Tie rod ends with new drop spindles

[trulordd]

I have read through tons of tie rod end issues and none seem to be exactly like mine.

I am currently re-assembling the front end and have hit another snag.
First off the history; when I gotthe truck someone had already updated the front end with power steering and linkage (it seems), 5 lug rotors and disc brakes. So that is some of the good.

I decided to go with new drop spindles and decided to go with 63-70 Mcgauphy drop spindles which I got for an amazing deal, new never mounted for trade for some other hobby stuff (so I couldnt pass it up). Upon re assembly I found that the ball joints werent the right ones so I swapped them out for the '64 models and there it was. All went back together perfectly.

UNTIL, I went to install the tie rod ends into the spindles and the existing tie rods wont even go into the hole on the spindle. My thinnking is that the previous person used a donor truck of some sort for the entire front end.

I would rather just change out a few tie rod ends back to the '64 versus major linkage changes. Any ideas on this? I have looked up some of the parts that came on the '64s and looks as though the original sleeves were longer and tie rods were shorter. Thanks for any help with this and I plan to post pics later today to help