Common adjustment gets expensive, lessons learned
Hedgehog
Always Off-Roading Jeeper
- Posts
- 9,370
- Thanks
- 4
- Location
- Tucson/Marana Arizona
- Vehicle(s)
- -1975 Jeep CJ5, 360 V8, Headers, Duel Exhaust,T15 transmission, D-20 Transfer case, Twin Stick Conversion, Warn 8274 Winch
-1951 Willys Wagon, 4 cylinder, "F" head, little rust, very close to stock
My mechanical rebuild on my '75 CJ5 , "The Witch" is nearing a more or less staged end. Just one more clear issue to repair and I'm on my way to Motor Vehicle for a license to legally play on the roads of Arizona.
While doing my initial inspection of "The Witch" I knew the front drivers side wheel was loose, even wobbly, in desperate need of adjustment, but the bearings seemed to roll smoothly. As the work progressed on "The Witch" I began to worry in the back of my mind. I can honestly say that I've never removed a part to say, "Hey this is great, no problems here." Lots of parts were simply warn out, others were poorly repaired, many were simply disappointing.
So, yesterday the Jeep was jacked up. Honestly it was a warning to see how loose the front bearings really were. Then the reality struck when the SuperWinch Hub cap was removed. there was grease ..... LOTS of grease .... All of it a frightening red color that felt gritty to the hand. I'm in trouble. It turned out that the bearings, well the cages were covered in scaling rust, the bearings themselves looked shinny, but were seriously pitted. Perfect items to toss directly into the trash. The bearing seals were perfect ... at one time that is .... now they were cracked and chunky. Trash! I was pleased to see, though pitted some, the spindle was serviceable. So, it was obvious that new seals and bearings were in order and honestly I was not surprised by this.
Then I took a trip to my local Jeep guy, Jeep God if you will. Rob at Willy's Works here in Tucson is rarely close to being wrong so I trust him and he's earned it for me.
First he picked up my SuperWinch Hub. The hub bearing was absolutely shot. Short of getting a machinist to build a new bearing the hub was done, I.E. trash. He had a set of ARB hubs, but would not suggest them to me as a replacement. He likes Warn Premium Hubs and called around to find a set here in Tucson. Now "The Witch" has new Warn Hubs. That is Rob in a nutshell. He will sacrifice his profit to get the RIGHT part for his customers.
Then Rob suggested something that I've never done before. He said, "Since your this far you should check your spindles Torongton bearing." I just read on CJ Forums about how difficult it can be to remove the spindles from an old Jeep. He understood and showed me exactly how to remove the spindle and backed it up by showing me a spindle and what to look for.
Removing the bearing went perfectly as shown. Naturally, as things go with "The Witch" the spindle bearing was trashed, I. E. junk. As luck would finally have it, the axle drive shaft was in good shape. So, a new bearing was added to the pile of new parts.
New bearings, seals, hubs, lots of other parts passed inspection and "The Witch" has new moving parts in the front. Another thing off the problems list.
One thing I hope someone takes from this. Rob says he gets a lot of people that tell him that they rebuilt the front wheel assembly's on their Jeep. Then he asks about the spindle bearings. It seems that nobody does a service on the spindle bearings. Listen guys, this is relatively simple and kept simple if you service the spindle regularly.
While doing my initial inspection of "The Witch" I knew the front drivers side wheel was loose, even wobbly, in desperate need of adjustment, but the bearings seemed to roll smoothly. As the work progressed on "The Witch" I began to worry in the back of my mind. I can honestly say that I've never removed a part to say, "Hey this is great, no problems here." Lots of parts were simply warn out, others were poorly repaired, many were simply disappointing.
So, yesterday the Jeep was jacked up. Honestly it was a warning to see how loose the front bearings really were. Then the reality struck when the SuperWinch Hub cap was removed. there was grease ..... LOTS of grease .... All of it a frightening red color that felt gritty to the hand. I'm in trouble. It turned out that the bearings, well the cages were covered in scaling rust, the bearings themselves looked shinny, but were seriously pitted. Perfect items to toss directly into the trash. The bearing seals were perfect ... at one time that is .... now they were cracked and chunky. Trash! I was pleased to see, though pitted some, the spindle was serviceable. So, it was obvious that new seals and bearings were in order and honestly I was not surprised by this.
Then I took a trip to my local Jeep guy, Jeep God if you will. Rob at Willy's Works here in Tucson is rarely close to being wrong so I trust him and he's earned it for me.
First he picked up my SuperWinch Hub. The hub bearing was absolutely shot. Short of getting a machinist to build a new bearing the hub was done, I.E. trash. He had a set of ARB hubs, but would not suggest them to me as a replacement. He likes Warn Premium Hubs and called around to find a set here in Tucson. Now "The Witch" has new Warn Hubs. That is Rob in a nutshell. He will sacrifice his profit to get the RIGHT part for his customers.
Then Rob suggested something that I've never done before. He said, "Since your this far you should check your spindles Torongton bearing." I just read on CJ Forums about how difficult it can be to remove the spindles from an old Jeep. He understood and showed me exactly how to remove the spindle and backed it up by showing me a spindle and what to look for.
Removing the bearing went perfectly as shown. Naturally, as things go with "The Witch" the spindle bearing was trashed, I. E. junk. As luck would finally have it, the axle drive shaft was in good shape. So, a new bearing was added to the pile of new parts.
New bearings, seals, hubs, lots of other parts passed inspection and "The Witch" has new moving parts in the front. Another thing off the problems list.
One thing I hope someone takes from this. Rob says he gets a lot of people that tell him that they rebuilt the front wheel assembly's on their Jeep. Then he asks about the spindle bearings. It seems that nobody does a service on the spindle bearings. Listen guys, this is relatively simple and kept simple if you service the spindle regularly.
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Winner, Now I can do the dancing banna winner dance ..... well at least this thread might have helped someone ...... and that's reason enough to do the, Banna Winner Dance .... 
