. And you can see on the outside of the knunckle where it is shinny where its been rubbing, but i cant tell how the knuckle ring sits in there or is rubbing.

Thanks

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Ok, so the problem is at the knuckle since there's rubbing there. I don't think anything should rub at all in the area. The knuckle ring (IMO) is probably just a means of keeping out dirt and dust. One possible cause of the rubbing may be an incorrectly seated bearing. If the bearing is not all the way into its seat, it will cause the axle to be closer to the inside of the knuckle. This may cause the inner part of the axle to actually contact parts that aren't meant to be in contact with it. It seems that you best bet right now is to carefully compare the components on the left and right sides, and if all looks the same, dissasemble and verify that the bearing is correctly seated. Just my $.02

I took that knuckle ring out, and got the bearing pressed in correctly and it works great.

This is using an LX-I spindle(with LX-I) hub, so they can be changed from LX to I models. Hope that can help someone.

And thanks to all for the help.

Glad you found the problem. Always glad to help a fellow 3geezer. :)