>then we had to grind about 3/32 off of the outside surface next to the rotor so the rotor would turn.

is this where the washers between the caliper and the spindle account for this space?

Sam

 

It's been to long and I'm to old to remember, In fact I don't remember installing any washers. If I can find the instructions this afternoon I will let you know. It's been a few years since the install so things are kind of fuzzy. I know it sets good and rides very comfortable for me. Have at least 3500 miles with the dropped spindles with no problems so far.

Chuck

 

Sam, the washers in question go between the caliper bracket and the back face of the spindle where the caliper bracket mounts. It is VERY easy to tell if you need these washers...without them, when you mount the caliper bracket it will hit the brake rotor. There are no spacers to compensate for the lower control arm clearance issue. The sneaky part of this clearance problem is that it doesn't manifest itself until the truck is back on the wheels and you make a turn...by then the rotors are toast as merc546 can attest.
I am not sure how long this style spindle has been in production, the earlier ones were Chrysler OEM spindles that had been modified. These were easy to identify because they looked like reworked forged Volare spindles and did not have that large flat steel plate as the central part in the construction. As for the tie rod bracket mounting bolts, I am not sure why Fatman doesn't make these the correct length, probably has to do with production costs, blah, blah, blah...but everyone that I know that has installed these spindles has had to cut the excess bolt off once they have been installed. You can see in the photo I included in this thread, my bolts are still not trimmed...this may give you an idea of how much excess sticks out.

 

My instructions say the same thing that Charlie said about the washers, They also say to check the lower control arm for interference. Mine were fine I could turn it and drive it with no problem but when the jerk at the alignment shop set the camber that's when my problem surfaced and of coarse he didn't notice it till the rotors were ruined. I did as Charlie slotted the end and hammered it till it cleared, ball joints were installed so no welding. Actually I had him do the fix (per my instructions) so I could drive it home and they had the nerve to charge me a extra $20.00 and would not pay for the new rotors that he ruined. I don't go there anymore. Place was great when father had it now son has it and it sucks.

Chuck

 

The instructions that I got from Fatman is not very detailed, only covers one page. They mention about that you may have to use the washers for spacers on the caliper mount, they also mention that you have to grind the boss down on the caliper mount, and they mention that you MAY have to grind a little off of the steering arm tie rod bracket. They did not mark the spindle Left or Right, they only have two holes drilled in them for the caliper mount, so you could install them with the caliper mounted on the back or the front depending on which spindle you installed on the left and right side.

When I talked with the Tech guy I asked why did they design the spindle with the caliper mount so low instead of the higer angle like on the OEM spindle. He said that was the only way that they could mount caliper to have full contact with the rotor since since it was actually being raised 2 inches. I hope you understand what I am trying to say here. He also told me that the flexible brake line had to be moved to the front so to connect it to the relocated caliper. Also he told me that I would have to switch the caliper from side to side, in other words put the left caliper on the right side spindle and vice versa.

For this to be a simple swap it sure seems like a lot of extra work. I hope that I will be pleased with it after I finish it.

Charlie

 

on the caliper mount location, they 'could' have made the backing plate of the spindle a little larger to accommodate that.. one of the things that disappoints me here is because of this mount location you cannot also convert to larger Baer or Wilwood rotors & calipers. (you CAN do it with the stock spindles).. so you can get big open wheels, and lower, but cannot fill with pretty functional brakes..

swapping the calipers side to side, right.. the bleeder stays at the top, so wen you move it to the front, it has to be the one from the other side of the vehicle.

Sam

 

Sam you are right, you cannot upgrade to a larger rotor using the Fatman spindle. There tech guy mention the same thing to me about the caliper bleeder valve needs to be on the top.

I wonder if Fatman changed the design on this spindle, because on Charlie's photo he has the caliper mounted on the rear of the spindle, and Fatman's tech dept. is telling me that I have to mount mine on the front of the spindle. I prefer to mount mine on the rear as in Charlie's photo, because I have my frame painted and really don't want to mess up the paint by welding the bracket for the flexible hose to the front of the frame.

Charlie

 

OK, I just went out in the driveway and took another close-up pic of my setup...I don't see any clearance issue with the steering on this side nor on the driver's side. That said, I know that there are MANY models of "Volare" front ends (one guy in the club has a Gibbons with these spindles) so there may be variations in the IFS that DO cause interference problems, I just don't see it here in mine.

 

well, if all depends on the geometry of the spindle in terms of caster/camber.. if they are symetrical front & back, then it will work out ok. otherwise not..

it 'sounds' like there is some technical (geometry) reason for the calipers to be mounted towards the front..

Sam

 

sure is pretty!..

sam

 

Charlie,
From looking at your photo of the pass side I do not see any clearance issue at all, and I can say the same about the photo that you posted earlier of the driver side. I am going to try to test fit mine the same way that you have your mounted. My IFS came out of a 78 Dodge Diplomat.

You did a nice job on your install.

 

My son went to WyoTech a couple years ago and took the chassis classes.
I was talking to him today about the drop spindles (cause I had mine adjusted and aligned yesterday raising the front end about 1.5 inches)..

anyhow, he said that the said the spindles are supposed to have a 3 degree built in lean backwards. to help deal with control on braking (sounds like anti dive to me)

and of course, if true, then the spindles would not be symmetrical and could not be mounted in reverse..

the only way to measure this is OFF the vehicle, clamp the lower ball joint surface to a stable table at 0 degrees parallel, and then measure the vertical line between the upper and lower ball joint mount.

sam

 

Morning, That's called caster and usually it is set by adjusting the upper control arm so that the lower ball joint is in front of the upper one or in other words it's leading the upper one. The angle between the two is about 3 deg. It contributes to anti dive.

Chuck

 

got it.. (I can never remember which is which.,.)

so, based on his words, and your clarity, I would expect a built in 3 degree caster that you cannot adjust out. If so, then I don't see how you could compensate, cause you would have to get from 3 negative, to 3 degree positive, a 6 degree swing..

we just finished my first alignment.. and caster was set to 4.5.

Sam

 

I talked with Daryl this afternoon at Fatman's Fab concerning the dropped spindles, and he told me that the spindle was designed to mount the brake calipers on the rear of the spindle. He also mentioned about the lower control arm could be to long causing it to rub against the rotor. He said the say thing that has been mentioned here, and that was to take a hammer and massage the end of the lower control arm enough to clear. I did not think to ask him if you could grind on the end of the control arm with a grinder, or if the hammer would be better.

Well, I appreciate everyone's imput, I will take a few pictures and try to post them in the gallery after I get the spindles installed.

Charlie