MKII/ MKIII front spindles

[bvolks73]

Are the front spindles/ steering knuckles the same on a late MKII and MKIII Golf?

[the caveman]

Yes as long as they are the regular, single disc brake setup. VW calls them wheel bearing housings

[R.O.R-2.0]

the spindle assy, yes.. same on late mk2, and mk3..

early mk2 uses smaller ball joints. my 85 and 86 cars have weirdo small ball joints (17mm same as later mk1 cars)

later mk2 uses bigger ball joints (19mm)

its pretty easy to tell the early pieces from the late pieces. if the brake caliper mount is NOT separate of the knuckle, then its early mk2.

if the caliper bracket is removable, and held on with 2 big bolts, then its later mk2, or mk3..

[theman53]

Then there is the odd ball that I have...I have a non removable brake caliper mount and the later 19mm ball joints with the bigger bearing.

[R.O.R-2.0]

Then there is the odd ball that I have...I have a non removable brake caliper mount and the later 19mm ball joints with the bigger bearing.

your car must be a 88 or 89 then? is it CE1 or CE2?

and it has small brakes, with non-removable caliper brackets?

and 19mm ball joints?!

WTF!?

[theman53]

86 with swapped stuff from I don't know what. It has vented rotors, 19mm ball joint, big bearing and cast onto the spindle caliper mounts. I know it to be true as I bought the wrong bearing once.

[CRSMP5]

missing piece of info is...

mk2 10.1" brakes has removable carriers.. else 88-92 mk2 has your style... pree 88 is small balljoint and non removable carrier..

[bvolks73]

I'm sure my 95 Golf has the non-removable carriers. We never got the vented rotors or the 2.0L motors in our base model Golfs and I've found that a lot of stuff is different on the Canadian models.

[R.O.R-2.0]

missing piece of info is...

mk2 10.1" brakes has removable carriers.. else 88-92 mk2 has your style... pree 88 is small balljoint and non removable carrier..

could be that i got my brakes, and suspension off a german 92 16v GLI.. i can no longer run 13" wheels. the calipers hit BAD.

[zukgod1]

If I remember correctly a guy can use the knuckle asy (removable carrier) and mount up the larger 2 piston calipers off the Audi 4000 quatro series.

I may be incorrect as I'm old but that's what I'm remembering.

 

[CRSMP5]

4k quattro has single pistons.. 5k turbo had duels.. and i think the carriers are the same.. just swap calipers else its carriers/calipers fit directly.. but gotta have removable carriers/10.1" rotors to start..

[vanagonturbo]

Ok, maybe I can help clarify a little here.

85-88 uses small balljoint non removable carriers.
88-92 MKII uses large balljoints
88-92 MKII can have non removable carriers OR removable carriers depending on model (GLIs got 10.1" brakes which have removable carrier style housings)

Using the G60 (not to be confused with a VW engine) calipers, you will need MKIII US spec spindles OR 88-92 MKII spindles with removable carriers. These calipers come on turbo 5ks, Audi 90qs, and some other models that I dont remember off the top of my head.