johntorg

I thought I'd post this warning after I broke a spindle and lost a wheel in the Hairpin at Sebring. The early 944s up to 85.5 and all the 924S models use a driver's side spindle with a hole for the speedometer cable. They are weak, and when constantly used in racing will fail. I am posting this because I knew of this problem and ignored it. The result was the loss of the wheel, hub, spindle, brakes and fender on that corner of the car. I "tri-cycled" it off the track safely, but had it broken in a high speed corner, it could have been a lot worse. Here are some pictures of the failed part, showing how little metal there is. I have since upgraded to 87 spindles and Hubs, which are not only stronger, but use larger wheel bearings. I maintained the rest of my early offset suspension, modifying the strut mounts slightly, where they bolt to the spindles. I recommend going directly to the late spindles, because they are larger and hopefully stronger than the "hole-less" 85.5 to 86 spindles.

ja78911sc

John,

I have witnessed this failure twice. Both on low speed areas of the track--thank God.

In my opinion, the PCA should require documentation in the drivers race log book that a upgrade has been preformed.

Glad to hear everything turned out OK for you--minus the financial hit.

Jim

bgiere

Definitely not to be used for racing or even DE...they have been failing for years...pretty well known occurence. Glad you are OK!

YZ250

Just crack test the spindles when changing rotors. Its a simple and quick test. If cracked, then change it out. No big deal.

johntorg

How do you crack test the spindles? I visually inspected mine 2 races before the failure and they looked OK.

chrisc

Mine are being tested next week. Said they had to be removed and vibrated with a penetrating die if I understood correctly.

YZ250

You can't see the crack. I have a spindle that showed a crack with dye penetrant that looks great under normal visual inspection.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...asp?RecID=1207

plus you need a UV light

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...asp?RecID=6752

You can test the spindles while mounted, so a rotor change is the perfect time to test them.

chrisc

curious, is the failure of the skinny spindle always on the right side (speedo) spindle?

YZ250

No. I broke a left side before I started testing. After I broke the left, I tested the right side, found it cracked, and replaced it.

johntorg

it sounds as if its easier just to upgrade. I know there have been some failures of the 85.5 - 86 spindles. has anyone had an 87 or later spindle fail?

johntorg

I received this reply on the same posting on the 44Cup website:

"Thanks for sharing this.

I broke my driver side spindle this summer at the Tremblant track (Qc, Canada) and discoverd a new meaning to the word understeer!

Actually, my car is a 85 1/2, so my spindle did not have that hole but it broke just the same.

Anybody has a set of late spindles for sale?"

North Coast Cab

All spindles are subject to breaking, not just the early 944NA's. The late offset 944NA thru 944S2 and 968 has a larger barrel, but given the heavier cars and increase in HP they are still subject to issues.
I have mine cleaned and magnafluxed each time I do brakes. It's a $50 job at the local machine shop.
Check you hubs too.........

johntorg

Sounds like good advice.

samluke

I have a set of late offset spindles hubs and rotors for sale.

The brake cooling ducts and backing plates are not included. Everything has low hours from a spec car that was converted to a Chumpcar

M758

Right. I had one fail too. Part was 25-28 years old and had 8 years of racing on it. I replaced with another hollow one. Looking at the frature surfaces it is clear it had been cracked for a long time before it failed.