Rear spindle variations.

[Dragula]

I have an 89 Lebaron GTC with rear disc brakes. There was a bit of whirring noise coming out of the rear and I had to take a look... What I found was bearings with 170,000 miles on them. Needless to say, they fell apart once I removed them. There was a good bit of wear on the spindle and I know darn well that id I replace the bearings on that worn spindle, it's going to be a waste of money.

My question is, can I use spindles off another car like a Lebaron sedan with drum brakes or do I need to be rigid with the brake type and year?

Thanks in advance!!
Bill

["Top Fuel" Bender]

Should all be the same as long as you stock with 5x100 pattern
I've swapped omni drum for big disc , same bearings spindles seals

["Top Fuel" Bender]

Should all be the same as long as you stock with 5x100 pattern
I've swapped omni drum for big disc , same bearings spindles seals

[turbovanman²]

Yep, pretty well any K car with disc or drum will work. Van's, nope.

[135sohc]

The earlier years used a different spindle bolt pattern and seal, dont know what year the change over was but its safe to assume anything ~86~ and later is the same.

[Dragula]

Went to price out a new spindle and got a price of $230.00! Yikes! Went to the local CNC and picked one up for $22.00. BIG difference.

Does anyone have a preference out there on nylon vs. steel bearings? I prefer steal myslef because all the weight of the vehicle is riding on two small bearings for either wheel.

[135sohc]

Either one is fine, oem was plastic. I prefer to use whatever isnt made in china, usually timken.

[turbovanman²]

Whatever you can get, both are fine.

[Vigo]

Am i the only one thats ever found them to be different? Cant remember the specific apps but they are NOT all the same just because they have the same pattern where they bolt to the axle. some are a bit longer. Dont remember which though. lol.

[rbryant]

Am i the only one thats ever found them to be different? Cant remember the specific apps but they are NOT all the same just because they have the same pattern where they bolt to the axle. some are a bit longer. Dont remember which though. lol.

I checked part numbers once and I only found a single part number.

Even the lbodys were the same (although I didn't check anything before '84 when some things did change on the lbody).

I have the original GLHS spindles on my car with rear discs.

-Rich

[Vigo]

ohhhhh wait i remember now. Its not the spindles that are different, its the hubs. I think i remember that some of the hubs put the wheel stud flanges at a different height.

[rbryant]

ohhhhh wait i remember now. Its not the spindles that are different, its the hubs. I think i remember that some of the hubs put the wheel stud flanges at a different height.

That may be.

I never checked all of the hubs. I do have Shelby charger hubs on my rear disc setup they work but are slightly different.

-Rich

[turbovanman²]

Am i the only one thats ever found them to be different? Cant remember the specific apps but they are NOT all the same just because they have the same pattern where they bolt to the axle. some are a bit longer. Dont remember which though. lol.

I've only checked a couple L body's and quite a few 87+ cars, and of course van's are totally different, so that maybe be earlier ones are different.

[rbryant]

The lbody rear hub is indeed different and doesn't have the larger tapered hub centric lip for the rotor.

I noticed it over the weekend. I double checked last night and the rotor still fits very tightly on the hub center, it just isn't tapered. There is actually a slight advantage to using the lbody hubs with aftermarket wheels because they don't stick the grease cap out as far which can push out center caps on some wheels.

The different grease cap was another project which is in my build thread but the picture still shows the hub differences. Lbody on the left, Lebaron on the right.



-Rich

[iangoround]

There is also a difference between drum brake hubs and some of the disc brake hubs. When I swapped from drum to '88 style disc, I had to use the hubs that came off the 88 as the original drum hubs were either too short or too long and pushed the rotor in to the caliper bracket.

[rbryant]

There is also a difference between drum brake hubs and some of the disc brake hubs. When I swapped from drum to '88 style disc, I had to use the hubs that came off the 88 as the original drum hubs were either too short or too long and pushed the rotor in to the caliper bracket.

Interesting... I almost want to pull the hubs back off from my car to see if the height is different on them.
I did all of the mockups for the Neon rotor with a 89+ rear hub from a lebaron and at the time the lbody hubs were still on my car with rear vented discs...
When I did the swap I just swapped all of my mockup stuff instead of trying the lbody hubs with the neon discs.

In my own picture I actually can't tell for sure if lbody rear drum hubs push the rotor outward but it almost looks like they would... I just didn't expect that or look at it even when taking the picture.

If the lbody drum hubs do push the rotor outward by 1/8" then it would actually make the neon rotor work without the spacer that I installed if I had simply used lbody rear drum hubs instead of trying to do it right with the 89+ hubs... The main difference afterall in the neon rotor to the 89+ rotor is that the rotor hat is thinner on the inside making the inside of the rotor which pulls it tighter to the backing plate.

Unfortunately I can't get to it until next weekend at the earliest.

-Rich

[turbovanman²]

The lbody rear hub is indeed different and doesn't have the larger tapered hub centric lip for the rotor.

I noticed it over the weekend. I double checked last night and the rotor still fits very tightly on the hub center, it just isn't tapered. There is actually a slight advantage to using the lbody hubs with aftermarket wheels because they don't stick the grease cap out as far which can push out center caps on some wheels.

The different grease cap was another project which is in my build thread but the picture still shows the hub differences. Lbody on the left, Lebaron on the right.



-Rich

Nice pics. That's probably why we can get away with swapping disc to drum and vice versa, no one really notices the grease cap spacing.