Hi, I am new around here but will be a regular visitor. I just received this car from my brother in law and it has a few rear end issues. My husband is able to do the work, but first we have to figure out where to get parts. We live in North/West Idaho. The car is a very good strong running vehicle, but in the last few months has been driven hard and ran off the road. The rear end is now out of alignment and I have been told that I need new rear Spindle/Knuckles. As we have only had the car for two days now my husband has not taken a good look at the problem yet. From what we have been able to see the wheels tilt in (so something is bent?) and the tires are rubbing. I have not driven it but believe my brother in law said that the rear end now feels loose. Would we be better off to change out the entire rear end of the vehicle or is there a way that I can purchase the rear spindle/knuckles? I look forward to any help you can give me and I will keep you all updated on our progress. Thanks

 

I would most definitely change the whole rear end, by the sounds of you problem.Just make sure it's the same ratio/gears. The parts will add up very quickly going the other route.

 

Thanks for the reply. I finally got info back from a Cadillac parts dealer and the rear knuckles alone will be nearly $1400. I am not sure I really need to completely replace them as it is so that is a ton of money. I got more information about what happend to the vehicle. Apparently they were going to fast around a corner late and night and swung off the road, went down a bit of a slope then got the car back up on the road but slid sideways. Sounds like it was pretty bad. One of the rear tires blew out at some point in the whole thing. Since I wrote the thread I have had the chance to drive the vehicle. It drives fine, does feel like the rear end is kind of loose, and when you hit a bump there is more bounce than there should be. Seems to me like a sideways kind of bounce. The tires dont rub on anything, but being tilted and not aligned the way they should be is wearing them rapidly. I think I will take it to a mechanic just to look at and tell me what they believe is wrong with it. I will update again when I know more.