Hi, I thought I would run this by the HAMB since I've been cogitating on it for awhile and haven't found much material online...I was given a '54 Buick ch***is many years ago by a friend who has since p***ed...I cut it up and saved the front spindles/brakes and steering. I always planned to use them in a '50's style all Buick build for sentimental reasons...a few years later I was given a '32 Buick model 50 front axle and it seemed like a match made in heaven the spindle bosses seem roughly the same etc. but unfortunately the KPI is quite a bit different...does anyone know how I would go about this ? I do still have the '32 spindles...does anyone know where i could find info about the spindles? maybe the 54 backing plates and hubs could go on the '32 spindle? Or could the axle be bent tighter near the bosses without ruining it?
The I beam axle could easily have the king pin inclination altered. I would mock the components up before altering the axle.
Thanks how would one go about doing that? I've heard heat isn't good for the metal I contacted one of the biggest and oldest shops in our area and they said the axle would be too small for any of their fixtures
Forged axles have been heated and dropped for ages. Contact any one of a number of guys doing dropped axles and they can easily change the KPI. They typically have to tweak it after doing a drop so should be easy to just heat and adjust the KPI unless when you said "a lot different" it was a significant number of degrees. But most anything can be done . You just need to figure if any axle change will change the distance between the king pins and if it's enough to matter. That's why I suggested a mock up to start.
Thanks Jim there are a couple guys doing Ford axles over on the island ...haven't heard of anyone on the mainland... they're probably not set up for a GM axle but I'll look into that...it's most likely going to be a tranverse spring behind axle set up so not sure about more drop but I guess it couldn't hurt lol...yes I suppose the wheel track would have to change to some degree maybe I could match it to the rear width while I'm at it?
Yeah that's what I've been searching the 'net for... pg. 2 on the Chevy swap list shows the dimensions I need to find for Buick spindles...Buick kept the big ball bearings '32-'54 but I don't know the other dimensions yet ...the '32 is missing an outer bearing race so I cant use those hubs and the brakes are stuck on the '54s so I havent got them apart yet
To get the stuck brake shoes off, cut or grind off the pins from the back side, that hold the shoes to the backing plates.
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