Couple of random questions.

[1979C20]

I have a family friend who has a full metal shop in his back yard. Hes got 2 cnc machines and the whole shebang. Im planning on going and talking to him about machining a set of lift spindles for 73-87 2wds. I wanted to know, what type of metal should they be? What would you guys say would be a decent price for this kind of machining? Do any of you guys have a set of stock spindles I can borrow and take to him for measurements if he agrees to the job? How much do you think I could sell them for? What size lift would you recommend? And would any of you be interested in a set?

[Irish_Alley]

idk about any of it for sure but. I think they should be cast. price should be about 200 for sale. no one the stock (I would if anything use a pair of lifted spindles for a model just cause they work and you wont have to mod anything to make them work). again 200 for sale. lift size I haven’t seen any 4x2 for over 4" make you think why this is. no I wouldn’t just cause I got a 4x4 lol. but here’s a down side or two #1 its the suspension if it fails you probably will die #2 lawsuit if it fails you have to have insurance for something like that #3 I wouldn’t waist money on something that if you do sell allot of your customers would be limited.
Here’s a pic from rough country now they are for a newer Chevy but some ideal


now dont let me bust your bubble but the thought of a life on my work i would want research dont and done right

[jaredts]

I would stay away from castings--they're voids and pockets held together by melted coathangers (jk).  You could start with forged material that is pre-hardened and get close to the material properties, but you would need an engineer to develop a 3d model and perform finite element analysis calculations on it.  Even then it wouldn't be safe without destructive testing to verify the design and machining cost on just a set or a couple of sets would be tremendous, and would also require a 3d model and 3d machining.  Machining from plate or solid material would also leave you with a discontinuous grain flow.  Only testing could prove whether that was significant enough to allow it to break.  Save this for people with deep R & D budgets.

[slammed79]

I agree with jaredts. Another way to do it besides machining would be to make them out of 1/4" Flat stock and weld them together, I've seen them hold up very well on trophy type trucks, still would need custom control arm mounts me thinks.

[Captkaos]

Info someone posted on using the 88-98 lift spindles:

18x8" Chevy 6 lugs wheels off a new Z71, Nitto Terragrappler 33x10.5. Rear 2.5" Rancho lift blocks with Bilstein 5100 extended shocks. The front has 88-98 Rough Country lift spindles. I'm using the Moog 6454 HD springs. I will have to see if I can get it aligned with them, but the tops of the tires are angled out some. May have to put in shorter springs to get the correct camber. Here's how it looks so far.




You can use 5 lug discs. I used the C2500 LD 6 lugs because my wheels are 6.

The sway bar is a 1 3/8" belltech I've had for years. One problem I ran into was the 88-98 outer tie rods connect to the spindle from underneath and caused interference with the sway bar. I do not know if this would be a problem with the stock sway bar. Since the tie rod joint is smaller then a 73-87, what I did was get a taper reamer from summit and reamed it from above and used the stock tie rod.

The brake hoses are from a 88-98 and they connect to the frame differently. If you clock them just right, they will fit into the hole in the frame and use a horseshoe shaped clip to hold it in.

The spindle, rotors, bearings, calipers, pads, ball joints and hoses I used were from a 1994. The rest is stock 73-87 parts, with 1 ton lower control arms.
You have to use 88-98 rotors and calipers. Since the 88-98 ball joint is bigger, it wont fit 1/2 ton arms. I'm using 88-98 Raybestos PG (formerly Spicer) ball joints.

[1979C20]

Thanks capt, I actually have the web page that originated from bookmarked. the reason I want to make a set for 73-87 is because its never been done.

[Captkaos]

It has been done, just wasn't popular.  AIM industries made them.

[dstark]

I hear a set of HD front springs and a 1.5" rear lift block works just fine to add enough clearance for up to 33's.