They are probably not needed, you're correct. I just want to make the repair go as trouble free as possible. Murphy is probably waiting around the corner for me to break or damage the original spindles somehow, turning a weekend job into a weeks job. It's like breaking a stud off in the most inaccessible area of the engine.

Laugh -- I replaced the glow plugs a couple weekends ago -- five out of six studs on the old plugs broke off when I undid the harness connectors. Hercules must have tightened them.