Rally wheel / 2.5 spindle clearance (unhappy camper)

[87r10owner]

heres mine with the same spindles and 2" springs 6.5' rallys, granted i will be swapping for 1" springs and it still needs to be aligned. and my control arms need to be massaged

[87r10owner]

and a 6.5 compared to an 8, hope it helps. they are about 1/4" difference

[Dunenutt]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I'm trying to follow you on this. But, the steering still goes lock to lock whereas the spindles rotate fully to contact the stops on the control arm. How would the new steering radius be changed ?

I'm not saying you're wrong, just trying to figure it out in my head.
Posted via Mobile Device

Google "ackerman steering". There is a lot to it.

[LEEVON]

Wow, thanks for all the info, photos and suggestions guys! I love this forum, would be lost if left to my own devices. I test fit an 88-98 15x7 wheel that has about 4" backspace and it solves the tie rod clearance issue, so I could run those temporary. I also have a line on a set of van 6.5's, since they are 4" also they should work. I won't be able to get them until Friday.

What do you think about the 88-98 wheels? Black, white, or rally style? My trim rings fit but I would have to drill/tap for the center caps or use the later ones and there are no nubs for hub caps.

[Jonboy]

Friday is the day after tomorrow. I don't think I would bother mounting a tire on those wheels, unless it is a spare.

[J Knight]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

There are 6.5" van ralleys, 7" truck ralleys, & 8" truck ralleys. The specs just provided came from a 6.5" van ralley sitting in my shop (pics taken this morning). Are you sure you measured a van ralley & not a 7" truck ralley? I know the one I measured is stamped as 6.5".

They are definately 6.5in van rallys, I'll try to remeasure it today.
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[Green70judge]

Bout to order my spindles for my 86 silverado. (Mcgauhys)Was going to do 2.5 and then cut a bit off the spring. Truck has 15x8's so I guess after reading this ill have to track down some 15x7's. any other options?
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[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Green70judge

Bout to order my spindles for my 86 silverado. (Mcgauhys)Was going to do 2.5 and then cut a bit off the spring. Truck has 15x8's so I guess after reading this ill have to track down some 15x7's. any other options?
Posted via Mobile Device

I like a 3 inch drop spindle. You get the extra lowness for the same trouble and wind up using less of a drop coil spring. Better ride in the end.
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[tony58]

Who makes a 3" spindle? 2.5" seems to be the norm.

[Tx Firefighter]

DJM and Belltech both make them.

Summit has the DJM 3 inch drop spindles for the heavy brake rotor for 229. You're gonna be right at 240 dollars or so delivered to your door.

I just bought a pair recently myself.
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[tony58]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

DJM and Belltech both make them.

Summit has the DJM 3 inch drop spindles for the heavy brake rotor for 229. You're gonna be right at 240 dollars or so delivered to your door.

I just bought a pair recently myself.
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Someone else posted this Ebay ad here, they sell the DJM spindles for $199 with free shipping any where USA. Can't beat that. They list them as 2.5" but DJM website does say 3". At that price I have to believe it's DJM selling them on Ebay. All their stuff is DJM.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120915318775...84.m1438.l2649

[swb85]

I have summit brand 2.5" spindles (they are made by ground force? if I remember correctly) and I don't have any clearance issues with factory 15x8 wheels.....

[Green70judge]

Is Djm a good brand of spindle?
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[LEEVON]

I had to get the truck out of the garage and down the street to get an alignment, so I threw some 1/4 spacers on there. THESE ARE NOT PERMANENT!!!

I called 7 or 8 salvage yards today, and drove 30 miles to one after they claimed to have 15x7's with correct backspacing. Got there and there was a pile of 6 lug 8" wheels. As I'm trying to make my getaway without opening my mouth and saying something mean the whole crew came out to look at my '71 and talk about it. After a few minutes the biggest, hairiest one says "You want to see my truck?". So we walked around the junk pile, across the yard past the trailer and to a shed. I'm thinking "This ought to be interesting". I couldn't have been more wrong. The shed contained one of the cleanest restored 4x4 '69's I've ever seen. It was B-E-utiful! The kind of truck that would easily win TOTM here. So even though I was slightly ticked I made some junkyard friends (whom you should never judge by their covers).

Also tracked down about 5 craigslist leads. There were some 6.5" wheels, and some guys who acted like I was crazy for explaining the differences and asking them to measure.

SO, truck isn't going far and I'm still on the hunt for some 15x7's. But it looks KILLER!

[Tx Firefighter]

You gonna put a smaller tire on with the front skinnys ? Maybe add a little rubber rake to it ?
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[LEEVON]

Probably, they do look kind of like balloons. The front is about 1/2" higher on the passenger side and 1" on the driver's side do to left rear chevy lean. These are 255/70/15's. I can try the 255/60/15's from my '71 on the front and see how they look.

[mgchevyparts]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Probably, they do look kind of like balloons. The front is about 1/2" higher on the passenger side and 1" on the driver's side do to left rear chevy lean. These are 255/70/15's. I can try the 255/60/15's from my '71 on the front and see how they look.

What drop "kit" do you have on the rear?

[LEEVON]

Just a flip bracket from specialtyretail (member) with belltech shock relocators. Stock shocks all around. Rides better than stock.

[mgchevyparts]

So a flip kit in rear, which is about 5" right? The front with coil cut and 2.5" spindles should be about 4.5". Just trying to picture how to do my 75.

[lilpoindexter]

I have 2.5" spindles with 6.5" x 15" van rallys and my stuff fits perfectly. I do like the solid wheel look, and i was gonna leave the stock truck wheels up front, and put some bolt centric solid 15 x8's in the back, but all threads I read on generic wheels (like wheel vintiques) said they sucked. So i went with 15x8 in the back and 15x6.5 van rallys up front, but i never liked the fancy boy look of the square holes.

[Rich84]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Wow, thanks for all the info, photos and suggestions guys! I love this forum, would be lost if left to my own devices. I test fit an 88-98 15x7 wheel that has about 4" backspace and it solves the tie rod clearance issue, so I could run those temporary. I also have a line on a set of van 6.5's, since they are 4" also they should work. I won't be able to get them until Friday.

What do you think about the 88-98 wheels? Black, white, or rally style? My trim rings fit but I would have to drill/tap for the center caps or use the later ones and there are no nubs for hub caps.

I think the 88's look ok..That's what the PO left me with..Guess I kinda lucked out, I didn't have any clearence issues with the DJM 3" spindles.

But for some reason I would love to see some dog dishes on her..No nubs#%*^%$

[slimneverdies]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Just a flip bracket from specialtyretail (member) with belltech shock relocators. Stock shocks all around. Rides better than stock.

I did the same thing to mine this Tuesday. I only drove it for one day and its the scariest ride I've ever been in. I hit a small bump in the road and it bottoms out in the back. Took it out early today and hit a bump at 45mph and the rear sound like it was ricocheting up and down off the frame. What do you think it could be?

[HotRodPayne]

I bought the same mcgaughy 2.5 drop spindles and had the same issue with is hitting my rim. I just ground a little bit off where the tie rod goes and the wheel fits now. I had to balance the front wheels with sticky weights cause the hammer on wieghts hit where the tie rod goes.
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[LEEVON]

Rich84 that looks perfect!

Originally Posted by slimneverdies

I did the same thing to mine this Tuesday. I only drove it for one day and its the scariest ride I've ever been in. I hit a small bump in the road and it bottoms out in the back. Took it out early today and hit a bump at 45mph and the rear sound like it was ricocheting up and down off the frame. What do you think it could be?

Not sure, did you remove the factory bumpstop brackets?

Originally Posted by HotRodPayne

I bought the same mcgaughy 2.5 drop spindles and had the same issue with is hitting my rim. I just ground a little bit off where the tie rod goes and the wheel fits now. I had to balance the front wheels with sticky weights cause the hammer on wieghts hit where the tie rod goes.
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I would have done that, but the boots are hitting the rims first, really no way to move those.

[LEEVON]

Well I found the elusive 15x7's. I read another post by Lolife99 where he said they were hard to find and worth about $100/ea. I now concur! I replied to a half dozen craigslist ads, called a dozen salvage yards, a dozen tire shops and stopped at another half dozen. Most folks don't know there is a difference. The ones that do only think there are "narrow" rallies and 15x8's. Everybody that had a set of narrows had the 6.5" van rallies, and I passed them all up. I talked to ONE guy at a tire shop who knew there were 15x7's. When I stopped in his shop, another guy said he didn't know what I was talking about and I was on my way out the door when the old guy I had spoken too came out from the back. We went behind the shop, in the rain and looked through hundreds of steel wheels. He said he knew for sure there were (2) there...and we couldn't find them. I was about to give up when I found the 1st one. The 2nd proved much harder. It was on the very top, middle of the rack in this picture. After I stacked enough rims to reach it, when I pulled it down I was showered in the LARGEST rotten bird's nest I've ever laid eyes on. Did I mention it was pouring rain and I was in dress clothes?

He had so many stock steel wheels, I almost scrapped the rally search and grabbed a set of 4 with hubcap nubs for the old school look. Well, I know where to get them now at least.

So when I laid a $100 bill on the counter for 2 crusty wheels I didn't bat an eye. Old guy said "you even got a free center cap". Haha. Here they are, 15x7 truck rallies with 3 5/8" backspacing. Rarer than hen's teeth I recon!