67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

[Michael H.]

Re: Did it this afternoon

I wonder why they didn't put holes through the rotor and spindle to get to these nuts. Would have made it a lot easier to pull the assembly, with the arm on the car.

I agree. As I mentioned earlier, a hole in the flange would have made spindle bearing maintenance a LOT easier.
If balance is an issue, a second hole 180* from the first would cancel the unbalance condition.

For drum brake 63 and 64, the nuts that secure the support to the control are are accessible.

[Joe L.]

Re: Did it this afternoon

Joe,

Here's my 67 production bearing housing for comparison with others you posted:



I finally separated it from the trailing arm, what a job. It was frozen to the arm. Lots of PB blaster and brute force. I probably could not have gotten the housing off with the arm on the car.

Here's the parts:



I was able to get to the control arm nuts without removing the parking brake mechanism, a 9/16" socket fit nicely between the shoes. I wonder why they didn't put holes through the rotor and spindle to get to these nuts. Would have made it a lot easier to pull the assembly, with the arm on the car. I guess the holes would be too big, and you would windup losing your lockwasher in the parking brake assembly.

Here's the culprit:



It was the inner bearing. See those little deformed pieces of metal in the picture. They were once cylindrical bearings and seem to fit the shape of the break in the spindle.

All in all, I'm glad I'm going to new trailing arm assemblies. Got to be the most efficient (and least costly) way to get back on the road. Will probably keep these parts for posterity.

Jerry-----


I expect the reason that no access was provided for the nuts is that GM never contemplated that the spindle would be serviced that way. Their procedures always involved the removal of the spindle using the press tool. From 1964 to about 1973, the procedure included the removal of the rotor rivets before removing the spindle. From about 1973 onward, GM revised the service procedure and recommended that the rotor NOT be removed from the spindle unless replacement of the rotor or spindle was required.

One other thing: please carefully inspect the very outer edge of your shields. I'm curious if the very outer edge shows evidence that no finish was ever present (i.e. it will be rusty). Many, if not all, of these REAR shields through 1972, or so, were manufactured from pre-punch galvanized material. With this sort of manufacture, the very edges of the shield (and all other cut edges, for that matter) will be bare metal.

[Clem Z.]

Re: Did it this afternoon

Joe,

Here's my 67 production bearing housing for comparison with others you posted:



I finally separated it from the trailing arm, what a job. It was frozen to the arm. Lots of PB blaster and brute force. I probably could not have gotten the housing off with the arm on the car.

Here's the parts:



I was able to get to the control arm nuts without removing the parking brake mechanism, a 9/16" socket fit nicely between the shoes. I wonder why they didn't put holes through the rotor and spindle to get to these nuts. Would have made it a lot easier to pull the assembly, with the arm on the car. I guess the holes would be too big, and you would windup losing your lockwasher in the parking brake assembly.

Here's the culprit:



It was the inner bearing. See those little deformed pieces of metal in the picture. They were once cylindrical bearings and seem to fit the shape of the break in the spindle.

All in all, I'm glad I'm going to new trailing arm assemblies. Got to be the most efficient (and least costly) way to get back on the road. Will probably keep these parts for posterity.

you see boat trailers along the road for the same reason,lack of grease that is why "bearing buddies" are so popular on boat trailers,easy to grease and get the water out. i used to tow boat,snowmobile and motorcycle trailers at 80/100 MPH with my 450 HP BBC pickup and those little 10" wheels had to be going 150 MPH! and bearing buddies was what kept those bearing alive. just shoot grease into them every trip.

[Tyler T.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

All this tech talk begs the real question. Is there an easy way to tell if your T arm needs attention? Actually yes. Remove hubcap if you have one drive car about 10 miles and check the temp of your hub. Be careful if it is real bad you could burn your hand. Same goes for KO wheel the KO should not be too warm, usually one will be hoter than the rest and should be checked.

Tyler

[Dick W.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Tyler, one note on that. The human hand perceives "too hot to touch" at about 110A draging brake would cause the temp to be higher on one side or the other. Excessive end play or noise would be your best clue.

[Gerard F.]

Re: Did it this afternoon

Jerry-----

One other thing: please carefully inspect the very outer edge of your shields. I'm curious if the very outer edge shows evidence that no finish was ever present (i.e. it will be rusty). Many, if not all, of these REAR shields through 1972, or so, were manufactured from pre-punch galvanized material. With this sort of manufacture, the very edges of the shield (and all other cut edges, for that matter) will be bare metal.

Joe,

Got to cleaning up the rear brake shield:



Can't tell if the edges were unplated, but they look like they were punched. There was no rust on the edges but when I hit it with steel wool, the edges shine more like bare metal than plated.

Funny that the outside of the shields seem to have remnants of black paint, unless that is what baked on crud and grease looks like after 41 years.

[Bryan M.]

Re: Did it this afternoon

Gerry,
Glad nobody was hurt and the damage can be repaired. It might have already been mentioned but, don't forget to check out the other side. It's probably due for a rebuild.