i am considering a spindle lift and was wanting to know how much more the tires stick out? does this decrease turning radius and does this improve stability?
and the biggie question, does it really matter if i get those cheaper noname 279 dollar spindles or should i get the much more expensive spindles such as fabtech? Would i be at risk of breaking the cheaper spindles (i do a fair bit of offroading, nothing extremely major, however) hmmmmm.......
thanks for your advice

 

I say get the more expensive fabtech ones for the added strength and .5 inches of lift. I think they increase track width by 1-2 inches. My fabtech spindles decreased turning radius to about 2.5 turns lock to lock. I know I have a 7 inch lift kit, but it uses 3.5 inch fabtech lift spindles.

 

Stick with fabtech, they know their suspension. I have a fabtech spindle on my 01 screw, they put the front tires out a good 1 to 1 1/2 inches.

Yes they make the track wider but i didnt notice a smaller turn radius. The biggest problem with the spindle is pushing the tires out. Because of this I couldnt turn completly with my 305/55/20 (33x12.50) Nittos when I first got them and the spindle. I had to add a coil spacer and trim a bunch to completly clear with no rub even on bumps.



I asked you on some other forum about your experience with off roading with 2wd (and more importantly with street tires)?

Do you have LS or anything? How well does your truck do? what type of off roading do you go?

Ive done some things in my 2wd, mainly mud (well, really wet dirt) and some minor stuff.

 

ruffn-it, the main offroading i do is mud, just getting around the farm after it has rained, and then the occasionally gravel pit expeditions and tearing up dirt roads and stuff. Many people are suprised at what a stock 2wd pickup can do in this stuff, however, i still do wish i had a LS, maybe later, As far as those street tires you mentioned, i have gotten new tires, cooper discovery S/T and love them, huge improvement, they look real good too, theyre in the pic (i hope it works)

another bad thing about offroading in my 2wd is that it is so darned low, thats why i had to replace the lower valance, as seen in the pic (its one off an expedition) b/c i tore the other one up. But since that pic was taken i have already screwed up this valance too, but im not going to bother replacing it again, only to have it torn off a 3rd time, i really need to lift it

 

Yea I agree about the performance with 2wd, I have yet to even feel like im going to get stuck. of course theres places i avoided because i thought i might.

I'm not sure how much lift you want but you could always get a coil spacer for 1.5in of lift. Cheaper and easier to install! Or do both, like i did. Either way, you gotta lift it, and stop replacing those valences.

 

You could do coil spring spacers up front and lift blocks in the rear, so you wouldnt lose any turn radius from that, or change how far the tires stick out.

I like those tires BTW What size are they? 265s? How much were they?

 

yeah, those are 265/75R16

they were i think 130 or 135 from a local shop here in town
600 dollars out the door if i remember correctly

 

Just stay away form the AIM spindles. They say in their add's that wide wheels, high offset, ect. can cause them to fail.