Has anybody seen/used drop spindles for A-bodies made in Australia (The Castlemaine Rod Shop, http://www.rodshop.com.au/)?

I would be interested in a set for my '65 Valiant Custom 100 convertible, but wanted to know if anybody has had any experience with them. They seem to be quite reasonably priced (even with shipping). Also, will these work with '73-up OEM disk brakes?

The main reason for this: I want to lower the car, but don't want to compromize the OEM suspension geometry and operating range.

OD440,

I was not aware of those - may be worth a shot on my next project car (mid 60 Valiant).

Cheers,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I haven't been able to find out much about them at all. I would imagine someone in australia must be using some. Pictures would be great.

I think they would work very nice with a set of Magnum Force upper control arms and reinforced lower control arms.

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1965 Valiant Custom 100 Convertible

Dropped spindles for an abody sounds great and as you say wont screw up factory geometry. Has anyone seen the dropped spindles that Fatmans has ?they miht be able to be used on some applications,they are designed for the streetrod guys that use the Aspen-Volare frontends under older iron.Their ph.no. is704-545-0369.

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Ive got a slanted attitude and a heavy right foot.

If the rumors that "F" to "A" body spindle swaps are safe with proper geometry the Fat Mans spindles appear to be high quality forgings. These are marketed primarily for lowering custom trucks.

The Fat Man web page says the spindles work with Gibbons kits, those are based on B body suspensions. The price is $435.00 a pair for a 2" drop.

Rod at Castlemaine returns emails promptly, the prices are pretty good too, especially with favorable exchange rates.

Haven't got the spindles, but have bought other stuff from Rod and have never had a problem. Everything has been good quality and worked as it should.

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94 Falcon 4.0 auto
70 Valiant 265 Hemi auto
70 Valiant 318, 904, Coupe
69 Valiant 225 auto x 3 (1 sedan, 2 coupes)
64 Falcon 250 2V auto
yes, I have too many projects.

how much drop do you want? I thought we all liked torsion bars so we can just turn a bolt and lower/raise the car.... get the camber adjusted afterwards, and be on the road again.... i understand OEM specs will be out, but you can re-align for the car to actually handle better than stock... hmmmmm....

well... dropping the front with the torsion bars works... but you then limit your suspension travel, and force the balljoints to operate at more of an angle when compared to stock, which may cause faster balljoint wear.

Some people just use shorter bump stops, but that might put even more stress on the balljoints.

If those drop spindles accept the newer disk brakes and work with the newer upper control arms, then I'm saving up for a set (and the price really isn't bad... though I wonder what shipping would be).

I would love to see an analysis of suspension geometry at all operating angles between A-body and F-body spindles on an A-body.

Has anybody done the math on this?

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1965 Valiant Custom 100 Convertible

I believe someone posted complete numbers in this section about 3 months ago - try a search.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

That has also been coverd to death on moparts.

Found it!...

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1965 Valiant Custom 100 Convertible

hi all, new here and just saw this topic. i have bougth a set of the fat man spindles for my big block 73 dart sport (yes i do own a slant six car too)and let me say they are very nice pieces. i can email pics for anyone that would like to see them. they are almost worth the price--i wish they were about a $100 cheaper, but they are the only game in town that makes an absolutely safe and quality piece.

--chad

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74 swinger slant 6, the slowest, most fun car i have ever owned.

Welcome to the site, Chad. Let us know how they fit and work out!

Cheers,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Chad I'd certainly be interested in seeing the pics - if you email them to me, I could post them here for you.

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Cheers!
Al T

sorry, i should have done this the other day
heres the spindle pics also against a stock spindle for comparision.
<img src="http://www.fotohost.com/fotohost/members/400dart/fatmanandstockspin.JPG"width=400>
The only thing i notice so far is that i have to swap the caliper brakets left to right. no biggie here. you can use any factory disk setup from the A,B,E,F,J,M bodie cars on these spindles.

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74 swinger slant 6, the slowest, most fun car i have ever owned.