dropped spindles

[badsix]

i'm getting ready to put my dropped spindles together. so I get everything out to take to work we have some nice presses there to work with. anyway I put the new king pin into the spindle it fits snug but I can push it in by hand. I was thinking it was a press fit in the spindle and pivoted in the C bracket were the bushings are. I have the new reamer to ream the bushings to size. any ideas here ?
thanks Jay D.

[JTR70]

Jay, The king pin is a pressed fit throughout. When these spindles are new or rebuilt it is supposed to be hard if not impossible to move them by hand in the "C" bracket. Hope this helps. Justin

[MMW]

What brand spindles did you get? What model 356 do you have. I put CB performance spindles on my A & had a few things to figure out. It is mostly bolt on though. I believe they are these. http://www.cbperformance.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=4062

I would not use any other brand. I had another pair first that I sent back as I didn't like them.

[badsix]

thanks, the spindles are just like the ones in the link from MMW. but as said before the pin is an easy push through the spindle. Their are a lot of horror stories on THE SAMBA about CB spindles, oh and they are going on my 58 cab. I want to lower it probably about 1 1/2" to 2" so I may need to turn the torsion bars up a little in front. I also have a set of adjustable spring plates for the rear. i'm just playing with this to see how I like it, my thought is "If it aint in the weeds it aint cool!" i'm keeping my stock spindle assemblies so I can put them back on if need be. I think i'm going to order some spindles from AIRKEWLD I here nothing but good about them.
THANKS FOR THE REPLYS
Jay D.

[MMW]

If you want to go 1.5" to 2" I would use the factory adjuster on the front. You can grind the slot out to get a little more. Mine is lowered 2.5" with spindles & I run 175/60 tires which gives me about 3.5" drop overall. I just re-indexed the rear torsion bars. I have slightly negative camber but nothing like the VW guys because you don't even go one full click. I have a little less than 3" clearance at the spare tire well & do scrape on some speed bumps/driveways, etc. The tow hook acts as my skid plate when I hit dips on the road. I cringe a lot & definitely pay attention to the road all the time. Any lower & it would be impractical to drive.

I've never heard anything bad about CB spindles & the ones from Airkewld are the ones I sent back. Pete is a great guy, I just didn't like the looks of them with the two tie rod holes & the geometry seemed off more than the CB ones. Empi are the ones that everyone says don't use when I did mine, CB were top of the line but maybe things have changed?

I bought mine from Greg Banfill at Vintage Warehouse & had him ream out the tie rod holes to the Porsche size. He is very knowledgeable if you have any questions about it. He lowered his pre-A. http://www.vintagewarehouse.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=6_24&products_id=521


Here is Greg's car.
http://forum.porsche356registry.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8705&sid=2b21fc55346a8dbcd424ac0c29df5bc2&start=75

[badsix]

Mic, your probably right about the CB spindles being the good ones. I think I got mixed up on that one. I need to be more carful when talking about someone's products. I did find my invoice for the spindles and will call tomorrow, California Import Parts. I bought these in 09 so i'm probably screwed, OR I might be surprised. I like the easy adjustability of the spring plates, well see how they work. I really don't want Go go any more than 2", this is going to be the wife's car if she takes care of it. I sometimes wonder if shed be better off with a GI Half Track.
THANKS FOR YOUR COMENTS
Jay D.

[admin]

[MMW]

Can you post a few more pics of your car. It looks very cool. What size tires do you run & how much clearance do you have from the tow hook to ground?
Here is mine compared to a stock height car. Yes the spindles do widen the track by about 5/8" on each side. On mine with dropped spindles & 165 stock height tires they did rub the fender lip while turning. I run 175/60 tires on stock 4.5" wheels with no issues.

[admin]

Thanks for the compliments, much appreciated!

In this picture the car wears 135 Firestone F560 tires. Good for looks, bad for rides.

The clearance tow hook / ground is about 2 1/2 inches, I am currently thinking about removing the original tow hook to gain an extra half inch.

As this is Onassis 356 Restorations project test car, we are currently working on a set of new designed (to our specs) wheels based on the showed Enkei wide 5 wheels. We will raise the ET to get the wheels more tucked into the fender.

Right now, plans are for a tire change also. We will make some tests with AVON CR6ZZ or CR28 (road legal semi slick) in small 175 size. We will keep you updated on the progress for sure!

[admin]