Spindle Thread Restoral, What Size Threads?

[Supercharged111]

New steering knuckle required. Good time to verify the ball joints and outer tie rod ends.

Rotor looks salvageable, (hard to know until properly measured) although the ABS tone ring appears damaged, and you'll need a grease seal and bearing inspection/repack.

No disc brake rotor splash-shield? Kinda surprised.

How does this damage happen? Someone at Nissan decided to add preload to the bearings as if they were a sealed assembly?

Shield is unbolted and stuffed inboard to facilitate removal of knuckle/spindle.

Someone at Nissan got to where I am and instead of fixing the threads or replacing knuckle so one can actually feel the nut to set preload, guessed and got it wrong. Outer bearing was gone and the wheel was ready to just fall off.

 

[Road Trip]

Shield is unbolted and stuffed inboard to facilitate removal of knuckle/spindle.

Someone at Nissan got to where I am and instead of fixing the threads or replacing knuckle so one can actually feel the nut to set preload, guessed and got it wrong. Outer bearing was gone and the wheel was ready to just fall off.

Wow, the brake caliper over rotor became the tire/wheel retention mechanism of last resort.

Troubleshot a bad front end noise (on a vehicle I'd never seen before) to a similar failure...made
the hair stand up on the back of my neck once we could see what had happened.

Proper wheel bearing preload is one of those double/triple check items (solo) ...and I always request
a second set of eyes when working on a team.

Great photos, glad you are sharing this for others to see...

 

[Supercharged111]

Wow, the brake caliper over rotor became the tire/wheel retention mechanism of last resort.

Troubleshot a bad front end noise (on a vehicle I'd never seen before) to a similar failure...made
the hair stand up on the back of my neck once we could see what had happened.

Proper wheel bearing preload is one of those double/triple check items (solo) ...and I always request
a second set of eyes when working on a team.

Great photos, glad you are sharing this for others to see...

Hopes and dreams were the only thing holding this wheel on, there's nothing outboard to keep the wheel on like a vehicle with a caliper bridge. You can see here on the back side where this knuckle has been machined by the rotor not once, but twice.

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Outer bearing guts were found here. Good place for them, eh?

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[Supercharged111]

Got a knuckle from the junkyard.

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Pressed some new races into the rotor I was able to get turned.

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Got it all together, finger tight preload after removing the slack.

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Went for a test drive and it groans like a junk wheel bearing. WTFO?

 

[Supercharged111]

Passenger side zero preload, isn't the correct answer to back it off and pin it?

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It was tightened down to the next window.

 

[Schurkey]

Some folks think it's still 1950, and the BALL wheel bearings need preload. Tapered-roller wheel bearings generally have some minimal free-play.

Was the ABS tone ring damaged, or was that just a figment of the picture? That's the best view of the tone-ring and old-style external sensor I've seen. Thanks for that.

 

[Supercharged111]

Tone ring was untouched.

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I'd overdriven the seal here, had to knock it back out flush. The sensor got buzzed, but the ABS light isn't on.

 

[Supercharged111]

Just yoinked the passenger brake caliper and gave the rotor a spin. Sounds like gravel. What a relief! I could have sworn that racket was coming from the driver's side, but I knew I didn't screw that up. I asked the owner if the thing growled before and his response was that he doesn't hear everything. Well, at least that explains why he drove long enough to completely wreck the other side.

 

[someotherguy]

I think you jumped the gun on the spindle replacement.. coulda just stacked another washer on top to get the nut into the good threads.

Richard

 

[Supercharged111]

I think you jumped the gun on the spindle replacement.. coulda just stacked another washer on top to get the nut into the good threads.

Richard

Man where were you yesterday?!