Hey. I managed to pick up a free front end from a buddy I work with. His dad pulled it out of a holkey fibergl*** roadster some guy had on the road in the 80s. For instance the radius rods are welded to the bottom of the spring perches and axle. And on the other end the guy welded a big nut so he could put a smaller sized bolt through it. But anyways I dont care about that ****. I wanted it mostly for the spindles, and maybe the axle itself. It seems okay, if I can get the sping perches out of it. But I have no idea what the spindles are off. I do know they have 70s GM rotors on it. But no brackets for calipers. I'd like to runs drums on them but I dont even know what they are. Would there have been any machining done to them to fit the rotors, that would not let me run drums? Thanks for any info.
AndrewJ,,,,can you read?,,,,,If you had taken the time to look there is a New to the HAMB ,,,,Post an intro page to introduce yourself before ya start askin a bunch of questions,,,, BTW,,,if the axle is free take it,,,it appears to be an original from what I can see,,,w/t some form of disc brakes. HRP
Andrew, I'm no expert, but that looks like a Early Ford front Axle (stock) with a GM brake conversion. Spindles look like the "standard" early Ford spindle probably '39-ish (which Ford put on pretty much everything from the very late 20's thru something like '48) The GOOD thing about them is that they are FORGED and if they aren't hurt are a FINE spindle. The potential problem with any old Ford spindle (out of a Hot Rod) is that you must be certain to look them over carefully - lots had the steering arms REBENT to clear this or that. Sometimes people bending them did more harm than anything. Magnaflux if you have any doubts. If the brake conversion is the "standard" mid size GM (which it appears to be) then there would have been NO MODS to the spindle itself. There will only be an extra sleeve pressed onto the stub of the spindle to take the diameter up to the GM bearing size. Remove the sleeve and you should have a stock spindle. And unless they're perfectly functioning I'd suggest putting in new King pins before using this - cheap insuance. Make sure to measure the length of king pin - there were a couple lengths used in all those years. The brackets would have been a bolt on affair. I don't see any reason why you couldn't save the spindles or axle especially since it's still asembled (good thing). Great deal - free is hard to beat - especially for early Ford stuff that's still in demand. Good Luck !!!
Thanks HemiRambler, thats exactly what I needed. Hotrodprimer, I didnt know you guys were so big on introductions, I can do that then. I'm not asking a bunch of questions, I asked one. I searched for a post (not only on here) to help me ID my spindles myself, but couldnt find any info.
Looks like junk to me . Id pay for shipping to michigan if you want to get rid of it Be careful looks like the introduction police are on your *** Dave
Don't sweat it...but we would like an intro, just so we know who we're talking to! We're all friends here, its hard to be a friend if you don't have a clue who the other person is or what he's all about ya know? Thats all. Nice score on the axle! All those parts could be saved I'm betting.
The spindles are 37-40 models. They look a bit raunchy now. But all of the machined surfaces are protected and they should be serviceable. Looks like the steering arms are stock (not heated and bent to work with a dropped axle). I'd suspect there is a press on bearing adapter on the snout. As long as the bearing adapters are in place you will have to run GM rotors. If the bolt pattern is 5 on 4 1/2" then you are looking at a Mopar rotor which uses a different bearing adapter. The bearing adapter goes on hard. The instructions tell you to heat it up (so the diamiter expands) and put them on in a press. I suppose you could grind them off but I would worry about nicking the snout. That would be bad. It is also possible a machinest could cut them off in a lath but that may not be cost effective. One option would be to trade your spindles for a set of stockers. For everyone who wants to run stock drums there is someone who wants to run discs. It is a frequent and never resolved topic of discussion here. A quick note about king pins. Most of the time the bronz bushings in spindle are worn out and must be replaced. But every now and then you come across a set where the pins are tight. If that is what you find keep the pins and their respective spindles together. You can save the cost of a kingpin set and the cost of having the bushings pressed in and honed to size.
So ***uming the discs were installed to some sort of standard, I could purchase a caliper bracket and run discs if I choose? I've seen the bracket for sale on a few sights. Although I know a guy with an awesome metal shop, would could probably make me up a set if I brought the spindle/axle in with a caliper, for same price or cheaper that I could get online. The spindles are pretty stiff right now. They both turn, but I cant tell if they are tight, or have been sitting for 20 years without grease and are full of rust.
Man, I think you guys just like to nut up and be the first to say "Post an intro"...it's like a contest or something. hahahahaha! Here come the intro police wooooooooooooo-woooooooooooooo!
andrew, dont listen to that ********. i just read the rules, and it only pertains if your trying to sell something. so dont worry about it. riverrat
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