Technical Need Help - Axle Galling

Hey guys, I have a forged so-cal axle and front end that I'm trying to ***emble for mockup for my 28 Model A RPU.

Everything was new. The issue I'm having is the PS spindle is tight on the axle. I've filed and sanded to get it to fit better, and it initially works fine and the the surface of the spindle and axle gall together on the top side. The driver side is perfect with or without paint on it, and flops around easy. The p***enger side is tight for some reason. Has anyone dealt with this that can recommend the best course of action and/or suggestions on the amount of clearance between the two that would be best as well as what level of finish would be best on both sides? I've attached a couple photos for reference. I bought new to make it easier on myself and I'm pulling my hair out. Hopefully someone can help.

 

The top of the axle looks like something had been hitting on it right next to the pin hole. It could be out of round. Did you ream the bushings? ID is .814". Did you use a line reamer? The top and bottom holes could be at a slight angle to each other. A line reamer will do both holes at the same time, keeping them in alignment. Check the up/down movement of the spindle to make sure the shims aren't too thick (tight). There's not much else that could cause your problem.

 

What axle and what spindle.
Lack of lubrication may actually be the issue as I have seen too many car enthusiasts have parts wear out too fast because they don't want grease showing or don't want to get grease on their ch***is parts. Then we have the guys who have never had a daily that had to be greased on regular intervals and don't understand that these old rigs or old design rigs need to be greased every thousand miles even if you are in the middle of a three thousand mile road trip.

 

The king pin fits great into both the axle and the spindle on their own. It's slightly tight going in but nothing big.

Everything is new. So, no, I didn't ream them. I had read up on this and learned it was unlikely I would need to with all brand new stuff. There is no up-down movement, and when I first put this side together it was very very tight to get the spindle on the axle.

The top of the axle wasn't hitting anything, it's galling.

It's a So-Cal axle (first sentence of my post). Everything was purchased from the same local vendor. Although the calipers say Speedway and the brakes were all ***embled to the spindles so I'm not sure the spindles aren't from Speedway. The drivers side has no issues, everything goes together great and moves easily with no lubrication.

I have a hard time believing it's a lubrication issue. This is dry-fitting everything and I had just smoothed both surfaces with 400 grit before ***embling and it did this after 4-5 turning cycles. Grease isn't going to stop it from being a real issue in the vehicle. The brakes and steering weren't even on the spindle when I did this. It's only ever been together on a bench.

You can keep your ranting about someone's competency levels to other threads, thanks.

 

He’s not ranting, sit back a bit and open up your mind to some knowledge
Simple thing, do you check “pre gapped spark plugs “ ?
They are new after all…

 

This has only been ***embled and put together on the bench, and did the pictured damage after 4-5 turn cycles after I initially had prepped both surfaces with 400 grit and cleaned them well. No brakes or steering installed, just the spindle. Everything is all new. Originally this side was really tight, I have sanded both sides of the top joint down with the DA and it's improving. Do I just keep doing that or am I missing something?

 

Whatever it was it was pointless here.

 

Okay, I couldn’t let this go before bed (night shift guy here)


You have one side that works, right? One side that doesn’t, right?

spindles will swap side to side. Ya, you won’t run it like that, but you can figure out if the axles is whacked, or the spindle is.
Night, er..morning.

 

Is there a clearance number that I should be aiming for on both sides between all components?

 

Sanding a machined bearing surface with a D/A isn't an ideal practice , impossible to keep the surface flat .

 

The sanding was to remove the file marks after careful filing to remove galling from the first time I ***embled it. This isn't the critical flat bearing surface in the ***embly anyways.

 

Thanks, you got me past my thinking block on this one. I appreciate it!

 

Looks like foreign material rubbed the hell out of it. Did anything fall out when you dis***embled? Just my knee jerk.

 

Those repro spindles can be swapped side for side, so if you measure them and find one is tighter, switch them. Also measure the bearings, as maybe one of those is taller. Hopefully a mix and match of the components will give you enough clearance.

If not, I would not be scared to take a nice fine file to the top of the axle. The spindle won't ride on it and you will never wear it unevenly because of your modification.

 

Also, when measuring things as Moriarity suggested above, get a reading at about every 90 degrees around the pin bore on the axle and spindles. This should help to verify if the machined thrust surfaces have been finished parallel to each other. It might be helpful to use an I.D. mic on the inside surfaces on the back of the spindle.

 

This is true. Sure did not accuse you.
Keep us posted on your progress. Best wishes

 

Like Mark said, figure which piece is of and tune up the fit. There is normally some clearance between the top of the axle and the spindle.

Now if it turns out you do have Speedway spindles; I'd level out the axle in a vice and check the camber with an angle finder or digital level. I have seen a few of their spindles with bad machining.

 

Thanks, I'll measure everything up and see if it might fit best in a different configuration. The spindles with brackets and brakes were ***embled when I got them, so stupidly this didn't occur to me to swap the spindles around. Duh.

Yeah, that's exactly what I've already done. A fine flat file on the top of the axle and mating side of the spindle to remove the galling. I used my DA to remove most of the sanding marks then carefully used a block by hand to remove the last marks.

Good ideas, thanks for the input! I'll check all that stuff this evening.

 

Oh okay, good idea. I'll be sure to check that out as well. Thank you!

 

Don't have the figures in front of me but the up/down clearance, fully ***embled, would be fine at about .005"clearance between the spindle and the axle.

 

Thank you! I found another figure saying 0.006-0.008" was fine, so that's right in the same ballpark. Much appreciated!

 

Turns out you all had a bit of it right.

• The surfaces of the spindle ears that face each other are not parallel. On the left spindle, they taper away from each other as you get further from the spindle. On the right, they taper towards each other.
• The bearing I was trying to use on the right was 0.020" taller than the one on the left. Yeah, 0.020".
• Swapping the bearings made my clearance on the left nearly perfect, the right is very close and I just need to clean up the galling damage and it will be perfect. Both spindles move really nicely now.

Thanks all who got me on the right brain wave to solve the problem! It was simple enough but I was just stuck.

Once I put it all back together I'll have a look at what the camber looks like to make sure my spindles aren't still off. Thanks for pointing that out @RICH B !

 

@Glenn Thoreson this information was really helpful, nice that I had a reference to compare to with my feeler gauges. Thank you!