3000 Spindle Play

dleefarms

Member
How much play should there be in the spindle, if any? I just noticed that the spindle will move up about an 1/8 of an inch with the front jacked up to fix a flat.

Thanks in advance.
 
1/8 inch would not alarm me. That said, if you think it's more than it should be (and there is no spec for it), it is usually because of one of two reasons: 1) a worn spindle thrust bearing, or 2) the steering arm is not pushed down far enough onto the top of the spindle.

If it bothers you, remove the spindle and inspect the thrust bearing. If it's good, put it back in and tap the steering arm down with a hammer until it nearly bottoms on the spindle housing, to get minimal end play. Do this with the tire on the ground so that the weight of the machine is forcing the spindle as high up in the housing as it will go.
 
Sounds like a worn out thrust bearing... The steering arm will tap down but there is a relief cut into the spindle for the bolt to go through, so that pretty much determines where the steering arm has to set. Jack it up... remove wheel. remove steering arm bolt. take a chisel and drive it into the gap where the bolt went across to spread the arm just a bit, while tapping the arm up with a hammer. the arm will pop up and off, the spindle will simply fall out the bottom... look for a thrust bearing that goes between the spindle and the bottom of the axle housing.. sometimes its there and ok, most of the time it either totally gone or collasped with only a cage left... Clean the groove at the bottom of axle, remove any broken and very sharp pieces of metal cage and bearings, Then....slide in spindle with new thrust bearing on it... install wheel to hold spindle and let down jack. tap steering arm back on, careful to get key in slot... will take a few tries... when it finally goes on, drive it down till the bolt will slide through the relief cut into the spindle top,, replace bolt... Just did this on a 3600 last week. Thrust bearings used to be around 15 bucks a piece or less BB (before nnalert).
 

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