[ihc] Spindle hot-cha-cha

["Jim Grammer" <jgrammer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Good job, Howard. I couldn't remember the dates. The hardened spindles are
called out in the small format accessories booklet I have from a '77 or '78
SII. Even has part #'s for the spindles so you can replace your 'inferior'
units when upgrading to those spiffy *custom* wheels ;) That said, I did an
informal survey on the BB some time back and got anecdotal reports of the
non-hardened spindles holding up to 38" tires on 10" wide wheels for years.
Sounds like there's a considerable safety factor involved...

John A, with appropriate abuse and big tires, SII driveline components seem
to fail in roughly this order(lots of variables): locking hubs(non-Warn),
wheel end u-joints(incl. stub shaft damage), locking hubs(Warn), driveshaft
u-joints, ring/pinion, inner/rear axle shafts, D20.

Greg / Jim A, great stuff, plenty of interest here :)

Jim A, dang yer hide, ya make me want a forge even more!

So, are Jim's spindles toast? They don't appear to have gotten anywhere near
annealing temperature, just 650deg-ish, and cooled relatively slow(lots of
thermal mass surrounding). Possible ill effects?

Jim


Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 21:18:47 -0500
From: Howard R Pletcher <n9ads@domain.elided>
Subject: Re: [ihc] Front Spindles Heat treated?

My notes say "8 inch white spoke wheels with hardened front spindles
offered" in 1977.  Before this, the 7" chrome rims were the widest
offered and as I recall, the hardened spindles were theoretically
required for the wider wheels.

I have no comment on the fact that many of us have run wider rims on the
earlier spindles.

Howard