Dropped Spindles

[Ol_Girl_58]

Hi guys

I was toying with the idea of dropping my FC with dropped spindles (with skinnier tyres, of course). Simon has been an extremely good help, offering advice, do's and don'ts.

I'm wondering if anyone else has fitted, tried, is trying or thinking about dropping their FC, and if so, what problems have you encountered?

(Simon - I'm not ignoring your comments at all - I'd just like to see if anyone has encountered OTHER problems...I want to be ready for anyone...)

Cheers  

Josh

Any tips will be appreciated!

[craiga]

Ed,

Chase up Craig Jordon from the NSW Club. His FE sedan is using dropped spindles on a HR front end with a rack and pinion.

RET should be able to supply a contact number.

Cheers,

Craig.

[mcl1959]

Ive also got dropped spindles on HR front end with UC discs.  I must say that the drop is significant.  I still have stock springs and if I run any wider tyres than the minimum radials it will hit the guard.
HR discs would have been better because of narrower offset or P76 rotors for the same reason.
Overall I am pretty happy with the end result as ride is still very smooth with full spring travel, but car is very low as well.

Ken

[customFC]

I own a set of dropped spindles also and did come across a few problems. I run a standard HR disc front end and found the tierod ends rubbed on the tyre when I put new tyres on, creating a wandering effect on the road. I tried wheel spacers to clear, but could not get them out enough. As I drove my car everyday, this was enoying, so I removed them. (they have a TEMPORARY home on Craig Wilsons FE ute) I have since found out that I should use spacers between the tierod mount and stub, to give me the clearance. Craig uses Torana discs on his FE, and they are offset further out, giving more clearance at the tierod, but less at the guard.
When I was first fitting the stubs to my car, I had a few problems as I was not provided with shims for the calipers to make them sit square. Had to make some on the run. (B!oo#y CRS.) Also be aware that you will have to have a larger castle nut for the bearings if you were running HR.
Something to keep in mind....the dropped stubs give you correct steering geometry and suspension travel....BUT, if you run 13 inch wheels, the lower wishbone will sit lower than the bottom of the rim. In the event of a tyre blowout, the car may drop onto the front suspension, and dig into the road......that could be interesting when traveling at speed.....(legal?)
Regards
Alex

[kma]

hi josh,
I bought a set at xmass and put them on my FE, using 14 inch ht rims, modified hq discs, 195-70 tyers, crs front mountet rack with crs modified hr steering arms, 1st problem was the outer bearing would not push up to the outer race in the disc, it turned out to be a burr from the keyway machining.  
2nd problem was the tyer hiting on the tyre rod end, I put a 4mm spacer between rim and disc rotor - not enough to clear so i packed behind  the steering arms by 6mm and still not enough clearance for the tyre rod end, mind you that made 10 mm so from my experience your tyers would need a clearance of greater than 10mm before you start.
So I thaught it's time to put my mags on the car because they have a different offset than the ht rims, I still needed the 6mm spacer behind the tyre rod ends so off to the wheel alighners but i could not even reverse the car out of my drive way because the tyers were rubbing on the guards, I could go on but to cut this short I sold the f-----g things.  
reguards Kevin

[Graeme]

Hey Josh,

A mate told me that HQ stub axles to a HR front end would lower it by about 2 inches.  Not sure of the reason because side by side on the floor they look the same, but my FC appears to sit much lower Advatage with this set up is that all parts standard Holden parts and are easily fitted.

Also gives me the advantage of running chev bolt pattern and a greater range of wheels, better brakes, etc. Have to change the rear end to get the same bolt pattern but there are many choices to do this.  Currently shortening the long side of a VL Commodore diff.

Car is not on the road yet, so can't tell you much more than that.

Best of luck.

Graeme

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Do the HQ stub axles really do that? I find it a little hard to believe something like that could be kept quiet for so long, does anyone else have any experience/info for this?

[HARKO]

Sure do .

On my engineer approved documentation for CRS Dropped Spindles it states as follows.

LOWRIDE STUB AXLE WILL LOWER CAR APPROXIMATELY.

HQ-WB   50mm)   14"wheels , 7.5degrees

HD-HR   60mm)   13"wheels , 7.5degrees



LC-LJ   60mm)  
                             13"wheels
                              9degrees
LH-LX-UC 60mm)  

On HD-HR,LC-LJ,LH-LX-UC when original disc rotors and calipers.  Supplied are four spacers 25mm OD x 11mm ID x 4mm wide to be fitted between caliper when bolting up to stub axle for correct caliper allignment.

So this states that a HQ stub is 10mm lower than a HR stub ,That will explain the hard to see difference between the two side by side.

[brads59]

Hi guys, are we talking about standard HQ stubs being lower than FC stubs or lowride dropped HQ stubs being lower than lowride FC stubs? .
cheers BRAD

[HARKO]

Brad , A lowride stub suits HR-HQ ,So an FC with HR front crossmember will accept the stub.

Standard HQ stub axles are 10mm  lower than a standard HR stub

Dropped spindles lower HR 60mm & HQ 50mm

[Chuck]

Custom FC

I was reading an RTA information sheet (Guidelines for Light Vehicle Modifications - Information Sheet No 6) and remembered your comment re a blowout on a 13" rim causing part of the suspension to hit the road.  In the Information Sheet, under the heading "Suspension", it states that it is not acceptable to ... fit any additional components or alter the suspension ride height so that any part of the vehicle other than a wheel or tyre can contact the road in the event of a tyre deflation.

Just thought you might like to know.

Chuck

P.S. By the way, I know that this is not the place, but is anyone interested in selling their dropped spindles?

[mcl1959]

I've checked my spindles and they are not lower than the wheel rim !!
I think the way to go is with Torana discs to get tie rod end clearance and narrow radials for guard clearance.
I've used stock FC rims but have found late Torana rims have the same offset as FC so this would be the best rim.  HR rims push the wheel out much further than stock, early Torana rims pull the wheel further in than FC.
These early Torana rims may allow bigger rubber to be fitted but I haven't checked tie rod clearance with them yet.

Ken

[Graeme]

Harko,

Thanks for that bit of info, it certainly answers my question.  I'm just a dumb accountant (lol) and not a mechanics bootlace.  At least I now know it will work.  Running 15x5 rims on the front and have no problems with clearance for all the various steering bits.  May have to notch the top wishbone (whatever you call it) each side for caliper clearance, but that has been the only "problem" so far.  All I need now is for the shortened long side of the VL diff to fit OK and I'm on the home stretch.

Thanks again Harko.

Graeme

[brads59]

 :oNotching wishbones,be careful as they are the main part of your suspension.
Cheers BRAD

[Graeme]

Thanks Brad.  It was only going to be a little notch.  Will try the PBR calipers first cos I think they are a little more compact that the Girlock calipers.

Graeme

[Ol_Girl_58]

Thanks guys - it all sounds like a headache...

I might just shrug it off and use lowering blocks...better still weld the f*&^ing diff to the floor...

[Ed]

Hey Josh,

Don't despair, it may be worth your while to check out some dropped spindles on a car, to visualise it more clearly.

I've gone the other method and used Kmac progressive lowered springs on the front end, whilst its not a 50 -60mm drop, 1.5 inches was ok for me, the extra weight of the motor brings it down even further.   Arguably less suspension travel, however this is offset by the firmer ride provided by the springs.

I dont envisage any major guard clearance problems using 14 inch wheels.

Also using HD-HR modified drum stubs enures my steering geometry is the same and a set of caliper adaptors.

Damm sight cheaper than dropped spindles, and my control arms are all sitting parallel to the ground.

There are literally myriads of tried and true combinations to lower your car.

..lowering blocks... thats a whole new can of worms, my wagon once used them, but I have removed them, I think they are unsafe.  There's plenty of room for improvements over the leaf suspension, but for now.. they are just fine..

at the moment, I've had enough.. I just want my car on the black top

Cheers

Ed

[gree]

i am glad to see lots of other people out there have had similar experiences with their dropped spindles.... thought i might be the only one!

When I was first fitting the stubs to my car, I had a few problems as I was not provided with shims for the calipers to make them sit square. Had to make some on the run. (B!oo#y CRS.)

me too! this is when he didn't believe me when i called and complained! (not trying to re-open a can of worms by the way. just thought it was a co-incidence!)

[customFC]

I hear ya Gree. I found the guy to be arogant and wouldn't know what customer service was. Think he is just out to take our money to fund his next million dollar car.
Regards
Alex

OOOps, should this be on the rants board now?  

[Ol_Girl_58]

Hey Ed, thanks for your info, much appreciated  

Question: do I find your K-Mac springs at any suspension place, or are thye special orders?

also: what diameter wheels are you running?

I have a HR front end, centura rear, 14 by 7 mags with 9" tyres. The guards are flared. Stock HK - HT rims are too skinny (i think they are about 5" - could be wrong), so i'm thinking about widened HK rims to 6" but if they are widened, they may not fit under the guards enough to give it that slammed look that I want.

A question for everyone:

Will 6" rims fit under the car?