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My friend is having issues with his 87 944 and measures .003 less on one spindle than the other yet the finish is great & he's wondering if it's been machined down & is asking for specs. Any ideas? Thanks!
My friend is having issues with his 87 944 and measures .003 less on one spindle than the other yet the finish is great & he's wondering if it's been machined down & is asking for specs. Any ideas? Thanks!
He's measuring where the bearing ride (he's concerned about bearings turning) I told him I haven't heard about it being a common occurrence with these cars, but maybe that is incorrect. THANK YOU MAGK944!
I have a 1987 Porsche 944 NA. I bought it with spun bearings on the front spindles. Been looking for good spindles to install so I don't repeat the problem from when I bought it. Can't seem to find good ones.
I just received a pair of spindles last nite and I miked where the bearings mount. As an engineer and mechanic I know that the spindle should fit loose to the bearings by .0002 to .012 inches. The new bearings should arrive here in the next few days.
But I have an old spindle that I had bought and it too had spun bearings. I miked that one as well. I think all these spindles are worn out, and all had spun bearings at one time. Some look better than others. I think they are between .002 and .003 loose.
If I use any of these, the bearings are going to spin again. That is what happens when the fit is too loose. So I am wondering if anybody knows what the dimension limits are from Porsche. 22 mm or 35 mm does not help. I need the minimum and maximum dimensions permissable
from Porsche. I also emailed Porsche, but no response yet. On the left spindle I get .8406-.8422, and the large brg is 1.3747-1.3746. On the right .8426-.8428 and 1.3756-1.3751. The other one I already had that had spun is .8436 and 1.3770.
I would think that you would have a better chance of getting tolerance information like that from the actual bearing manufacturer rather than from Porsche. For every bearing there must be a tolerance on the inner and outer diameter that they will fit without spinning. If yours are worn you can buy new spindles from Porsche, I did last year for one of my cars for the same reason. I couldn’t figure for a long while why my left front hub/rotor assembly always gave off a burning/hot smell and the right didn’t. I turned the relatively new rotor and replaced the bearings and hub before I realized it was the spindle. You are likely right that any used ones are not going to provide a long service life or may be initially too worn, after all we are talking 30+ yo parts. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and buy new.
That could be one of those very rare times where I'd try JB Weld. If all it has to do is act as a spacer I think it'd be perfect. If it doesn't work you could break the stuff off easy enough.
Sorry to bring this back up after over a year, but I am dealing with the same issue on my 88 NA right now. Just want to put it out there again to see if anyone have accurate dimensions of the diameter of the bearing surfaces of a new spindle?
Similar to previous posters, I see evidence of the inner race spinning on both inner and outer bearings on the right side. The outer is not as bad as the inner, where I measure about 0.003" difference in diameter. This is way too loose of a fit and is detectable during normal driving.
PSA: Don't overtighten the bearing nut!!! This has been discussed recently on this forum, overtightening the nut will increase axial load on the bearing, which increases the internal drag and therefore a greater chance of the inner race spinning and damaging the spindle. At that point your only recourse is to source a good used spindle (measure first!) or get new ($$$!).
This is the only extra thing I have about spindles, not my work though, it’s from Dan Beckett l, so I cannot vouch for anything. Plus it really doesn’t add much to what we already know.
The only way you’ll find accurate measurements is to buy a new one and measure, as for tolerances Porsche would know so gl with that or like I said above, try the bearing manufacturer.
This is the only extra thing I have about spindles, not my work though, it’s from Dan Beckett l, so I cannot vouch for anything. Plus it really doesn’t add much to what we already know.
The only way you’ll find accurate measurements is to buy a new one and measure, as for tolerances Porsche would know so gl with that or like I said above, try the bearing manufacturer.
Thanks, I know what the bearing fit should be and what the bearing inner diameter is from SKF. However, it is difficult to get measurements from used spindles without taking the plunge and buying them. It seems to me that there is a good chance that these will be out of spec as well. The investment in new ones is a bit out of my acceptable range at the moment.
Thanks, I know what the bearing fit should be and what the bearing inner diameter is from SKF. However, it is difficult to get measurements from used spindles without taking the plunge and buying them. It seems to me that there is a good chance that these will be out of spec as well. The investment in new ones is a bit out of my acceptable range at the moment.
Excuse my ignorance but won’t the bearing inner diameter spec (mm +/-), plus the bearing clearance given by SKF, be the actual spec of the spindle?
I hear you about the cost of new ones, think yourself lucky you don’t have S-spec ones.
Excuse my ignorance but won’t the bearing inner diameter spec (mm +/-), plus the bearing clearance given by SKF, be the actual spec of the spindle?
I hear you about the cost of new ones, think yourself lucky you don’t have S-spec ones.
Correct, the bearing ID minus the maximum diametral clearance should yield the minimum spec of a good spindle assuming SKF's slip fit criteria is the same as Porsche's was back in 1987. It shouldn't vary much but I wanted to see if the community had any data I could use to verify the measurements on mine are below spec.
The difficulty is that used spindles are not guaranteed to be in spec. In my case I can see evidence of the inner race spinning which has damaged the spindle, causing it to be out of round enough to result in excessive clearance and perceptible movement at the wheel. My fear is that I will buy a used one that will have the same problem if I can't get the seller to verify the dimensions.
The only way that I know of to return a used spindle to original specs might be sending it out to have it turned down, metallized, or hard chromed, then ground back to the proper size. There may be other options out there, but these two are sure fire..
10-10-2018, 10:26 PM
Help regarding spindle dimensions (85.5)
