spindles again

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Thu Dec 02, 10 8:44 pm

I'm looking to buy some tubular upper control arms and was wondering if anyone had reamed the spindles out to take the newer balljoints.
Mick

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Dec 02, 10 11:37 pm

Mike, unless you are changing the whole set up there is no advantage in changing the uper control arms.
There is little weight saving to be done and the car's set up is dependant on the top arms being spot on.
Here are some i made earlier.

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Sat Dec 04, 10 5:55 pm

HI Bob,I'm changing them to loosen the front up more, not for weight reasons.
Mick

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Sat Dec 04, 10 6:12 pm

I've not tried it but assuming there is enough "meat" around the top of the spindle, I don't see why you shouldn't. The other big advantage of tubular arms is that you can dial in a healthy amount of caster for top end stability.

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Sat Dec 04, 10 7:51 pm

I have talked to Bill Reilly through email, he reams them out at no extra charge, it's just the cost of sending them, be nice if i could get them done here.
I am also thinking about the strut rods as well.
Mick

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Sat Dec 04, 10 8:30 pm

If you can't get them sorted locally, have a word with Trev D I'm sure he will be able to do it. Personally I think the rod end strut rods are a good idea.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Dec 04, 10 11:59 pm

I see where you are coming from Mike and I am sure tubular top arms can be done.
The Chrysler front set up looks crude but is very sensitive. The more caster you dial in the stiffer the steering gets typically a non power steer car had 2% and a power steer car had 4% as the power steering can overcome the the effect.
You will note that the front top wishbone pivot is set higher than at the rear pivot, such that if you hang a string line off the C/L of the top ball joint the caster increases as the suspension raises, this is illustrated in the pics i took when designing my set up. The string moves backwards as you lift the arm.
This is to of sett the bump steer due to the steering linkage.
When I first fitted my arm i dropped the front of the arm on a bracket so the arm was level but I could not dial out the bump steer took out the bracket and it dialled in easily.
Basically the problem is when you dial in more caster you effect the camber bump steer and toe in so every adjustment creates three more.
Now this adjusting is virtually impossible to due accurately on the garage floor so the only way is to use a 4 wheel computerised alignment system so that you can make the adjustments and see the effect on the other settings,
even then it is a compromise.
I managed to achieve a good set up and 8 degrees of caster but it still took k 8 hours to fathom out what the hell was happing as you tweaked it.
If you want to loosen the front end on a standard Chrysler set up I would look to the torque arm stiffness first.

TrevD · Post by **TrevD** » Sun Dec 05, 10 10:24 am

reaming the holes sholdnt be a problem, and cheaper on postage than sending to the states

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Sun Dec 05, 10 11:24 pm

Thanks Trev, i'll be in touch.
Mick

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Dec 06, 10 12:22 am

Gotta be a waste of time posting on here........................thanks for the input Bob.

Mick , did you somehow miss Bobs post? ............

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Mon Dec 06, 10 3:32 pm

I read his post and i thank him and everyone else for their input, however, i've spoken to others as well, one of them being Tig Napier, who told me that the upper control arms with heim joints freed his front suspension up more than anything else, more so than the strut rod arms he fitted.
The main reason i posted here, was to find someone who could ream my spindles out, i totally forgot about Trev, i'm afraid it's an age thing.
Thanks Mick

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Dec 06, 10 9:22 pm

Go for it Mike it will be an interesting mod