spindle rebuild thread.

[lostforawhile]

I'm going to post pictures and info here as my project to rebuild this set of spindles progresses. so far I already have a set of spindles i've stripped to nothing, I beadblasted them and sealed them in epoxy primer,then painted them black. I beadblasted the hubs,knocked out the old studs,and had them powdercoated. as of right now,I'm waiting on ball joints,and ARP wheel studs from Summit Racing,wheel bearings from Nappa,and brake dust shields and dust seals from all OEM parts. I will keep posting as the project progresses.

[lostforawhile]

I pressed the bearings at work,and didn't have the camera,so I took some pictures at home instead.
in order to press in these bearings,after removing the old ones with whatever means needed,(Bazooka,hand gernade,nuclear device,etc. you will need the proper tools to press them properly,without damage. I made my own,but you can buy tools like this also. top arbor,this has a ring about an eigth of an inch wide,it presses on the outer part of the bearing race only.

underneath of it,you need a solid piece,or a ring to sit in the flat groove on the back of the spindle,this is what the spindle sits on on the press

both assemblies together(note- in this picture I had already pressed in the bearing,this is for demonstration)

next install the snap ring,this is very important and you need outside snap ring pliars to do this

bearing pressed without snap ring

in order to press in the hub you will need a smaller diameter arbor that rests on the inside race

this will support the inner bearing race while you press the hub assembly into it. well thats it for now kiddies,as soon as I get my parts i'll take some more pics and keep going on this.

[lostforawhile]

ok.I made a balljoint installation tool,,I couldn't press them on the press because the arm gets in the way. what you need is something to go on the top of the ball joint,and something hollow for the pin to go into on the other side. I made one that uses a C-clamp and two aluminum pieces.
tool on spindle

upper tool,I put a notch in it so the clamp doesn't slip off.


lower piece that fits on the bottom side of the spindle

hub powercoated and ready for studs

[lostforawhile]

ok.I made a balljoint installation tool,,I couldn't press them on the press because the arm gets in the way. what you need is something to go on the top of the ball joint,and something hollow for the pin to go into on the other side. I made one that uses a C-clamp and two aluminum pieces.
tool on spindle

upper tool,I put a notch in it so the clamp doesn't slip off.


lower piece that fits on the bottom side of the spindle

hub powercoated and ready for studs

[mkymonkey]

lol...dude you need better pictures man. i always hate looking at your pics cuz they're so blurry. so i think im going to buy you a camera! lol


anyway this thread is very interesting but i dont have use for it just yet knock on wood.

anyway good write up

[lostforawhile]

lol...dude you need better pictures man. i always hate looking at your pics cuz they're so blurry. so i think im going to buy you a camera! lol


anyway this thread is very interesting but i dont have use for it just yet knock on wood.

anyway good write up

I'm trying to doing everything on film i can,but ran out of money this week after spending 500 on suspension parts

[lostforawhile]

YAY!!! came in the mail today

the ball joints will be here monday and the rest of the stuff ships monday.
these arp wheel studs look so nice,too bad no one will ever see them.

[MessyHonda]

mkymonkey is right you have to get better cam... everything looks good tho...i like how you can just take your car apart to make it better...i take mine apart and i cant put it backtogether. i got a digital cam for 179 on sale like 2 years ago and it takes alright pics, its a 4MP one too

[lostforawhile]

LOL I'l try to get these on film for later,can't afford a digital camera right now,the front end had to be fixed,had destroyed my tires. I really didn't have any choice. I'm glad I got these spindles a few years ago,I finally had to rebuild them. I would hate to try to rebuild the ones on th car while it sat on jackstands. when I get these rebuilt,it's just a matter of swapping them out. I will probably strip the old ones too,for emergencys.

[lostforawhile]

ok got one brake mud guard out today,only spent two hours in the sun being eaten by skeeters and fireants,didn't see any rattling snakes today,maby they got a tamborine player instead. tomorrow i'll try to get the other one out.in case anybody wants to know the part number for the seal on the back of the knuckle is 44348-SEO-000,thats a honda number. the ball joints are installed,and all I need now is those seals to come in. right now I am T.I.R.E.D. (tired irritable ready to take a nap )

[speedpenguin]

Wow, when you said you were going to rebuild the entire car you weren't shitting around!

[StressSolutions]

great thread, keep it up, man

[lostforawhile]

I will take some film pictures as soon as I can,I need to take a roadtrip to Thomasville saturday morning to go get the seals. the c-clamp wasn't strong enough to press the ball joints so i put the aluminum pieces in a vise. same principle though. I'm fixing to go sandblast the other mud guard so i can paint it.

[lostforawhile]

ok here are some more pictures,
the completed spindle assembly


this is the seal that goes in from the back of the knuckle,they are only available from the dealer,but are cheap. this keeps dirt out of the bearing and protects the knuckle from the cv axle. honda calls it a knuckle ring,I call it a pain in the ass to figure out what it was. this has to be driven straight in or it will tilt to one side.

moog ball joint,I can't stress enough to use quality ball joints,if you break a cheap one you'll lose the ability to steer the car. these lower ball joints are critical in this type os suspension setup.
a hint for installing these types of boot clips,it's a flat double spring that expands,you use something to expand it off the boot,clamp it in place with a small pair of needlenose vise grips,slip the clamp over the boot in place,and release the pliars. you'll pull your hair out trying to install it if you don't know this.

tomorrow the knuckles go in.

[lostforawhile]

ok the new knuckles are in,at the same time I replaced the brake pads,drained the transmission and replaced the drivers side axle seal.




after hurricane Accord blew through my back yard



after I get these film pictures developed,I'll post them in my image station album

[Ichiban]

The knuckles look good, I'm gonna be doing mine soon with Prelude bearings and flanges for the A20 swap.

Why didn't you just use the old bearing races to press in the new ones with? Just grind down the edge a bit so they don't stick in the knuckles. Also, any bearing shop should carry all of the seals and bearings for this car, they do for mine. I found this out the hard way when I paid 25 bucks for that exact seal on my quad when the dealer said it "Honda only" My buddy had it in stock at Kaman Industrial for like 4 dollars.

[lostforawhile]

The knuckles look good, I'm gonna be doing mine soon with Prelude bearings and flanges for the A20 swap.
Why didn't you just use the old bearing races to press in the new ones with? Just grind down the edge a bit so they don't stick in the knuckles. Also, any bearing shop should carry all of the seals and bearings for this car, they do for mine. I found this out the hard way when I paid 25 bucks for that exact seal on my quad when the dealer said it "Honda only" My buddy had it in stock at Kaman Industrial for like 4 dollars.

well I couldn't use the old bearing races because they were still on the car,I took these old spindles apart a couple of years ago I just finally had to fix them. It wasn't much to make a couple of arbors to press the bearings in,I work in a machine shop. it's a big time saver to do the knuckles off the car first. I got the bearings from nappa,everyone who had the seals swore they were O rings,they are actually a metal piece that presses in the back. they were a little over four dollars apece at the dealer. I got the wheel studs from summit,I used arp,as hard as they are to change on the front,I wasn't taking chances,and I used moog ball joints, It was more then I wanted to spend,but when you are doing front end work like this,you can't really trust cheap parts. I was really suprised how good the condition of the lower control bushings are,I'm going to rebuild a set someday with poly if I can find them,but they were still solid.

[Cheeseburger]

looking good tim!

[lostforawhile]

I had another tip to pass on regarding front end work on this car,a lot of times the splines in the cv axle will get stuck inside of the splines in the hub. I've seen a lot of cars where people have hammered on the splines trying to knock them loose,don't do this!! it will damage them and you'll end up buying a new axle. you can tap it out with a brass or aluminum drift,they are softer then the hardened splines,but here's an easier way.because of the way the cv axle will telescope backwards,you can take a three jaw puller,or a two jaw if you like,and install it like you are going to pull the hub off.when you tighten it down though,instead of it pulling off the hub,it will press the cv axle backwards out of the hub with no damage. it only has to move maby an inch,then it will pull the rest of the way out. it's really important to grease the splines of the axle before installing it also. it's a tight fit in the hub,but there is still some movement under braking and acceleration. over time this wears on the hub splines. I'm not sure who on here is old enough to remember MG's and other brittish cars with knock off wheels,but they had the same problem. the hub had splines on it and the wheel had splines that fit over the hub. it's the same principal. they had to be greased or it would wear the splines. with modern greases,the grease in the hub splines will protect them for a long time. this can also be a source of clunks from the front end on our cars.if you grip the metal part of the cv axle right behind the bearing,and try to move the hub while holding it stationary,any movement means wear in eithier the cv splines,the hub splines,or both. with the prices on new hubs for these cars,and the difficulty of replacing them,that grease becomes even more important.

ball joint tip
before you install your ball joints in the knuckles there is a very important step to do,you need to take the ball joint and see if it fits properly in the tapered hole in the lower control arm. if you put the pin in the lower arm and can feel movement,the lower arm hole is tapered,and the lower arm MUST be replaced. if you don't do this the excess movement of the pin in the lower control arm,can cause it to BREAK. when this happens you will lose the abilty to steer the car,and possibly lose your life!!!! usually the lower arm hole wears because the nut has come loose and it's been moving. one laset tip,ALWAYS use new cotter keys,don't use wire,old straightened keys,bobby pins or anything else. your safety is worth the few cents for new pins.

[EricW]

Good work Tim.

I just got done doing the same thing but I didn't paint everything. I did every thing in a few hours at the hobby shop(basically a mechanic shop that you can use for like $20 a day and have all the really expensive tools available too you) on the local navy base. I had a problem with half of the inside of the bearing getting stuck on the hub and not having a puller whose jaws would fit in between the bearing half and the backside of the front of the hub. I finally just modified and almost broken puller that they said they were going to replace. I haven't installed mine yet since i don't have rims large enough to use them.

[lostforawhile]

Good work Tim.
I just got done doing the same thing but I didn't paint everything. I did every thing in a few hours at the hobby shop(basically a mechanic shop that you can use for like $20 a day and have all the really expensive tools available too you) on the local navy base. I had a problem with half of the inside of the bearing getting stuck on the hub and not having a puller whose jaws would fit in between the bearing half and the backside of the front of the hub. I finally just modified and almost broken puller that they said they were going to replace. I haven't installed mine yet since i don't have rims large enough to use them.

what I had to do was make a piece and actually weld it to the bearing still in the hub,then I put steel plates on eithier side of it and presses it out that way. it's really not pressed in there that tight,
it's just when it's been in there for years that it gets stuck. the amount of heat that the disc brakes produce in the hubs is unreal. when these bearings finally came out it was like a gun went off. it took a 50 ton press to get them out. it's always a good idea to do this on a spare set of hubs,it's not uncommon to break a cast iron hub when removing old front wheel drive bearings.

[lostforawhile]

I had another tip to pass on regarding front end work on this car,a lot of times the splines in the cv axle will get stuck inside of the splines in the hub. I've seen a lot of cars where people have hammered on the splines trying to knock them loose,don't do this!! it will damage them and you'll end up buying a new axle. you can tap it out with a brass or aluminum drift,they are softer then the hardened splines,but here's an easier way.because of the way the cv axle will telescope backwards,you can take a three jaw puller,or a two jaw if you like,and install it like you are going to pull the hub off.when you tighten it down though,instead of it pulling off the hub,it will press the cv axle backwards out of the hub with no damage. it only has to move maby an inch,then it will pull the rest of the way out. it's really important to grease the splines of the axle before installing it also. it's a tight fit in the hub,but there is still some movement under braking and acceleration. over time this wears on the hub splines. I'm not sure who on here is old enough to remember MG's and other brittish cars with knock off wheels,but they had the same problem. the hub had splines on it and the wheel had splines that fit over the hub. it's the same principal. they had to be greased or it would wear the splines. with modern greases,the grease in the hub splines will protect them for a long time. this can also be a source of clunks from the front end on our cars.if you grip the metal part of the cv axle right behind the bearing,and try to move the hub while holding it stationary,any movement means wear in eithier the cv splines,the hub splines,or both. with the prices on new hubs for these cars,and the difficulty of replacing them,that grease becomes even more important.

ball joint tip
before you install your ball joints in the knuckles there is a very important step to do,you need to take the ball joint and see if it fits properly in the tapered hole in the lower control arm. if you put the pin in the lower arm and can feel movement,the lower arm hole is tapered,and the lower arm MUST be replaced. if you don't do this the excess movement of the pin in the lower control arm,can cause it to BREAK. when this happens you will lose the abilty to steer the car,and possibly lose your life!!!! usually the lower arm hole wears because the nut has come loose and it's been moving. one laset tip,ALWAYS use new cotter keys,don't use wire,old straightened keys,bobby pins or anything else. your safety is worth the few cents for new pins.

I need to correct an omission on here,when you check the splines for wear as described,the axle nut has to loosened first.

[lostforawhile]

hey can the site archive and save some of these technical threads i did? i did them as how to threads,and when image station vanishes, all the pics do too. dam sony anyways.

[snoopyloopy]

i like it.

[lostforawhile]

i will try to fix the pictures as soon as i can on here have to rehost them on imagestation is all