I presently have Fatmans dropped spindles on my 55 along with lowered springs and when turning right the tires s****e a fender but does just fine turning left and it has a good case of bump steer too so I am thinking about yanking off that stuff of and starting over,does anyone know if there is a kit to put the granada brakes on the original spindles since all the brake parts are basicly new with ony a couple thousand miles on them. It could be the wheel manufacture sent me a 7 inch wheel by mistake and I have it on the front or who knows what is wrong but when I put a Y block back in I am going to raise it back up some and see if I can get the rubbing and bump steer problem fixed,with the Fatmans spindles the inner tie rods had the be shortened which killed the lifetime warrenty from Kantors.
hey, i have disc brakes on my 54 ford and dont have that problem... ive got 3 inch dropped spindles and 3 inch dropped springs. the only issue i have is when you turn left or right all the way it rubs. no bumpsteer or anything else. i used dc enterprises, for the disc and dropped spindle. check them guys out its a good kit.....................john
I can live with the tire rubbing but the bumpsteer has to go,I can turn all the way to the left and no rubbing but on a hard right it rubs.
is the wheel offset more on the p*** side? try dc enterprises if you remove the current set up. the guy who owns it is real smart and has a few 54-57 fordswith this kit on it. i have no complaints and its been a few years...................john
I will pull the front whels and see if there is a difference,all 4 are supposed to be 6 inch wide rims.
Just swap out the Fatman spindles for a set of Granada spindles, they can be machined to give a 2 1/2'' - 3'' inch drop. DC Enterprises sells Granada Disc brakes, same thing you can buy from a salvage yard. **** Cohen of DC Ent. has p***ed away, I think his wife has taken over the business. The dropped spindle this guy was selling is nothing but a machined Granada spindle.
Use the Granada spindles, They have been on my 55 for eight years and driven all over and driven hard. Six inch wide wheels, front and back. Use what works and what is cheap.
I did have granada spindles but after I got all the parts off for the dropped spindles I think they got pitched so it looks like I will need to find another pair. Since I want to raise it some I heard they will drop it about a inch so with stock height springs it should get me where I need to go.
DC Enterprises sells Granada Disc brakes, same thing you can buy from a salvage yard. **** Cohen of DC Ent. has p***ed away, I think his wife has taken over the business. The dropped spindle this guy was selling is nothing but a machined Granada spindle.[/QUOTE] yes that is true, when i orderd my set up i asked him about using stock spindles i beleive he said they machine the baljoint mount to except the stock ford balljoint. the only problem is up here in ct there are no more granadas left in the junk yards and for the 600 bucks he charges for the whole kit i dident think it was a bad price. i didnt know he had p***ed away...................john
It is true that you will need to machine the lower ball hole on the Granada spindles to fit the 55-57 Fords. If you want the car to sit very low, machine as little as possible from the lower hole so that the spindle sits high on the lower ball joint stud. If you are looking to get a stock ride height you will need to machine as much as possible from the lower ball joint hole so that the spindle sits all the way down on the ball joint. Here is a picture of my Granada spindle after I had it machined, you can see how high the spindle sits on the ball joint stud, I wanted my car to sit as low as possible. I had to use a hardened 3/8" thick washer under the castle nut to raise it up so it would line up with the cotter pin hole.
i just finished my disk brake conversion on my 55 fairlane . and after reading about granada spindles causing bump steer . i went to my local pull your own parts yard and looked for other rear steer spindles . i found a set off a 73 torino . went right on tie rods on the right spot , not way out af adjustment . which i beleive is where the problem lies in the granada one's . the only thing i encounterd was the bottom ball joint hole to big . made a thin spacer and all is good . all the calipers and pads and rotors i think are the same . it also lowerd my car about 2 inch's . im running 14X7 wheels on the front cause thats what i had layinng around till i can come up with something else . no rubbing , no bump steer , recomend to anyone i see .
I talked to someone at DC last week and was told that the 54 to 56s should not have bump steer even lowered like I have mine so the Fatman spindles are coming off and will be ordering stock granada spindles from them so I can use my existing brake parts and get the front end raised up some,I cant get new springs yet since I am planning on installing a Y block back in sometimes in the future and I think I have some one inch spacers to put in on top of the springs so it should bet me raised up some and maybe I can get it to ride like it should and not bottom out.
Plans might be changing,I checked the prices for parts to rebuild the torino brakes and it will be cheaper then buying the modified spindles from DC enterprises so I might be going the torino spindle route. I can get torino spindles for next to nothing and hate to spend a bunch of money again but I have to get rid of the bump steer and being too low is not as fun as it looks.
Here's one fellows adventure with a 57. http://www.valleycruisersnb.com/PDF/Thems_the_brakes.pdf http://www.valleycruisersnb.com/
This is nice to know as I'm looking to do the same to my 55 fairlane.. I checked fatman and they don't even show anything for 55 that i can find.. If anyone has extra stuff laying around I am willing to purchase it... Thanks Eddie
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