I wanted to replace the 22 year old brakes and drum on my camper. I pulled the drum and saw that the spindle looks rough. The bearings were replaced about 3 years ago but this worn area isn't where the bearings sit. Do I need to replace this whole axle? Pictures are from the front side then the back side of the spindle.
I was looking at etrailer to see what a new axle looks like and found this. Was the rough area on my spindle ground down at the factory? Weird. The area that's not shiny on this spindle is about the same area that mine is not shiny. Thoughts?
From what I can see your axle looks great. The bearing and seal surface are the only things that matter and the axle doesn’t look overheated
The axle casting wasn't quite right, but the critical areas, where the bearings sit and the threads are fine. I see this on a lot of cast parts.
The spindle is not cast, its machined from solid round bar stock. In any event, the axle is OK but do keep an eye on it.
Thanks, I was confident that the wheel spins on the bearings. The bearings seated nicely but that rough area had me scratching my head. The grease was piled up on it and didn't look like any wear was happening. It was just weird.
Take another look. Looking at the first picture, the machined seat for the back seal is larger than the front bearing seat. Solid stock would not leave a rough surface behind the front bearing seat. In the second picture you can see the casting fall away from the machined surface and see the actual cast surface.
Thanks for the feed back. The rough surfaces are like sand. If that's the method for casting then that seems consistent. It didn't seem like wear from a hub.
It's a sand cast part. We used many cast shafts and parts at work. You have good castings, acceptable castings, and bad castings. Your spindle is acceptable.
