Quick front spindle question

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May 15, 2011 | 03:36 PM

cnd99hawk

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Quick front spindle question

Stupid question here guys..

My buddy and I started taking apart the front upper control arms to re grease the bushings, during our install of the shocks/springs.. Now they're back on the car, with the new shocks and springs. Yes.. they're back on the car an bolted up...

Anyway my question is.. Are the spindles slightly pointed toward the front of the car when they're connected to the A arm? It seems like the A-arm and ball joint are seated good, just want to make sure the spindle is not supposed to be straight up and down..

I guess me fear is that we have the A arms on the wrong side?

Any help would be appreciated.

May 15, 2011 | 04:42 PM

mitchntx

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Quote:

Originally Posted by cnd99hawk

I guess me fear is that we have the A arms on the wrong side?

Any help would be appreciated.

If you have the tie rods attached, you have them on the correct side.

May 15, 2011 | 05:33 PM

cnd99hawk

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Okay thanks Mitchntx..

I guess my fear was than the spindle should be parallel or "square" with the shock assembly.

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about (sorry its a cell phone pic).. Its the drivers side..The front of the car is to the left in the pic.

So its good to go like this?

Thanks again.

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May 15, 2011 | 05:35 PM

babbage1109

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Its always going to be crooked lol

May 15, 2011 | 05:42 PM

cnd99hawk

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lol Is it though?? It just made sense to me to have the spindle straight up and down with the shock.?

But if it's supposed to be slightly angled to the front then I'm off to the races!

May 15, 2011 | 06:34 PM

mitchntx

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The knuckle (or spindle) is OK.

But I think you have the upper A-Arms swapped (left on the right and right side on the left). Look at the upper ball joint angle.

May 15, 2011 | 06:53 PM

cnd99hawk

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mitchntx

The knuckle (or spindle) is OK.

But I think you have the upper A-Arms swapped (left on the right and right side on the left). Look at the upper ball joint angle.

My apologies, I think I just screwed up on the words I used. The SPINDLE is fine. But the angle between the A arm and spindle, in relation to the shock/spring is not straight up and down like I thought it should be... That's why I posted originally.

I mounted the caliper/rotor and put a tire on for a visual and the tire is approximately 2 inches from the front bumber and there is about 8 inches on the other side of the tire. I guess I have to swap A arms..

I don't have to take the entire A arm off of the shock do I??? Can I just unbolt the A- arm from the mount an swap them to the other side?

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May 17, 2011 | 09:11 PM

cnd99hawk

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Quote:

Originally Posted by BowTieDrifter

Okay, so I took your guys advice and decided to swap my arms however.. I wanted to be 100 percent so I decided to go to the stealership in my town to look at the shop manuals.. a mechanic and i were looking at the manual and confirmed that the arms were on the wrong side. He pulled out the recalls on the car and it said in 99 the arms were recalled and replaced by the dealer before the original owner took ownership of the car. So that means the car has been driven for 12 years with the arms on the wrong side.. the car drove fine but now the wheels are pretty damn close to centre in the wheel well now since I swapped the arms and the spindle is parallel with the shock/spring assembly. I havnt driven the car yet to see if the driveability has changed for the better, but I'm happy I fixed it and made it right, thx guys.