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mmzh351

Front spindle / knuckles

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I have found a damaged front spindle on the left side of the zh.

Looks like a bearing has spun on the spindle and damaged the surface and judging by the blue colour it has been damn hot too.

As I have to replace one anyway, can anyone tell me if all falcon front spindles are the same, or are later xf or xg any different?

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Late XD onwards stub axles are different compared to XA- early XD. The later stub axles are slightly taller, have a different steering geometry and run a larger tapered outer tie rod.

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So I would assume the later stub axles are better if Ford made a change to the design.

Will the original brakes still bolted up?

 

Yes the brakes will bolt up, by the stub axles being slightly taller they improve camber curve but as a result the car will sit slightly higher. The later stub axles also have a cleaner casting, making them stronger, a shorter and higher steering arm that will affect the steering geometry with a reduced ackerman.

 

In short they are better and ford probability designed them to mainly suit radial tyres better but in saying that i doubt you will notice a difference. Just make sure that stub axels are the same on both sides, you can't have an early model and a late model stub axles on each side.

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So I got the new spindles and thought I would take a few pictures and measurements before I put it back together.

 

ZH spindle on the left, later model XD/XF on the right.

 

6e027d051ea51c5f1a8746142ca03066.jpg

5c94d1ee42cb9b4611ada832ce81d345.jpg

 

So the later model spindle is about 10mm taller between the ball joints and the steering arm is shorter and more in board.

 

See below for overall height, old one first, newer one second.

 

d5f10e0dcd3285975d3516d2524d7b8f.jpg

65303d3adeedcc26be5d6cf8665c744e.jpg

 

So what does this all mean?

Increased distance between the balls joints should improve the camber curve, as it will have a similar effect to dropping the upper control arm pivot point, aka the "Shelby" mod.

 

Shorter steering arm should speed up the steering rate. Having the pick up point more in board will increase the amount of Ackerman in steering geometry, which is in line with the requirements of a more modern radial tyre.

 

Happy days.

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Thanks for taking the time to do that, very interesting

 

The higher top pivot would also raise ride height so you'd have to take that into account when spec'ing springs, etc.

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10mm at the ball joints would be less than 5mm difference at the spring.

Might actually measure where the 10mm is, could actually be that the lower ball joint is 10mm lower relative to the spindle line, which means no height difference when the car is on it's wheels.

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Thread dig, sorry guys. Anyone know if the XG spindles run biggerwheel  bearings? Read that somewhere....

 

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1 hour ago, blunny said:

Thread dig, sorry guys. Anyone know if the XG spindles run biggerwheel  bearings? Read that somewhere....

 

 

Nothing wrong with thread digging... that's what they're here for.

 

XG wheel bearings are same as XD/XE/XF etc.

Just get decent quality, correctly rated Timken or equivalent non-chinese bearings...

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23 minutes ago, SPArKy_Dave said:

 

Not me dude.

What's IPRA?

improved production racing 

that Tassie white car with the flares and awesome engineering stuff. can't remember the user name 

23 hours ago, blunny said:

Thanks mate. Were you the bloke building the XF IPRA car? 

 

 

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On 4/11/2019 at 12:16 AM, deankdx said:

it's not who i was thinking of . 

 

On 4/11/2019 at 12:16 AM, deankdx said:

it's not who i was thinking of . 

 

This one; 20190219_191204.jpeg

I was more referring to the IPRA part. This one is a beast. I've seen it in the flesh. Wouldnt pass IPRA regs unfortunately. 

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