Summit drop spindles warning

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Moparmat2000

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Hi Y'all,

First a small bit of history, then i will segway into the thread. I have owned my truck 23 years, and about 18 years ago i purchased and installed summit racing 2" drop spindles. At that time i was running 15x7 chevy truck rallyes, in the front and 15x8 suburban rallyes in the back. This was a setup i put on the truck when it was 2 years old. I kept the stock spare underneath.

3 weeks ago i had to put the stock spare tire on the front, and the inner edge of the wheel rim hit the lower A arm where the sheet steel of the arm forms a rolled lip on either side of the ball joint, because its offset sets the rim too far back. I ended up trimming the lips on both lower arms equally back enough so the stock rim will clear on either side when turning the steering wheel full lock if i have to put it on again in case of a flat.

Its not enough to trim it back a little bit so it clears when up on jacks at full lock either, remember the arm will move up and down in its travel and may still pinch the rim after you think you trimmed it back enough. I think i had to go a minimum of 3" trimmet off on either side of each arm.

This isnt a problem with deep dish offset 15" wheels or larger hoops like 16" or greater, however it sucked having to call a buddy and throw a suburban wheel under it just to get home.

Just an FYI check the fitment of the stock spare ahead of time when doing the spindle drop. One day you may need to put that stock spare on the front, and may not be lucky enough to have a buddy who has a 5 on 5 wheel and rim you can use in a pinch. I am running summit drop spindles, but i think this problem might aldo happen with other brands of drop spindles too.

Hope this helps
Matt
 
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