Spindle Pin Woes

[Mikes Z car]

Is getting the spindle pin out easier on a rust free car?

[hogie]

This makes me really glad that my pins were replaced by the idiot previous owner. They managed to leave out the locking pins and didnt bother to tighten any of the hardware, but at least it was done.

I ended up pulling mine and coated them with some anti-sieze just in case they ever needed to be replaced.

Good luck

[78sid]

Glad you are making some progress. One of my pins came out with a press and big hammer to finish the job. The other one was a PITA. The 20 ton press wouldn't budge it. I eventually drilled out the core to just outside of the locking joint on both sides which gave a good seat for a drift; heated the assembly with a MAPP torch, sprayed the pin core with WD40 to shock cool it, and then knocked the hell out of it with a big hammer. I felt like I had climbed a mountain when I drove it out.

Good Luck

[mlc240z]

Is getting the spindle pin out easier on a rust free car?

Seriously not gloating, but mine came out "reasonably" easy.....no press or extraction tool. Not a rust free car either. Soaked the cr*p out of them for a week with PBlaster and then drove out with a drift pin.

Highly recommend the advice to keep spraying and moving the pin back and forth to spread the lube.

Patience will be rewarded.

[Captain Obvious]

About pressing the protruding portion back in... If you're going to try that, make sure you clean out the newly exposed hole portion as well as the freshly exposed portion of the pin before you press the other way. File a couple thousandths off all the exposed pin and clean out the exposed hole portion with sandpaper and light oil or WD40. I'm sure you already figured this out, but there's not much to be gained by pressing that thing back together rusty.

After you clean off the newly exposed parts, lube up both sides with penetrant and then maybe change direction. The theory being, the direction change can help work the penetrant into places it won't wick to when everything is static.

Good luck!

[Captain Obvious]

Is getting the spindle pin out easier on a rust free car?

Absolutely!

It's not meant to be a press fit at all. The pin is supposed to slip easily in and out of that hole. That's why Datsun went through the expense of using the retainer bolt in the center of the pin. When the pin and holes are clean, the pin would (would?, could?, or should?) float and spin in the knuckle hole in the bottom of the strut housing if it weren't for the retainer bolt.

[EuroDat]

Food for thought:

If I were in your situation I would lube up the section that you now have exposed and the inside of the other side of the strut where you pushed it through. Then I would push it back in (as long as it didn't take excessive force) and see if the pin would come out the other side. I would just keep lubing and working it back and forth the small amount you can. Eventually the lubrication will work in and you will be able to press it all the way out.

I have been thinking about this method and agree with Captain Obvious post#29. You should be carefull because you are using so much force to get it moving in any direction. Pushing it back through could mushroom it and seize it up in the hub and it could make it worse. Just apply caution when/if you try this.

IMO I think heat and pressing it out is the best bet. Even trying to get water drops on the pin to cool it might help. If its hot it will be softer and deform easier which is not what you want.

Another method is to heat the pin red hot, let it cool off completly and then heat the hub and press it out.

Heating the pin will expanded it. Try not to heat the hub. Cool the hub to stop it expanding. The pin can not expand in diameter so it will grow in length just couple thousands of an inch. When it cools it will shrink which could be enough to help get it out.

Of course I'm standing on the side line giving comments. I wish you all the luck with it. One day you will be at a party and someone will say "I climb mount Everest" and you can say, "Thats nothing I took on Datsun spindle pins and I won"

Chas

[Hardway]

My apologies for the delay in an update. Last weekend I was determined to get the spindle pin out and had been letting it sit in the Acetone/ATF mix all week, periodically adding to it with a spoon each morning and evening. After about 20 minutes, 2500 degrees of heat, and 20 tons of pressure it started to see things my way. After reconfiguring my press a few times and pressure sessions it was out.

Even with less than half of inch left to go I still needed the press to get it all the way out.

Finally, victory was mine!

I did a pay price for all my productivity. Mother nature dealt me a good head cold and have been getting it over all week.

[Hardway]

Since I was pretty miserable over the second half of last weekend due to my cold I did not get anything done. Knowing the other spindle pin was waiting for me and could very well be just as difficult as the first I start feeding it some of my Acetone/ATF mix throughout the week. I figured if I could just get it to move, hopefully it would be easier this time around. For starter I would try pressing on it as a full assembly. After some promising initial results it reached a point where I could no longer keep a bolt straight on the pin due to the head mushrooming to one side. Darn!

I also tried my puller one more time but sure enough the end broke off just like with the other pin. Out came the cut off wheel to cut the ends off and pull the control arm from the hub assembly. Followed up by half inch hole drilled in the end of the pin for the bolt sit in, 30 minutes of heat and pressure later and the pin was out! A shot below of a new pin versus the old. Good riddens!

[Captain Obvious]

What an annoying, wretched, painful, dangerous, stressful pain in the arse. Sure glad that's over.

Have you cleaned up the bore in the bottom of the strut knuckles yet so you can see what it's supposed to feel like? A little sandpaper wrapped around a gun swab chucked up in a drill does wonders.

[Zed Head]

Congrats. Maybe you shouldn't have called yourself Hardway.

I took a rat tail file to the spindle pin bore and removed the high spots on mine. There were some around the lock pin hole. Ran the pin in and out and kept knocking down the high spots until it went in easy.

Edit - I seem to be following CO around the forum...

[Captain Obvious]

:paranoid: