Front Disc's Rubbing on Lower A-Arm

[steveb64]

I installed CPP modular drop spindles on my '64 C10 and have run into a problem. The disc's I bought are the standard 11" or 12" 6-lug also from CPP. The problem I am having is the very end of the a-arm rubs on the disc. At first I thought maybe I hadn't seated the lower ball joint all the way, but I had and it's torqued to specs. Another thought is that the spindles were not machined correctly by CPP. Anyone else had this issue? I appreciate any insight you may have or ideas on how to fix.

[steveb64]

Now that I think about it a little, when I put the disc's on the spindles, I thought it was strange that the castle nut went on the spindle beyond the hole for the cotter pin. I had to add a second spindle washer to space the castle nut out on the spindle so the cotter pin would keep it from spinning. I think the spindles were not machined properly.

[lolife99]

You might PM member CPPJEFF.
I never knew how CPP narrowed the track width,... without running into this problem.
I know their "modular" spindles are only a 2" drop compared to the standard 2.5" or 3" drop.
Are you sure you have the correct bearings?

[steveb64]

lolife99,
The rotors came with the inner and outer races installed. The bearings fit the spindle fine, I guess it's possible that the races do not match my A3 and A5 bearings, but they looked fine when dry fitted. Maybe the rotors are out of spec.
I sent Jeff a message, we'll see what he suggests.
Thanks for the feedback.

[lolife99]

I'll be following this thread also.

[royo]

Didn't spray bomb have this problem with his spindles

[CPPJEFF]

I have NEVER seen this problem. Can you put the whhels on the vehicle instead of jackstands and let me see what it looks like then? I will send this thread over to my engineer. Thanks

[lolife99]

The area marked in red,... looks wider than the 67-72 or 73-87 lower arms.
I wonder if the early arms are different?

[CPPJEFF]

Originally Posted by lolife99

The area marked in red,... looks wider than the 67-72 or 73-87 lower arms.
I wonder if the early arms are different?

I agree with lolife on the a-arm, although this should work on any a-arm from 63-87 chevy 1/2 truck.

[CPPJEFF]

Does this do this on both sides?

[steveb64]

Jeff,
Yes, this is happening on both sides.
I'll get some shots with the wheels on the ground in the garage and post them tonight.
Would this have something to do with the rotor going on the spindle so far that the cotter pin hole does not engage the crown nut? Should there be a spacer between the spindle and the inner bearing to hold the rotor out a bit?
I appreciate the help in getting this resolved.
If you need me to measure anything, I can do that.
Steve B.
563-320-1993

[CPPJEFF]

Originally Posted by steveb64

Jeff,
Yes, this is happening on both sides.
I'll get some shots with the wheels on the ground in the garage and post them tonight.
Would this have something to do with the rotor going on the spindle so far that the cotter pin hole does not engage the crown nut? Should there be a spacer between the spindle and the inner bearing to hold the rotor out a bit?
I appreciate the help in getting this resolved.
If you need me to measure anything, I can do that.
Steve B.
563-320-1993

Steve i would appreciate that as far as putting it on the ground and getting some pics. Also the rotor goes right on without spacers. Thanks. My direct e-mail is jeff@classicperform.com

[steveb64]

Jeff - I sent you an e-mail with these pics. Thanks for your help with solving this issue.

For those interested in this thread, here you go.

[steveb64]

Decided I'm just going to grind off the ends of my a-arms to prevent them from grinding on the rotors. Don't want to take too much though and risk weakening the ball joint area of the stamping.

[swappy]

I would like to know what the problem was. I want to get these for my truck. I wonder if he got the wrong bearing or rotors

[Hottrucks]

Hmmm I seem to have read this somewhere before but it is and older post.....I thnk they just ground it till it cleared??

what about thethickness of the rotor?? seems like they came in 2 diff thickenss's

[steveb64]

The rotors came from CPP. The bearings are the correct ones for the application, very common bearings.

I ended up just grinding the ends of my lower A-arms enough so that they no longer rub. I actually had to take quite a bit off, I'm hoping they are still mechanically sound and safe.

In my opinion, I should have forced the issue more with CPP. I think the CPP drop spindles were not machined correctly. This allowed the rotors to install to far inboard on the spindles. The reason I believe this is that after I installed the rotors, the crown nut tightens up way beyond the hole in the spindle that the cotter pin goes into. I had to install extra spindle washers between the outer bearings and the spindle nut to hold it our far enough so that the cotter pin will keep the crown nut from loosening.

I have to say, I'm not really happy with this setup, I just did not want to incur more shipping charges and down time sending the spindles back to CPP for inspection and replacement.

[LostMy65]

Old thread.....
But still interesting information on modular spindles.

[michael bustamante]

Did anyone notice theres no dust plates either? The spindles must be wrong if the rotor runs so far back that the castle nut completly clears the cotter pin hole

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

Did anyone notice theres no dust plates either? The spindles must be wrong if the rotor runs so far back that the castle nut completly clears the cotter pin hole

I read on here that you can't run the dust shields with the modular spindles.

[michael bustamante]

Youre probably right. I ran magoughys and those had the holes to mount dust plates so i just assumed

[Slow Build]

Here is a recent pic from a thread by Chevy_Mike showing modular spindle with 15" rally wheels. Looks like the ball joint is taller or something. No interference between a-arm & disk.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by Slow Build

Here is a recent pic from a thread by Chevy_Mike showing modular spindle with 15" rally wheels. Looks like the ball joint is taller or something. No interference between a-arm & disk.

Good observation.
The distance from the arm to the bottom of the spindle looks to be quite a bit more on Chevy_Mikes'.
The pics above, where the poster says he's having clearance issues, looks to only be about 1/2".

[Bullockchevy]

Hey guy, old thread I know but I thought I would mention I have the same issue. Unfortunately for me I rushed putting the truck back together and didn't realize the rubbing issue until I cut a 1/4" 45º chamfer into the back side of my rotors...

If anybodies still watching this thread I can get some pictures of my damage to post. I was thinking maybe I needed to change to tubular a-arms or something.

Trent

[67 Burb]

I am very interested in this, as I just received my CPP disk brake kit for the Burb and plan on installing the kit soon. In the photos of steveb64's installation, it looks like he had used the existing lower ball joints (which look quite short). Is this the problem? I got the complete kit with new ball joints, tie rods,etc. So I hope that with the new ball joints, I won't have this problem. I also got dust plates with my kit.

Will report on my installation.