Thanks everybody for your input. I sorta wish I had just stayed with
the ball bearings at this point, but here's what I did over the weekend:
I read through all the archived posts on this topic. The spacer things
look like they were cast by a blacksmith out of pot metal...no precision
at all. I can't believe they have any value as a "sandwich" in there
between roller bearings under compression of 45# torque-- although I
have great respect for John Twist and Tom Colby. Seems like the spacer
could potentially work to distort the accurate alignment of the bearing
when torqued into the recommended "sandwich."
That said, I decided to keep the spacer, since no one mentioned it would
do any harm if NOT torqued. I decided against that 45# of torque
squeezing the whole assembly together in service. I chose to follow
Timken's recommendation of seating the assembly and backing off a castle
slot.
Just Ed sent me a large selection of MGB spacer shims and I shimmed to
about .006" float. I probably have 10# of torque or less on the big nut.
BTW, the question about broken spindles puzzled me as the Spridget front
spindle has always been a "weak link". I have seen quite a few break
right at the base. Enough to motivate me to cough up the change for a
set of Winners Circle high strength spindles a few years back.
JohnD
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