Once the steering arm has been removed, the bolts can come out. The steering arm is held on with two fine-thread nuts and bolts.
Sometimes the splash shields and bearings are difficult to remove, so I set the splash shield on the bench and smacked the shaft with a hammer. I positioned a length of steel stock on the end of the spindle and gave it some firm taps with a dead-blow hammer. If you need to use a hammer, protect the spindle threads. If you damage the threads, the castle nut won’t thread back on.
To separate the cover from the hub, you need to drill out the rivets on the cover. If necessary, use a punch and a hammer to knock them out.
Once the cover has been removed and the spindle has been separated, you can cut the bracket off the spindle because you only need the spindle and the rotor to perform this procedure.
To make the tool easier to use, you can cut off the bracket. Most mechanics use a reciprocating saw. In this case, the machinist used a band saw to cut off the top half of the spindle.
The backside of the spindles need to be flat to weld the spindle to the square steel tube. In addition, the width of each spindle should be the same so the measuring and fitment process is easier. You can use an angle grinder to clean up the spindle. One of the benefits to being in a machine shop is that the machinist can turn down the back of the spindle in a metal lathe for a flush fit.
Your spindle should look similar to this. You want the back of the spindle to have enough surface area to easily weld it to the dummy axle. With a lathe, it only took about four minutes to do this portion.
Position the spindle flush against the 3-inch square tubing; the spindle needs to be square against this tube to achieve accurate measurements. The spindle needs to be accurately machined flat. If the axle is for sizing custom rear differential housings, the wheel needs to roll true and not wobble.
You can use a MIG welder to weld the top and bottom of the spindle to the square axle tube.
The dummy axle tube has an extendable end tube on one side so it can be used for mocking up the axle width on different vehicles. It slides over the end and four bolts tighten to hold it in place. The center section is made of a section of 2.5-inch tubing welded inside one half of the 3-inch tubing.
These bolts lock the extendable tube into the proper position so accurate sizing can be attained.
Drill and tap the rotors for the 5-on-4.75-inch bolt pattern. Use a set of bolts, rather than studs because studs would limit you to one bolt pattern. This axle was put to use in a drag car, setting up the rear suspension and width for the custom housing.
Install the wheels on the hubs and roll the dummy axle assembly under the car. At this stage, you can precisely measure width and take several height measurements. The key measurements are ride height, overall width, space between the tires and inner fenders and outer fenders, as well as squareness in the chassis. With accurate ride height and width measurements, you can order the correct rear housing for this project. After this project, you can also use the axle to move a project car whose rear differential has been previously liberated from the chassis.