How to Remove 0.010" from Spacers

6

68/70Vette

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Jun 19, 2008
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Torrance, Ca.USA
I have two spacers. One is 0.488 inches long, the other is 0.619 inches long. I need to take 0.010 inches off of both. (Or 0.020 off of the 0.620 spacer).

Tools that I have: a Dremel grinder, an air powered die grinder, a drill press. I expect that if I had a vertical mill this would be an easy job.

I guess I could use the Dremel grinder or the air powered die grinder, but it wouldn't look very pretty and I don't think I could make a perfect flat reduction. Would the drill press be a solution, could I get some sort of a grinding attachment for it? I could buy a rotating abrasive wheel grinder and hold the spacer up against the flat side of the rotating abrasive wheel?

I don't know of any local machine shop that I could take them too. Start looking?
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What up? I'm assembling a heim joint strut rod assembly from Tom's. For the inner heim joint, is a stack comprised of the 0.488 spacer, the 0.748 inch width of the heim joint, the 0.619 space, for a total stack up of 1.855 inches. The differential/strut rod end section U shaped bracket is 1.855 inches on one end...no problem. However, the other end is 1.835 inches - hence too small. Tom's bracket is essentially the stock bracket that has the attaching ends cut off and moved down to make the strut rods parallel to the axle. I think thewelding processed has distorted the shape on one end. Looks like it'll fit if I cut my spacers down.
 
For heim joint spacers you could carefully spin them in a drill press and use a die grinder by hand to face them. I guess the trick is going to be an arbor for chucking the spacer. Might be easier, considering the tools at your disposal, to grind .010 off of the inside of the bracket.
 
Put some sandpaer on a sheet of glass. Rub it off in a figure 8 pattern. Should do it pretty flat the old fashioned way.
 
Thanks guys. I'm off to do it in my back yard. I'll report later. Spent the first half of the day driving to machine shops that were recommended to me. They were both closed! Is there something going on with the economy?

The spacers are 1 inch in diameter. A 1 inch cutter for a milling machine is $45. (I went to a machinists tool supply store). However I need a table for my drill press to hold the pieces. So I won't be able to use the cutter. (I didn't buy it...it was for a Bridgeport Milling machine,etc, ) For now, I'm going to try to grind them with a grinding stone mounted in my drill press.
 
Used an approximate 3 inch diameter sanding disk mounted in my drill press. Did this in the driveway to avoid a mess in the garage. Worked fairly well, didn't take all that amount of time. This was for 0.010 inches. These were the spacers in Toms strut rod set up...spacers for the heim joints that mount on the differential case bracket.

Now I find that the spacers for the strut rod ends that go in the spindle forks are also too lone. Each one of these is giong to have to be ground down 0.020 inches. Four of 'em, this will take a while.
 
68/70Vette said:
Used an approximate 3 inch diameter sanding disk mounted in my drill press. Did this in the driveway to avoid a mess in the garage. Worked fairly well, didn't take all that amount of time. This was for 0.010 inches. These were the spacers in Toms strut rod set up...spacers for the heim joints that mount on the differential case bracket.

Now I find that the spacers for the strut rod ends that go in the spindle forks are also too lone. Each one of these is giong to have to be ground down 0.020 inches. Four of 'em, this will take a while.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't jump through hoops to make those perfectly parallel. And I certainly wouldn't try to hand sand .020 off of a steel spacer.

Chances are that the sides of the weldment that they fit in is not parallel anyway (I believe you said that the welding had closed the gap).

Just do them a little at a time and test fit.
 
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