Dropped spindles are a major staple in the world of most vintage custom cars and trucks. They are one of the easiest things to swap out and lower the nose of your truck in a matter of hours. But for most dropped spindles, there aren't a lot of options available; they do the job at hand, but may limit your choice of aftermarket brakes (namely big-diameter performance kits) should you want to defer from stock later on down the road.
Classic Performance Products is no stranger to the classic truck market and its suspension needs. While they have sold countless numbers of drop spindles over the years for many vehicles, they have recently been redesigning all of their spindles--which is no simple or cheap task. One of their main goals for the ever popular C-10 market was to make a spindle that would work with multiple disc brake packages from the stock '71-up binders to big 13-inchers. There are even huge, 14-inch models that will all mount to the same drop spindle with a simple two-bolt caliper bracket change. This modular feature makes it so you don't have to buy "starter" spindles and then replace them if you decided to go with bigger wheels and brakes which is common place these days.
But what happens when you do or have already decided to spring for the bigger rubber? The outside of the tires can rub the inner wheelwell, especially on '67-72 C-10s. While there are many concessions one must make or accept when building and driving almost any lowered vehicle, CPP figured out there was something they could do to help with this common tire-rubbing problem. While designing their new Modular spindles, they figured out that they could also offset the wheel about an inch from the outside, which helps most lowered trucks. This is also handy if maybe you bought a set of wheels that didn't quite have the right offset in the front and you have rubbing issues. It would be much cheaper to swap the spindles than buy a new set of wheels. CPP calls this SOS, or Simple Offset Solutions.
I took my '72 over to CPP to see what all the hubbub was about. While I don't have big-diameter wheels and tires, my truck is quite low and rubs with the 225/75R15 tires mounted on 15x7 Cragar S/S wheels. I did round up a set of 18-inch Cragars and 45-series Toyo Proxes S/Ts for a comparison, though. We measured the position of each wheel in the fenderwell before and after each brake swap and it pulled the wheels in about an inch per side! For most people, this will be a big help. If your truck is really low in the front like mine, it won't solve all your rubbing problems, but it will help put the tire in the middle of the inner fender. CPP also has many coil springs to adjust your ride height if you want to go up or down from where you are. It just so happens I like the truck that low in the front, but that's me trying to be cool!
We also played around with the different braking options the CPP Modular spindle has. The stock disc brake on the '72 stopped in a mediocre 172 feet from 60-0mph. They also faded considerably after three hard stops and at the end of the third the pedal was resting on the floor. Through a series of tests and upgrades, including a master cylinder and booster change, we wound up putting on CPP's big 13-inch discs that use the two piston late-model GM truck caliper and ceramic pads. The C-10 stopped in a very respectable 143 feet right out of the box and resisted fading much more than the stock discs. After the fifth test the fronts were still grabbing hard. The week link in the brake system now is the stock rear drums. A rear brake upgrade coupled with the front would make the truck stop with the best of them, but that'll be for another story. Shaving 29 feet off our stopping distance was no small feat, and coupled with the clearance benefits of the spindles, it was a success all the way around.
CPP can help you out with all or parts of this and the nice thing is that it can be done in small steps if needs be. So just say no to the same old parts and get with the times!
