Thread: Econoline spindles on I beam

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My t- bucket has an older drilled I beam axle that I love. The problem is it has econloline spindles which limits the brakes I can run, and also I don't know if i'm crazy about the the one nut holding the steering arm on.

Are there other spindles that can be used to replace what's there?

Thanks Ron

I sort of remember seeing this conversion in magazines years back, and there was some machining of the kingpin boss to make the Econonline spindles fit. It might be tough to go back if that has been done. You might talk to a tech at Speedway, as they deal with this stuff a lot.


Don

You can fit '37-48 spindles to the Econoline axle with very little work. I've got them on on a narrowed Econo axle on my '23 T roadster. No machining of the axle kingpin boss is required. The Econo kingpin is smaller in diameter than the early spindles -- .75" vs .8125". I machined new kingpin bushings to fit the early spindles, but with a bore that would finish at .75" after reaming for the Econo kingpin. The Econo axle kingpin boss is about 1/8" shorter than the early Ford axle boss. This is easily addressed by putting a ~ 1/8" thick washer under the thrust bearing. The kingpin inclination is the same, so no correction to camber should be neccessary.

Bob