Reamed Spindle Repair

[7uptruckracer]

So....I did a thing...reaming a GM #2 spindle. Not the easiest to find anymore. Reamed to the wrong mark and sunk the pin way to deep....anyone ever welded one up, and red redrilled it? I have heard of it every now and then and also heard of people changing the pin inclination too.

[Jking24]

If you have howe balljoints they sell longer pins and you can purchase just the pin

[billetbirdcage]

If you have howe balljoints they sell longer pins and you can purchase just the pin

Problem with that is if the pin taper is .75 on large end and .625 on the small end, there may not be enough thickness in the spindle end to have full engagement of the taper. Instead of having an 1" long taper engagement he may end up with only 1/2 or less depending how deep he went.

7UP:
I have cut GM spindles apart and welded them back together but never tried drilling or machining on it afterwards in a welded area. The problem I see is re drilling and reaming it, unless you completely fill the hole so the drill or reamer doesn't grap from not being round when you start is gonna be an issue I would think. Holding or clamping down a spindle isn't the easiest thing so I would think completely filling the hole would be a better option.

Having said that, here is what I would do over the welding the hole up:

1. Have a sleeve made for the BJ/spindle, sort of like the adapters to go from chysler down to the the GM taper on lower BJ's. Then you can just reuse it if you ever bend the BJ. You would just need to make the correct thickness to get it back right.

2. Go to a larger taper ball joint and ream to get the center pivot at the correct hieght

[Hi-Line BRC]

The offroad guys use an insert for the purpose of flipping tie rods on front axles. I think that might work for your fix. google "tie rod flip bushing".

[fastford]

those reamers are pretty tough , if you run a pretty good bead around the top and bottom , then ream slow to where you want it , should be ok , if there is a little gap in middle , i dont think it will hurt ,

[7uptruckracer]

So update. Reamed out my spares. Then found 18 GM #2 Spindles locally. All should be 10 degree, heard I might find 7 degree in an Astro Van. But they are $45 apiece a real steal. So I’ll just trash this one or tinker with it later. On this asphalt car we already run +1” top and bottom so not much I can do pin wise to make up for it. I reamed it so far the shoulder came out the other side lol

[7uptruckracer]

Billet...have you cut on one say in an area to change a pin inclination???? :)

[ZERO25]

One of our shop guys reamed a spindle too much as well many years ago. Someone gave us some thin metal strips to wrap around the stud. It worked and we never had a problem.

[RW57]

Use shim stock to make a tapered bushing like some else said. I have cut and welded on spindles before depends on how good a welder you think you are. I like to weld on them with a 7018 for although I have done them with a mig. My advice if you ain't sure don't your life and somebody else's is in your hands.