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to remove spindle pin or not to remove spindle pin


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My local hardware store or Fastenall doesn't have aything that big in-stock.  Sunny Z is a corn farmer, so his hardware store has stuff for tractors and combines.  You guys just get out a tape measure and order up the appropriate length bolts, nuts and washers from McMaster Car or boltdepot.com.  A picture will just look like a big ass bolt.

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Isn't one problem with the bolt solution that you'll be clamping across the transverse link ears and the hub mount.  Compressing across the bushings, or tweaking the ears of the link.  Unless you get the perfect thread length and bolt length combination.  Or depend on thread locker.  The bolt solution also lets the bolt spin in the hub/strut mount bore.  With the stock pin and locking bolt there's no spinning or wear, only the rubber in the bushing moves, or the pin inside the bushing (I think).  Just seems like there might be more to think about than just a simple part swap.  5/8" (.625") is also a hair small I think.  The stock pin is probably 16 mm, or .63".  That's why it's easy to use the 5/8" bolt.

 

I did send a car to the wrecking yard though with a 5/8" bolt in there, after swapping parts.

 

 

 

Not positive but I think that if you stuck a spindle pin alone in a strut, with a lock bolt, and tightened the washers and nuts on each end you'd end up with a solid assembly with two areas of a bushing's width on each side.  The bolt solution would be different.

 

Edited for wrongness...

Edited by NewZed
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I want to say the bushings have steel inserts in them so you can only tighten them so much and it will still allow the LCA to move in relation to the hub. 

 

I am curious, as well. I have a spare set, and I would like to avoid using the spindle pin when I put it together. Is it just a long 5/8 bolt with a washer on the head and a nut and washer on the other end? Anyone have the length needed as well?

Edited by seattlejester
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I think that in the stock configuration the nut tightens or presses the washer against the shoulder on the spindle pin.  If it tightened on the bushings' inner sleeve you would have a line of continuous metal from the strut/hub to the locking bolt to the spindle pin to the inner sleeve back to the strut/hub.  Solid metal, no rotational freedom.  So if you use a bolt you have to replicate the original design, or let the bolt and nut float with a specific distance between them or let the transverse link (control arm) ears take the load and let it float, converting from a pin locked to the strut/hub to a pin locked to the transverse link.  Either way, with a bolt the bolt and its hole are now moving bearing surfaces and need lubrication.  Maybe a Zerk fitting in the locking bolt hole.  And maybe the typical yellow zinc surface on the bolts isn't the best for a wear application.  Or it's all just over-thinking, stick it in there and crank it down instead.  Food for thought.

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Just depends on how often you pull that sucker.  Pull it a couple of times for suspension mods, and you'll start to like the little bit of play in the bore of the hub ears. Think about it, your front LCAs are just mounted on a bolt-no locking pin there!   Measure your spindle pin with a tape measure and you will have the length you need.  The metal sleeve on the bushing is what you tighten up to-the movement is in the rubber.  If you look at your spindle pin, there isn't any wear on it-just corrosion-that's why it is so hard to disassemble.  Same story in the cast ears of the hub.  If it is too hard for you to emotionally tighten a bolt up against it, use a lock washer or a nylock nut, or a second nut as a lock nut.  That way, you don't feel like you need to really crank it down too tightly.

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I cut them out of my 72 after reading about it.

When I did my 73 I tapped them out with a drift no problem.

 

Just pulled them from my 1970 with just light and steady hammer.

They looked brAnd new inside and I could have reused them except for belling the threads.

 

You might be surprised.

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Sorry should have clarified, the replacement energy suspension bushings have steel inserts all the way through, so it would be impossible to seize the bushing. The arm would just move around the outer sleeve if worse came to worse I imagine. I think I get what you are getting at, I would imagine the right length bolt or a nylock nut with the proper torque should solve the problem.

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