69 front spindle/static collector question......

[Kenneth G.]

hello all and happy memorial day,

i was out driving my 69 today when i heard a clinking noice coming from the rally wheel center cap which i figured was a lug nut that had come loose. upon pulling over i discovered that the front wheel dust cap had come loose and also had a small hole in it. in addition there was a several small pieces of twisted metal, a "star shaped" pice of metal and one smal pice of metal about the size of a watch battery. thinking about it, i remembered when i redid the front spindles several years ago, i had seen "static collectors" in the catalogues so i installed them (were they stock for a 69? necessary/recomended?). so the "star shaped" piece of metal and several small twisted pices of metal (which were same grade/thickness as the static collector) were the static collector unit. i wonder what happened to it.....
the other pice of metal i found , the "watch battery shaped piece of metal" is what concerned me. i visually examined, but didnt remove, the spindle and found the spindle nut and cotter pin to be secured and normal. one thing i noticed was that the "battery sized" piece of metal was about the same circumference as the hole in the spindle that the nut goes over? any ideas on what this metal is? i couldnt find any good pics of this whole assembly or of the static collector (cant remember exactly what it looks like. any ideas on what all this is?
the front end/ spindles (new bearings, grease when we installed it etc) has about 4500 miles on it. i also jacked the car up and the wheel spins fine with no noise and no play in the wheel.
hope you can understand this and tia!

kenny #31741 69 350/350

[Kevin H.]

Re: 69 front spindle/static collector question....

the watch battery sized piece is originally attached to the star pieces which hold it against the end of the spindle. The star pieces act like a spring and hold the button against the spindle. It sounds like the metal fatigued and broke apart. There was some nos ones on ebay a day or so ago, and you can also get them from most reproduction places.

[Kenneth G.]

Re: 69 front spindle/static collector question....

ok thats eases my mind a little bit then. so it basically sounds like the static collector fatigued and blew a hole through the dust cap. i was really worried something went wrong with the spindle/bearings. anyone know if those static collecotrs are necessary/recomended?

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 front spindle/static collector question....

kenny-----

I don't think that these static collectors were used for 1969 and later. I can say, for sure, that they were never originally installed on my 1969, and I've not seen them on other 69's that I've gotten into quite some years ago.

[Jack H.]

I know...

the static collector ARE called out for installation in '67 and by '71 they're no longer used. MANY prior owners & mechanics simply removed/discarded them when they re-packed bearings because they were a 'nuissance' item.

The static collectors were there to provide a discharge path for static electricity accumulation from the tires in contact with the highway pavement. They addressed owner complaint of random 'snapping/popping' noise in the radio under fringe reception conditions.

The degree of severity varied with actual radio reception conditions and the specific characteristics of the rubber used in the tires. Today's modern rubber technology simply obviates the need for static collectors and they've gone the way of 'buggy whips'...

So, I'd say you only need them IF you're driving on original non-DOT tires AND you're listening to tunes under weak signal reception conditions. As to whether they were factory stock on '69 Corvettes, you should check the U69 section of your AIM book to see if they're called out...

[Chuck S.]

Re: I know...

I first saw these devices in a 66 Chevy bought new...didn't find any in my 20 year old 70 Corvette when I took it apart.

As Jack says, I wouldn't use them unless I thought they were functionally required. I would have a concern about these things failing, and the brass chips and debris possibly finding it's way into the wheel bearing. Brass is a soft metal, but it's still metal that not supposed to be in the bearing.

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 front spindle/static collector question....

My 1970 doesn't/didn't have them