spindles and drive shaft?

[no_rice]

so... last fall i traded for my 70 gmc shorty...



drove it home, drove it to work the next day, and then its been shoved away in the back of the garage all winter behind all of my other crap! finally cleaned and moved some stuff around so i could atleast get a good look at some stuff and try to get a few parts on the way.

i guess here is where im at currently... it already has shorter coils up front, and an axle(yes leaf rear) flip in the back. it needs to come down more. especially the front, so that the tire to fender gap is more uniform front-back. even though i dont really want the rake, i will be happier with a little more of that then the big air between the front tire and fender lip. plus i may throw an inch block under the back to level it back out a hair anyway.

on to my point. i believe the po used some stock spindles off of another truck(plenty of old grime on them unlike the caliper and rotor), and im assuming it was a 71-72 simply because the a-arm ball joints are still riveted in and not bolted like a replacement ball joint would need be to fit a different vintage spindle. so my thought is i would need a 2.5 drop spindle that fits the stock style 71-72 disc and caliper. not sure if someone can tell by the pics or not??? rotor is about 1 1/8" wide, and calipers appear to be new stock style replacements to me??







another concern, is i simply cant have the new spindle push the wheel farther out of the fender, and ive seen a bunch of debate on whether or not the cpp spindles narrow up the front track, or if they simply keep it the same as stock(narrow would be better, but same width SHOULD work) and dont widen it like it appears many other drop spindles do...?!

as for the drive shaft, does this seem right to you guys? i dont think i should see that much of the splines, but then again i dont really know. not sure how much could be left sticking in there since i havent had one out. also, the little i didnt get to drive it it seemed to have a vibration... and since this has obviously been apart its another reason i wondered if it looked right. i tried to decipher some things i read about clocking the driveshafts sometime over the winter(which i had never heard of before but all my previous stuff has been one piece), but not sure i really got that figured out.



anyway, thanks for some input.

[GASoline71]

I've heard some rumors on his board about some late year 1970's that were built with front disc bakes and 5 lugs from the factory. You might just have one.

I cannot confirm this... but I've read it a few different times.

Gary

[Orange67]

Yeah, the splines showing are normal. It is so that the slip joint will slide in as the suspension changes. That carrier bearing is identical to the one I just replaced on my 67 C20. I had to do an adapter plate and use a later style, as no one could locate the correct part. On mine I actually had to disassemble the front u-joint (no bolts, just clips) to get the shaft out.... and looking at your pic, you got lucky, that one will drop right out. Mine is on the other side of that cross member and not fun to remove...

Justin

[67c10rustbuket]

You have rubber contrtol arm bushings on the cross shaft so if the ball joints are still riveted in you front suspension is from a 73+ chevy truck.

[luvbowties]

Originally Posted by no_rice

so... last fall i traded for my 70 gmc shorty...

Attachment 1090696

drove it home, drove it to work the next day, and then its been shoved away in the back of the garage all winter behind all of my other crap! finally cleaned and moved some stuff around so i could atleast get a good look at some stuff and try to get a few parts on the way.

i guess here is where im at currently... it already has shorter coils up front, and an axle(yes leaf rear) flip in the back. it needs to come down more. especially the front, so that the tire to fender gap is more uniform front-back. even though i dont really want the rake, i will be happier with a little more of that then the big air between the front tire and fender lip. plus i may throw an inch block under the back to level it back out a hair anyway.

on to my point. i believe the po used some stock spindles off of another truck(plenty of old grime on them unlike the caliper and rotor), and im assuming it was a 71-72 simply because the a-arm ball joints are still riveted in and not bolted like a replacement ball joint would need be to fit a different vintage spindle. so my thought is i would need a 2.5 drop spindle that fits the stock style 71-72 disc and caliper. not sure if someone can tell by the pics or not??? rotor is about 1 1/8" wide, and calipers appear to be new stock style replacements to me??

Attachment 1090697

Attachment 1090698

Attachment 1090699

another concern, is i simply cant have the new spindle push the wheel farther out of the fender, and ive seen a bunch of debate on whether or not the cpp spindles narrow up the front track, or if they simply keep it the same as stock(narrow would be better, but same width SHOULD work) and dont widen it like it appears many other drop spindles do...?!

as for the drive shaft, does this seem right to you guys? i dont think i should see that much of the splines, but then again i dont really know. not sure how much could be left sticking in there since i havent had one out. also, the little i didnt get to drive it it seemed to have a vibration... and since this has obviously been apart its another reason i wondered if it looked right. i tried to decipher some things i read about clocking the driveshafts sometime over the winter(which i had never heard of before but all my previous stuff has been one piece), but not sure i really got that figured out.

Attachment 1090700

anyway, thanks for some input.

You mentioned "clocking the driveshafts". That means simply that the splined section should go together such that when the front shaft has its u-joint cups straight up-and-down, the rear shaft should have its cups straight-up-and-down also.

As far as drop spindles and widening/narrowing front track, I cannot answer. But I WOULD think that trimming a bit off your present springs(I personally do not advocate this procedure--exc. in certain cases.)would leave the track the same width. And it would give you a lot of info about how much drop you ultimately want. AND: It might just satisfy you as done!

If you're considering new drops anyhow, there would be very little wasted in trying it. Should you later decide to install the new drops, you'd have nice, clean bolts, nuts and threads to allow a much easier 2nd-go-around!

HTH,
Sam

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

You have rubber contrtol arm bushings on the cross shaft so if the ball joints are still riveted in you front suspension is from a 73+ chevy truck.

Glad someone was able to verify.

Gary

[lolife99]

73-87 a-arms for sure.
They will be 1" Light Duty or 1-1/4" HD rotors.
That matters when it comes time to order drop spindles.

The crossmember itself,... is the original 67-70 style crossmember.

[no_rice]

damn, im going to have to re measure the rotor thickness. i swear i measured it a couple times and came up with 1 1/8th. and they obviously dont have alot of wear and such on them. so... of course that is inbetween either option...

[brad_man_72]

Originally Posted by luvbowties

You mentioned "clocking the driveshafts". That means simply that the splined section should go together such that when the front shaft has its u-joint cups straight up-and-down, the rear shaft should have its cups straight-up-and-down also.

As far as drop spindles and widening/narrowing front track, I cannot answer. But I WOULD think that trimming a bit off your present springs(I personally do not advocate this procedure--exc. in certain cases.)would leave the track the same width. And it would give you a lot of info about how much drop you ultimately want. AND: It might just satisfy you as done!

If you're considering new drops anyhow, there would be very little wasted in trying it. Should you later decide to install the new drops, you'd have nice, clean bolts, nuts and threads to allow a much easier 2nd-go-around!

HTH,
Sam

Actually with a 2 piece shaft the rear weld yokes will be 90* from the front weld yoke and the slip yoke.
The slip yoke will line up with the weld yoke on the front shaft.
They could look right and still be installed 180* out from the way it was ballanced. Looks like its been redone so all bets are off, if you suspect it take it to a DRIVELINE shop to have it ballanced as an assembly.
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[no_rice]

thanks, i'll look into the driveshaft some more.

so you guys say this is 73-87 a-arms and spindles because of the rubber bushings i can see here?



i guess i thought everything ive ever seen had rubber there? or maybe its just the style of bushing?

as for the rotors, i remeasured again this morning... 1 1/8th inch.... and i cant see these having had an 1/8" worn off of them. sooo... im not sure what i would have. i suppose it could be like lumber and 1 1/4 really wouldnt be, it would be thinner!

[lolife99]

Pre-73 trucks had a steel threaded bushing and a different style a-arm.