'55 Merc Dropped Spindles?

A few years back I purchased a '55 Monterey from AZ. It has sat for over a year while I had other priorities. I decided to get it running again and that it needs to be bagged. Seems simple enough with the two piece lower a-arm.

I'd never even taken the wheels off until today. I was checking the diameter of the spring pocket and noticed the caliper is mounted in the front.



I'd always assumed it was a Granada swap ... The calipers/mounts look the part. I can't identify the spindle though. Looks custom ... with a bolt-on steering arm.





Does anybody know of any issues with mounting the caliper up front? It doesn't bother me too much. It stopped when I needed it to. It just doesn't seem that it was meant to be that way ... it seems to have made the brakes lines easier to deal with though.

Next question is can anybody ID these spindles? I've done two previous Granada swaps and these definitely do not look like factory Granada spindles.

Thanks for the help.

 

It does look like Granada calipers. The steering arms look stock, except the stock bolts would have been fine thread with castelated nuts and cotter pins. Granada spindles had the steering arms cast on. If it works, and the bleeder holes are at the top, run it. Grease the slides once in a while, they tend to stick sometimes.

 

Thanks OD ... I didn't know that the stock '55 used a bolt-on steering arm. When did Ford switch? My '58 had a one piece spindle before the Granada swap.

Any idea about the manufacturer of that spindle? If not ... Would you know the height of a factory spindle? I want to maximize drop at the spindle. If I can get more ... I'll swap them out. I saw in another post that Fatman has a 3" drop spindle.

 

Got a call this morning from Dave @ Drop'n'Stop. He says from my description that these are the Fatman spindles. Good to know. In the past I've shipped Fatman my Granada spindles for machining. I didn't realize they made a custom spindle. Dave says they go to a 3" drop. Drop'n'Stop uses the factory spindle and machines for 1.5" or 2.5 drop.

Still looking for factory height so I can figure out how much drop these spindles have. I'm swapping for new spindles if it will get me another inch or two.

It's important to me that I get it as low as possible without affecting the alignment.

Also want to say that Dave at Drop'n'Stop was real helpful and was great to talk to ... I'll check with him first next time I need something.