What year of drop spindle is this?

[ryans69chevy]

I believe I have a '73-'87 drop spindle on a set of Baer brakes but I want to make sure. Is there any distinct features between a 67-70, 71-72, and 73-87? Upper ball joint has a 11/16" and tapers down to 1/2" and the lower is a 13/16" down to a 5/8" opening.

Thanks,
Ryan

[lolife99]

The best way to check is to drag your spindle to your local auto parts store.
The upper ball joint or outer tir rod is specific to each year.
(63-70 or 71-72 or 73-87)
Find the one that fits and you will know.

I have no taper dimensions due to the varied thickness of all the different spindles made.
Don't look at the lower ball joint hole because 71-72 and 73-87 use the same lower ball joint.

[ryans69chevy]

Okay will do. I'll let ya know thanks a lot!

[ryans69chevy]

Brought the drop spindle into the parts store and tried an upper ball joint for the '71-'72 as well as the upper for the '73-'87 and they both fit damn near the same... I figured it was gonna be a significant amount of difference but I couldn't tell too much so I guess my next option is to bring it to an alignment shop which I'll do tom.

[ryans69chevy]

Haven't figured out which year this spindle is yet but I think I might have it reamed out enough to fit the ball joints for a '69

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

Haven't figured out which year this spindle is yet but I think I might have it reamed out enough to fit the ball joints for a '69

What are you going to do with the tie rod hole?
Ream it also?

[class01]

im having an issue with my lower control arms rubbing my rotors. I may have the wrong ball joints. Are you guys saying 69 ball joints are bigger than 72? sorry to hijack

[PGSigns]

When you try the ball joints what you need to look at is how far the thread sticks through. The early ball joint will stick through further and the hole for the cotter pin will be to far up to work with the castle nut. Same with the tie rod ends.

[michael bustamante]

id concentrate more on the lower ball joint. 67-70 are one style then 71-72, then 73 and up. maybe i did replace my upper also with 72. i dont remember anymore. sometimers is getting to me in my old age
those are nice, is theere a number on them?

[ryans69chevy]

I haven't tried my tie rod yet, but I'm guessing that it will need to be reamed as well. From what I've tried at the parts store the 67-70 ball joints have a wider taper on them then the later ones. I purchased this brake system a few years ago that someone didn't need anymore as well as all the steering components for my 69 thinking that the spindle was for my truck. Since I've purchased all the brand new steering components already the alignment shop I took my spindle to mentioned reaming the holes which then all the new parts will work. It's just making sure the spindle sits vertically level on the control arms afterwards. Hopefully this works out!...

I couldn't find any casting number on the spindle... I called Baer down in Arizona and they told me it's a GT+ but since it's 5 years or more they can't look up the specs of which spindle it is...

[ryans69chevy]

I guess the tie rod for a 69 has a smaller taper than what my spindle tie rod hole is. So I guess there gonna try some ball joints for a 73 since that's what I'm pretty sure it is. And from what I read from lolife's FAQ I can keep my 69 control arms since a ball joint from a 73 would fit in them. Now if this all works out I'm gonna have to try and sell my new moog steering stuff for a 69 and buy all new stuff for a 73.

[michael bustamante]

look into 71-72 outer tie rods too as they have a different taper from their older brothers

[ryans69chevy]

Well still haven't solved this problem of finding out which year of spindle this is. I still have one spindle at the alignment shop and one at my house. I've tried calling around to different parts stores in town and I'm asking for 71-72 uppers and outer tie rod ends and then 73-87 upper, lower and outer tie rod to check figment because I was pretty confident that's what this is. The stores just had mismatch of stuff so it was pointless to even bring my spindle into the store since I couldn't compare. I really don't want to have them ordered to their store since I'm not really intended on buying from them rather just seeing what fits the best. Since that was the case I just has the alignment shop order them to their shop since it doesn't cost anything.

I was just told that the uppers for 71-72 and 73-87 both fit the same which is odd since they are different part numbers... The lower fits as well but the outer tie rod is the problem. I guess the tie rod for both 71-72 as well as 73-87 don't fit. Apparently there is too much slop.

I was told that the outer tie rods bolt is too small for the taper so it moves around quite a bit. They said a sleeve could be made to fit. Not sure if that is the route I want to go yet or not. They are gonna order some outers for a 3/4 ton which would be very odd since it's a 6 lug.

Any thoughts on where I should go from here? I'm at a total loss right now...Any ideas or guidance would be much appreciated... I've burned up much of the summer trying to solve this problem, haven't really gotten anything else done on the truck.

[lolife99]

Spindles have to match the balljoints and outer tie rods.
You have 4 choices on what they could be.
60-62
63-70
71-72
73-87
Not sure where you are getting your info but some of it is wrong.

The only thing that crosses over is the 71-72 and 73-87 LOWER balljoint is the same.

[ryans69chevy]

Just ran to a parts store and brought my drop spindle in and dropped a '73 outer tie rod in and got the measurements with a digital caliper. The outer tie rod fit pretty good I thought. I'm still questioning it though since the alignment shop said it wasn't the correct one. The measurement of the tie rod taper from what the website said was .749 tapering down to .593. We measured the spindle itself which was .741 down to .573. The '71 would have been smaller. I'm gonna call baer brakes tom and see if they have a spec sheet on what they taper their spindles too. Or I might have to call whoever they use for spindles for their systems. Seems to me this is a '73-'87 spindle.

Any more steps I should take to solve this problem.

[indymachinist]

The numbers you are coming up with for the diameters of the tapered holes should be used as a rough guideline only. As has already been said, based on casting thickness and depth of ream there is likely to be variation of measured hole size.

[ryans69chevy]

Figured out that this is a '73-'87 drop spindle. From lolife's FAQ page it states the control arms on my '69 will work. Only thing needed is to change the ball joints and outer tie rods to a '73. I'd still have to change the rest of the steering like the inner tie rods, idler arm, and pitman arm correct? If I don't would it be smart to change it all to the same year for ease of replacing parts down the road? What all should be done to make these 73-87 spindles work on my 69 with original crossmember?

Thanks,
Ryan