Left Front Spindle

[neilca]

Come to find out my left front spindle on my 99 4x4 has had a spun bearing. Any idea where I could find one?

[hawairish]

Not sure I follow. Do you mean one of the bearings locked up completely and spun the inner cone on the CV shaft? Don't think I've heard 'spun bearing' outside of crankshaft bearings, but that's a pretty different scenario.

Edited October 28, 2017 by hawairish

[neilca]

Not sure I follow. Do you mean one of the bearings locked up completely and spun the inner cone on the CV shaft? Don't think I've heard 'spun bearing' outside of crankshaft bearings, but that's a pretty different scenario.

 

Right! I replaced the bearings on this truck, the old ones looked OK but grease was black. I suspected they had never been changed in 150,000 miles. So all was good once I replaced and regreased the bearings, took it to be aligned and they said I had too much play in the bearing to align. So I take it apart, tighten the wheel bearing reassemble and find I still have play. I had tightened the bearing past where I thought it should be, lots of drag while turning, yet I still had play. I take the assembly apart to find the spindle had burn marks where the bearings ride. I slipped the inner bearing onto the spindle and sure enough there was my play. Not much but when you put a tire on it amplifies the movement.

 

I have bought a used spindle from eBay. I an going to replace the inner bearing again. That should fix the problem.

 

I have not seen this type failure in 30 years of working on cars. In the 1960's you would see it occasionally, but nothing recent.

[hawairish]

That's unfortunate and kind of surprising. Get any pics?