Spindle Replacement

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WarHammer

WarHammer

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Hello all. Discovered today that the spindles in my 71 Duster w/later model k-member, are no good. So I am on the hunt for replacements but I can't find anything. Everything found on the web supports disc brake conversions. Are these conversion spindles no different than the ones that come OEM on the later model k-members or are they not the same?
If they are not compatible what are the alternatives? I've read about using b and e body but it requires you to swap the upper control arms due to ball joint impingement issues and not wanting to go that route due to having just invested time and money in my upper and lower control arm restoration.

Thanks for any and all tips.
1971 Duster 360
 
I would track down a good set of oem spindles. They are out there in heaps. About aftermarket spindles, it depends on the kit so it's hard to say. The Dr. diff kit is a repop of the oem spindles
 
your 71 would either be 9" or 10" drum OR KH disk if stock.

What do you have?
 
The car is a 71 but the k-frame is from a later year that came standard with front disc brakes. I believe 73 and later so I am looking for spindles to match that k-frame not they year of the car. As for the size i am not sure what size rotors (definitely not drums) standard nor do i have any that came with the car.
 
You need oem 73-76 11" disc spindles.

You can also use FMJ body spindles, which are compatible and work just as well. Slightly taller, that's all.
 
Got a picture of your spindles? Are the disks 5x4.5” or 5x4”?

You could literally have anything on there.
 
I’m curious what is wrong with what you have.
Technically, you are referring to “knuckles” not spindles. Regardless, it takes a lot of impact to damage them.
Pictures would help if you are set on replacing them.
 
You use big words to object to the use of a correct term.

01 face 4.gif



KS 9.JPG


1725432856454.jpeg


1725432891520.jpeg
 
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those are correct for 73~76 A body.

if you *just* need spindles, and you don't wanna mess around with used stuff dr. diff can tighten you up at a very reasonable price.

by the looks of it, you're obviously going to need some rotors if the bearings got that bad. and it appears that the lower ball joint bolt holes are all waller'd out, so i'd inspect your hardware there and replace if it's suspect in any way, shape or form.

so... what happened? we all love a good story!
 
Great advice and thank you. Sadly no story to tell here. Never driven the car. Bought it as a roller and going through it and stumbled across this joy when dissassembling the suspension. Oddly enough the bearings that were installed were fine so it must have happened awhile ago and either concealed by installing the new bearings or po was just going to send it.
 
I don’t like those gouges but if the bearing mounting surfaces are fine, I don’t think the area in between matters. Nothing makes contact with the area in between. I pack my knuckles and rotors with grease in there. The knuckle and spindles are really strong. I have an A body set on my Charger. They came from a ‘75 Dart that I personally jumped 4 times for a home movie. My car aligns great. The knuckles are as true now as they were in 1975.
 
WarHammer said:
Kern, that sounds like some real fun
Click to expand...
I am the guy that doesn't toss a bone that still has meat on it.
It isn't as if I am broke, I just don't throw away stuff that still has life to it.
To be specific, the red arrows are pointing at the knuckle, the yellow arrow points to the spindle on the knuckle.

1725522500888.jpeg


Again, these are really strong.
I have to confess....I first looked at this thread and your pictures while I was using my phone. Small pictures and old eyes had me thinking that the scratches and gouges in the spindle shafts were limited to the middle areas.
I was wrong.

1725522541741.jpeg


The red arrow points to the inner wheel bearing hub. That looks fine. The purple arrows are where the outer wheel bearing rides and oooof! It looks horrible there. The rollers on the bearings will ride on that rough surface and get destroyed in short order. There is no saving them.
Those are actually THE knuckles/spindles to have because they allow the use of factory parts and they allow for great alignment. You have options. You could buy new reproductions, you could search wrecking yards or you could put out a Want To Buy ad online. (Here as well) As far as used ones, you may find similar ones to be easier to find, I'm referring to the later versions used on all other rear wheel drive Mopars from 1973-1989. These are often referred to as the FMJ knuckles. They are 2 lbs lighter each, 3/8" taller but still fit and work just the same. They align in a similar manner to the A body units but there are some slight changes that only a really good driver would ever notice. I'm not a good enough driver to be able to tell the difference.
In regards to the 1975 Dart that I jumped....

1725522560266.jpeg


In 1998-99, I made a video movie with the help of family and some friends. In it, I had wrecks, stunts and some off road trail drifting. This Dart was the bad guy car...I built jump ramps and got this car 4 feet in the air a couple of times with one jump that spanned 45 feet. I wanted to be able to drive it back home so I didn't hit the ramps at more than 35 mph.
I sold the car to a guy that wanted the slant six and 904. He gave the car back to me after pulling the engine. I saved the front brakes and some interior parts. The knuckles/spindles, rotors, brake booster and master cylinder ALL went into this car to replace the front drums:

1725522580836.jpeg


I still have the knuckles in place. A few months back I replaced the upper control arms with QA 1 units and aligned the car to 8 degrees of positive caster, 1 degree of negative camber and 1/8" toe IN. The car has always tracked straight and handled well.
Good luck with whatever you do.
The Dr Diff knuckles are priced fair.

1725522601106.png
 
Kern Dog said:
I am the guy that doesn't toss a bone that still has meat on it.
It isn't as if I am broke, I just don't throw away stuff that still has life to it.
To be specific, the red arrows are pointing at the knuckle, the yellow arrow points to the spindle on the knuckle.

View attachment 1716299306

Again, these are really strong.
I have to confess....I first looked at this thread and your pictures while I was using my phone. Small pictures and old eyes had me thinking that the scratches and gouges in the spindle shafts were limited to the middle areas.
I was wrong.

View attachment 1716299307

The red arrow points to the inner wheel bearing hub. That looks fine. The purple arrows are where the outer wheel bearing rides and oooof! It looks horrible there. The rollers on the bearings will ride on that rough surface and get destroyed in short order. There is no saving them.
Those are actually THE knuckles/spindles to have because they allow the use of factory parts and they allow for great alignment. You have options. You could buy new reproductions, you could search wrecking yards or you could put out a Want To Buy ad online. (Here as well) As far as used ones, you may find similar ones to be easier to find, I'm referring to the later versions used on all other rear wheel drive Mopars from 1973-1989. These are often referred to as the FMJ knuckles. They are 2 lbs lighter each, 3/8" taller but still fit and work just the same. They align in a similar manner to the A body units but there are some slight changes that only a really good driver would ever notice. I'm not a good enough driver to be able to tell the difference.
In regards to the 1975 Dart that I jumped....

View attachment 1716299308

In 1998-99, I made a video movie with the help of family and some friends. In it, I had wrecks, stunts and some off road trail drifting. This Dart was the bad guy car...I built jump ramps and got this car 4 feet in the air a couple of times with one jump that spanned 45 feet. I wanted to be able to drive it back home so I didn't hit the ramps at more than 35 mph.
I sold the car to a guy that wanted the slant six and 904. He gave the car back to me after pulling the engine. I saved the front brakes and some interior parts. The knuckles/spindles, rotors, brake booster and master cylinder ALL went into this car to replace the front drums:

View attachment 1716299309

I still have the knuckles in place. A few months back I replaced the upper control arms with QA 1 units and aligned the car to 8 degrees of positive caster, 1 degree of negative camber and 1/8" toe IN. The car has always tracked straight and handled well.
Good luck with whatever you do.
The Dr Diff knuckles are priced fair.

View attachment 1716299310
Click to expand...
Respectfully, you're wrong. The red arrow points to the seal surface: the inner bearing rides inboard of that. The purple arrows aren't pointing anywhere. The outer bearing rides on the cylindrical surface just inboard of the threads, and is fine. It's cylindrical so the outer bearing is free to move axially with adjustment and thermal expansion, and should never touch that shoulder.

Those spindles are fine. I'd run those over the stuff Dr. Diff sells, as I have heard his are cast (which is not nearly as strong as forged) and possibly Chinese.

Correction: Cass states his are forged and from the parting line as best I can tell, that's honest. I do not know the country of origin.
 
The roller bearings actually never touch the spindles. As they ride on their own inner race that slides on the machined area of the spindles. No way can you tell in a picture if it's OK or not. Have to slide the bearing on and make judgment. And repair as needed or throw away.
 
I would also check the hub for that knuckle/ spindle and make sure the races fit nice and tight in it, inner and outer races. But since you already bought new ones , you're ahead of the game.
 
RAT ROD AL said:
The roller bearings actually never touch the spindles. As they ride on their own inner race that slides on the machined area of the spindles. No way can you tell in a picture if it's OK or not. Have to slide the bearing on and make judgment. And repair as needed or throw away.
Click to expand...

Finally! Yes, exactly so.

The actual rollers of the bearings don’t ride on the spindles. And you’d absolutely have to slide the bearing onto that spindle to see if it the inner race has the proper fit on the spindle to be sure.

That said, based on the pictures, I would be pretty skeptical about those spindles being ok. The spindle (and knuckle) are pretty darn tough, so for the spindle to be as damaged as it appears to be took a lot of abuse.

As for 50+ year old, beat to crap spindles of totally unknown history being better than new reproductions from DoctorDiff, not a chance. The spindles the OP showed have been seriously abused. You’ve got no idea what the integrity of those spindles are, and DoctorDiff doesn’t sell junk.

I wouldn’t run those spindles over new reproductions based on the pictures anyway. The bearing surfaces don’t look great, there’s a ton of damage, even the threads are hammered. Even if they’re structurally sound, they’re gonna be a pain. I’d have to see them in person to be absolutely sure, but I think replacing them is the right thing to do.

As for the knuckle/spindle thing, they’re one part on these cars. We aren’t talking about a 4wd for example where the spindle can be unbolted from the knuckle and they’re actually two separate parts. Yeah, technically the upright is the knuckle and the axle stub is the spindle, but you can’t separate them on these cars, so it’s a knuckle AND a spindle because it’s just one part.
 
Warhammer,
I have a set like these I just pulled off a parts car. It also has one messed up spindle. If your good one might be the one I need to replace my bad one I would be interested in checking it out. I don't remember which side is bad.
 
Sorry for the delayed response. Been wrapped up in work. I'll get you some shots tomorrow evening and if your still interested we can go from there.
 
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