Wierd front suspension issue...

lrsudog

Registered User
Just finished a complete rebuild of the front & rear suspension on my '90, including '93 spindles, new springs, poly bushings, etc...

When I bolted the wheels & tires on, the top of the left front tire extends past the fender a good 1.5". The right side seems pretty close to normal camber and offset, with the tire just inside the fender line.

Clearly there needs to be an alignment done, but as far as I can see, there seems to be no way to adjust the camber by such a large amount, and no way to bring in just the top of the camber line.

Any alignment experts with words of wisdom for me?
 
Okay, I've figured out why, but not how...

It looks like my left spindle is bent! Not sure how one can bend a big *** casting like this, but the distance from the upper control arm attachment point to the camber line is almost 1.5" greater on my left spindle.

So, Do I have a bad spindle, or just the wrong spindle? Are there two different 93+ spindles on the MN12?

:confused:
 
Word

Do you have both of the 93 spindles out for side by side comparison? Is this how you made your measurement, or with the arm in place?

Is the upper control arm bolted in properly?

Where did you get the 93 spindles?

Bob
 
Both spindles are still mounted. I laid a straight edge across the outside edge of the new Cobra hubs and measured from that line to the face of the upper part of the spindle casting where it mounts to the upper control arm.

I also made a measurement from the center of the upper spindle attachment bolt to the top of the lower ball joint hole. The left spindle is at least 3/16" shorter, which means that the arc of the left spindle is greater.

As far as I can tell, there is only one way to mount the left upper control arm so the ball joint points down. It seems that the upper control arms have no adjustment.

I bought both spindles at the same time from a local dismantler. I think that the left spindle is slightly bent. You can't tell by looking at them, only by measuring.
 
Camber bolt

I would suggest making some adjustments to the camber bolt (lower arm to subframe). It does have a fairly wide range of movement. Which may be magnified at the top of the tire.

When the tires are mounted is the clearence between the tire and the spindle equal?

Bob
 
I indexed the lower control arm adjustment cam when I pulled the parts. It's all back to very near the original position.

Even so, the full range of adjustment does not move the top of the tire in. Since the upper ball joint is above the tire, the camber adjustment can only move the tire face out.

There's clearly a bend or wrong part issue. I'm wondering if there were two very similar spindles available. Maybe I accidently got one from a Lincoln Mark or something.

That's actually my concern now. I guess I'm going to take the bad spindle with me and measure to make sure that the next spindle is not tweaked or whatever.
 
Back
Top