The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1954 GMC stock height spindles?

Folks,

went to do a brake job on my wife's '54 GMC 100. The kingpins were rocking so the brake job turned into a brake-job-plus-kingpin job. Sigh...

then, I noticed that the spindles were galled. So now the brake-job-plus-kingpin-job to-do list includes replacing the spindle. Sighx2....

anybody know where I can find a good used /new spindle?


Thanks

Place a Want Ad in the Swap Meet. Be sure to indicate that you want spindles (steering knuckles) that will hold the bushings tightly.

Do you mean that your spindles were galled, or were they "wallowed out" where the bushing sits/seats n the spindle? This is a common problem. That is why you want spindles that will hold bushings tightly. The bushings should "float" up and down in the spindle, but the bushings should not move/wobble side-to-side in the spindle.

The same size/style 3100 spindle was used from 51-59 (both sides are the same part), but they are hard to find.

By the way, if the bushings and spindles are well-worn, the king pin hole in the axle will most likely be over-sized and the standard king pin will be loose. You might need an over-sized king-pin and bushings set.

Thanks, tclederman,

They're galled where the ball bearings ride on the axle. Deep groove at both the front and rear bearing. Ugly. Plus it looks like the bearing may have walked (somehow) onto the axle threads neatly destroying the three inboard (closest to the kingpin) threads. The bushings look tight in the knuckle (at least I can't move them) but the pin is loose in the bushing so I guess a new bushing would fix it (except for the galling issue!)

good point on the oversize kingpin. I'll mic it tomorrow to see if it's bigger than .866

thanks!