two inch drop spindles

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slantscamp

slantscamp

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has anyone ran the 2 inch drop spindles made by fatman fabrications. they are actually designed for f-body cars. but they are supposed to work. this guy has them on his duster. or does anyone know of ones made specificly for a bodies.

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F-Body front ends are a self contained unit so they are a real common retrofit to early model cars and trucks. Much like a GM subframe, but less cutting. And they're cheap. However the bent-bar front ends dont lower as well, and tend to cause the front end of the retrofitted car to ride higher than stock. Thats why the 2" drop spindles are out there.

Will they fit an A-Body? Yes and no. Yes, you can physically bolt them on. But no, they are not without drawbacks. F-Body spindles are taller than A-Body spindles and will cause the upper balljoint to bind under full jounce, not to mention other bad ju-ju with geometery. True, with the 2" drop the suspension will likely never see full jounce. Why not? The K-frame or oil pan will hit the ground first. Forget about headers. OR, if you plan to run a tall front tire, it will hit the top of the fender, or cut itself if you hit a bump while turning (like entering a parking lot).

Long story short, you can get an A-Body low enough to hurt itself with stock parts, why spend the extra bucks. If you really want to set it on the ground, get an Alter-K-tion, link rear and airbags. Not cheap.
 
I used those spindals in my 66 wagon and I can put it in the weeds. I have had them for about six months don't notice any difference in ride quality you just have to be aware of road hazards. If your going for handling and road racing type stuff then they might not be your best bet but for coolness in a daily driver they can't be beat, and they are not cheap. As far as alignment goes it all lines up to factory specs with no problem. I called a company called firm feel out of vancouver washington (they build road racing suspensions parts for mopars) and picked their brains on the spindals and they feel that there will be no noticeable geometry change with aspen/volare type spindals. Speaking technical yes their will be but nothing you will ever notice. Don't you just love mopar interchanges! www.firmfeel.com Is their web sight.

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If you want the lowdown on F, B, J, M-body spindles then check out this article at BigBlockDart.com. http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/spindles.shtml

I also talked to the guy at Firmfeel (nice guy). He's developing a soon to be released kit to do the drop that involves cutting and re-welding the lower control arm and other parts. It was 2-3 times the cost of the Fatman spindles. E-Booger at Mopar Action is supposed to do a review in the near future.

Oh, and there is a company in Australia that makes a spindle specific to A-Body's. Spendier than Fatman even before shipping.
 
I have coil overs for the front and want to use them to drop my 64 about 2 inches, for the rear i was thinking about a 2 inch drop aswell with de-arched springs from detroit eaton. Is your wagon dropped only 2 inches with the spindles, seems real low? What are you using for the rear? Didnt want my car as low as your wagon, but it does look cool in da weeds.
 
I used the 5 leaf rear springs from a 75 dart that actually lowerd the back down about an inch from the stock springs? When I laid the two down togther the stock spring had a much bigger arch so that was really an unintended bonus. Then I bought adjustable front spring hangers from firmfeel, that is another inch. Then I used 1 inch blocks. If you go any lower than three inches you will need to cut a hump in the rear of the floor for the diff to clear. The front has the fatman spindals and then I turned down the torsion bars for a total of 4 inches.
The car rides very well with lots of suspension clearance You just have to watch out for the front cross member. I am running 15 inch wheels with 195 50 15 and 225 50 15 if you run bigger in the front you need to order a custom offset to suck in the wheels to clear the fenders when you turn. Mine just barely clear with a 4 inch back space
 
im just trying to get my center of gravity down. right now i just loosened the torsion bars to get my front end lower. but i thought if i ran those spindles i would be able to tighten my bars back up so the front wouldnt be mushy. i guess i can wait and see how everything is with my sway bar hooked up. i can always order those spindles later.
 
oh. i forgot, hey hemikiller. those front hangers that you ordered from firmfeel. were they the ones that say they are for the ss springs. and if so. do they work on stock springs?
-thanks-
 
Yep those are the ones! They are a very nice piece and they are cheap! Yes they will work on stock springs.
 
i have my '71 down as far as it will go now, with about 1/2" clearance on the bumpstop to the frame. i want to go lower, so will using these spindles get me down there where it want it to be?
 
Here we go again. Bill Reilly actually provided alot of info on this. I run 1.04 t bars, and 18" rims, with adjustable shocks. The taller spindles allow a higher roll center, which actually too low on a lowered mopar with stock disc spindles. The taller "taboo" spindle corrects this. The geometry everyone talks about is a little more bumpsteer on extreme compression and rebound. This can be altered and corrected with the right tools, but for a street car its fine. The upper bj bind is not a problems as far as I'm concerned as the travel of the suspension is very small. I feel my setup rides great, and outhandles just about anything on the road at this point. Tall spindles for everyone!!!
 
What is the price on these spindles? They might be what Im looking for for my 53 Merc pick up that has a volare clip in it.
 
slantscamp said:
im just trying to get my center of gravity down. right now i just loosened the torsion bars to get my front end lower. but i thought if i ran those spindles i would be able to tighten my bars back up so the front wouldnt be mushy. i guess i can wait and see how everything is with my sway bar hooked up. i can always order those spindles later.
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Changing you ride height will not change your spring rate and will not make your car mushy.

Like GMachineDart said, tall spindles are fine.

The fatman spindles are pretty weak looking. When you hold them up and look at them, for $500-$600 they really look thin in spots. Probably OK for a street rod or street crusier. Definitly not something you'd want to autox or take to the road course track.
 
I run the fatman spindles. For whatever reason we had to shave part of the caliper to get full clearance. Fatman said it is because all mopars are manufactured with different specs. They work but I would agree not something for the track.
 
fwaugh said:
I run the fatman spindles. For whatever reason we had to shave part of the caliper to get full clearance. Fatman said it is because all mopars are manufactured with different specs. They work but I would agree not something for the track.
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Did you have to shave it on the bottom corner near the allen bolts. The one set my friend had, they had to do that. He had rotor interferance, IIRC. They might not be that bad a piece, but for $500-$600 you'd think you'd be getting something a little more stout. And when you ask them specs on them they act dumb. The problem is are they acting?

But it's all there is. For a project like Fwaugh's were absolute lowering is so important to the build, I'd say you're pretty stuck with them.
 
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