Forgot bearing & race.....spindle destroyed?

Car -----------> 1989 Ford Escort, front drive Situation ------> Neighbor volunteers to help do rear drum brake job Situation ------> Neighbor claims brake experience, actually has NONE Situation ------> I have no brake exp but have All-Data, book, educ tape, moxie Situation ------> Checker Auto Parts sells me only outer bearing with the new hub/drum Situation ------> What do I know?.....(Educ tape talks little about bearings) Screw-Up ----> Neighbor does NOT install inner bearing; it's in old drum Screw-Up ----> Drive one (1) mile w/o inner bearing (hear funny noises) Question ------> What, if anything, did I destroy (spindle, drum, shoes, etc)?

Thanks in advance

Reply to
Wm.(Bill) Warning
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WARNING: You should not be working on your own car. (or should be your neighbor)

As for the spindle. Take it apart and see. If it is then you've learned via "the school of hard knocks".

Steve m...

Reply to
Steve m...

Quite possibly all of the above, with the brake shoes being the least likely to have taken damage, and the spindle/drum being most likely.

Step 1: Slap your neighbor upside the head and tell him to stay the hell out of your projects in the future.

Step 2: Slap yourself upside the head for getting in way too deep without enough know-how.

Step 3: Slap yourself (again) for allowing the neighbor to touch the vehicle in the first place. It's one thing for *YOU* to screw up *YOUR* ride. It becomes a whole different kettle of fish when somebody else screws it up.

Reply to
Don Bruder

It would be interesting to look at. I wonder how they torqued the nut on there. I'd take it apart and file any big grooves off the bearing surface at the back there and put it back together. Don't leave any metal chips. I think it could live for the vehicle's life, which might be 6 months anyway.

Reply to
WasteNotWantNot

That neighbor's car and house by now, if you're a real man.

Reply to
Norm De Plume

I drove between 10 and 125 miles (possibly longer), in a 1984 Dodge 600ES with no inner bearing. I had no experience with noisy bearings and did not realise that the growling that I always heard while driving the car since I got it had been getting louder and louder. However, I did notice that the wheel started to wobble. When I got the drum off, I found about a third of the cage and three rollers from the inner bearing. The spindle was not visibly damaged, and even the outer bearing strongly resembled the replacement unit (at a mere $15 replacement cost, I assumed it was toasted). The braking system resembled the photos in the Haynes manual enough to convince me that all of the parts were present and still in the right shape. If you had that part that kept the grease away from the brakes, it is wrecked. However, I suspect that it is also sold seperately.

I have heard that most stupidity that does not actually result in the wheel parting company from the vehicle leaves the spindle in a serviceable condition.

Reply to
Richard Bell

hmm... my brother did a similar thing with an '82 olds delta 88. ignored the sound of bearings going and kept driving. On the forth day he went to brake and the car wasn't braking. Both inner and outer wheel bearings were destroyed, the rotor hub was destroyed, and so was the spindle. I spent the weekend getting a good assembly from the junk yard and swaping it in.

Reply to
Brent P

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