So check this out.
I'm driving down the street at about 70mph, I suddenly hear a grinding noise coming from the front. As I'm slowing down and pulling over to see WTF, the car suddenly pulls hard to the left and it feels like the left front wheel has locked up. I manage to get it rolling again and limp the last three miles home. When I pull the wheel off, the rotor is loose. "That's not right " I says to myself. So I pull the caliper and then the grease cap over the spindle. Bone dry, no grease. The cotter pin broke, the set nut worked loose and the bearing blew up, in the process pushing the washer out and stripping the threads on the spindle. The worst part is that pieces of the bearing basically welded themselves to the spindle, so I can't pull the rotor and had to take the entire strut assembly/rotor off as one piece. It ain't repairable.

I have an 85 GS. So my question is this: do I have to stick to an 84/85 strut assembly or are other years interchangable? Also, are there any other Mazda's that use the same strut or am I stuck looking for a RX7 that's being parted?

 

84-85 only. These have the better, two bearing design anyway. But, fortunately, front spindles aren't exactly a high demand item

 

Any '84 - '85 front spindle will work ( of course get the correct side), the inner bearing in larger on these cars compared to the '81-83 spindle cars.

The outer bearing is the same for all year cars, not sure what is meant by:
"These have the better, two bearing design anyway"

So have you figured out what cause all of this to happen, sound like a loose/dry wheel bearing started your issues?

Better check the other side and see how those bearings look.

John

 

I don't get bouis's comment on the two bearing thing either. They all had two bearings. The only diff between 79-83 and 84-85 was the inner bearing size. 84-85 had a larger bearing.

 

Yah, very correct. I'm not sure what exactly I was thinking about.

 

if you stuck the whole strut assembly from a 81-83 it would work, but i kinda pointless

 

Yeah, I found the culprit, about 8 months ago, I put new struts and spring all around. I have a friend that knows NOTHING about cars but wants to learn. He watched me take apart and rebuild the passenger side, then I let him do the drivers side. I watched and helped him for the entire damn thing untill it was time to pack the bearings with grease. I went to do something, and when I came back he had the whole thing assembled. I asked him yesterday and he said that he put a very light coat of grease on the bearings. So, it's my own dumbass fault for not checking his work. The passenger side is fine, but since I have to replace the rotors anyway, I am going to put in new bearings and seals on both sides. Now I just have to find the spindle.

 

make sure you give him a helping hand next time he's working on his car

 

I bought my 85 with a rotor that was in the process of welding itself to the spindle. The spindle was toast.

I replaced it with ANY 84/85 spindle right OR left side. What changes is the big round mounting plate for the caliper.

But having done this before I would strongly suggest that you match the replacement spindle with your RX7 model because taking that mounting plate off will require machine shop equipment when everything is welded together.