Blew a bearing, is my spindle reusable?

someotherguy said:

Check car-part dot com. You can search by zip code, and I'll bet you can find one locally. I just checked using 02801 as an example and found several.

Richard

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Thank you, that’s really neat.
I am wondering if the same part off a 1998 will fit my truck exactly?
Also is a suburban or a single cab gonna make any difference or are all c1500s from 1988-1999 have the same spindle pretty much?

Isaacmacleod said:

Thank you, that’s really neat.
I am wondering if the same part off a 1998 will fit my truck exactly?
Also is a suburban or a single cab gonna make any difference or are all c1500s from 1988-1999 have the same spindle pretty much?

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C1500 from 1995-1998 (and 1999 "classic") should fit your truck without issue. And really, 1991-1994 should fit, too, as long as you move your dust shield over as it has the provision for the ABS sensor on it. Cab style and body style doesn't matter in this case. Regular cab, extended cab, Suburban, Tahoe/Yukon as long as they're RWD 1500's.

The only exception here are 1988-1991 regular cab 1500's as they came with shorter spindles for thinner brake rotors.

Richard

someotherguy said:

C1500 from 1995-1998 (and 1999 "classic") should fit your truck without issue. And really, 1991-1994 should fit, too, as long as you move your dust shield over as it has the provision for the ABS sensor on it. Cab style and body style doesn't matter in this case. Regular cab, extended cab, Suburban, Tahoe/Yukon as long as they're RWD 1500's.

The only exception here are 1988-1991 regular cab 1500's as they came with shorter spindles for thinner brake rotors.

Richard

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Awesome, thanks Richard

Isaacmacleod said:

Awesome. I have a 96 c1500 with the five lug I’m not sure if that is compatible ?

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So, let me get this straight. You bought a 28 year old truck and thought you were not gonna have to go thru it and address some maintenance needs. If you bought it with no paperwork showing when maintenance and repairs had been done, then you can assume it would need some work and I would bet that the front bearings were probably loose when you bought it. C'mon man!

Isaacmacleod said:

I saw in a video that I need to put a jack under the lower control arm and it didn’t really look too complicated

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It's really not bad at all. The toughest part of this job *can* be getting the ball joints to unseat from the spindle. There's a trick that makes it easy - use the coil spring's pressure to your advantage.

Disclaimer: following advice provided to use at your own risk - read it carefully so that you understand what you're doing, and possibly check some youtube videos that show this procedure to help visualize how it works. It's safe when done properly, but mistakes can be dangerous. I've done it this way countless times and never had an issue. It's my preferred method because if your ball joints are good, you won't rip up the grease boots on them with a fork tool; it's not needed.

Jack the truck up and support it with stands on the frame. Remove wheel, brake rotor and caliper, shock absorber (you can really just remove the bottom 2 bolts and let it dangle), sway bar end link, tie rod end from the spindle (this goes easier if you have an impact gun.)

Then jack up the lower control arm enough to put a little pressure on the spring. Loosen the nuts on both ball joint studs to the point that they're at the end of the stud but still fully engaged on the threads.

Use a ball peen hammer or mini-sledge and tap the spindle casting around the upper ball joint stud and the spring pressure will make it "pop". Lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm and tap the spindle around the lower ball joint, it should pop loose as well.

Then jack the lower control arm back up until there's slight pressure on the spring again, remove the nuts from the ball joints, push the upper control arm up and you can remove the spindle. It's very important that you remember while the nuts are removed from the ball joints, to not lower or bump the jack as the spring could potentially jump out.

*And I'll apologize in advance if I overlooked any minor detail here, I'm sure someone will chime in. Again I've done this so many times I could probably do it with my eyes closed, so it's more by muscle memory than by thought.*

Richard

someotherguy said:

Use a ball peen hammer or mini-sledge and tap the spindle casting around the upper ball joint stud and the spring pressure will make it "pop". Lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm and tap the spindle around the lower ball joint, it should pop loose as well.

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^^^ Is this correct? I know what you mean to say, but the part about tensioning the joints seems a bit out of order.

Should it be:

Lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. This puts both ball joints under tension.

Use a ball peen hammer or mini-sledge and repeatedly tap the spindle casting around the upper ball joint stud and the spring pressure will make it "pop".

Again lower the floor jack if necessary so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. This again puts both ball joints under tension.

Then repeatedly tap the spindle casting around the lower ball joint, it should pop loose as well.


As for me, I only loosen each ball joint nut about 1/16”, then I tap the knuckle until it pops. After both are popped loose I’ll raise the jack to remove the tension and then thread those nuts off.

1998_K1500_Sub said:

^^^ Is this correct? The part about tensioning the joints seems a bit out of order.

Should it be:

Lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. (I would say 1/8”, but that’s me). This puts both ball joints under tension.

Use a ball peen hammer or mini-sledge and tap the spindle casting around the upper ball joint stud and the spring pressure will make it "pop".

Again lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. (I would say 1/8”, but that’s me). This again puts both ball joints under tension.

Then tap the spindle around the lower ball joint, it should pop loose as well.

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You may be right; I could just be tired and getting a detail wrong. It really is one of those things that once you've done it a bunch it just becomes a no-brainer.. and my brain checked out on it a long time ago.

Richard

someotherguy said:

You may be right; I could just be tired and getting a detail wrong. It really is one of those things that once you've done it a bunch it just becomes a no-brainer.. and my brain checked out on it a long time ago.

Richard

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Your advice will be a huge help if OP hasn’t done this before

1998_K1500_Sub said:

^^^ Is this correct? I know what you mean to say, but the part about tensioning the joints seems a bit out of order.

Should it be:

Lower the floor jack so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. This puts both ball joints under tension.

Use a ball peen hammer or mini-sledge and tap the spindle casting around the upper ball joint stud and the spring pressure will make it "pop".

Again lower the floor jack if necessary so that it rests about an inch under the lower control arm. This again puts both ball joints under tension.

Then tap the spindle around the lower ball joint, it should pop loose as well.


As for me, I only loosen each ball joint nut about 1/16”, then I tap the knuckle until it pops. After both are popped loose I’ll raise the jack to remove the tension and then thread those nuts off.

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What really screwed up my thought process was doing ball joints on the SS's. Although these are '06 RWD models, they're still setup the same as a 4WD with the torsion bar front end, and both ball joint studs point down into the spindle, instead of RWD GMT400 arrangement where the upper joint stud points down, and lower joint stud points up.

GMT800 4WD style:


GMT400 RWD style:


Richard

Isaacmacleod said:

I saw in a video that I need to put a jack under the lower control arm and it didn’t really look too complicated, I am just tired of working on my truck at this point.
I knew I was gonna have some maintenance work to do when I bought the thing last year (only 42,000 miles)
But it’s been nothing but trouble for me so far
Bad water pump
Bad alternator
Rear pinion drive shaft seal just started leaking.
Now this!
I’m about to sell this thing, any takers?

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That's all it takes for you to want to throw in the towel?!