Who here is running Mcgaughys spindles?

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ballsie

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My buddy just bought/installed them on his 01 Tahoe and they pushed his wheel out about 1/4". I always thought that Mcgaughys was supposed to be the best bc they keep everything except the ride height the same.
I only ask because i have a brand new pair of them sitting on my fireplace. I want to know if everyone with these spindles have the same issue.
 

boostaholic

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I didn't think they moved track width, I'm getting belltechs. You should call mcgaughys and find out.
 

JKmotorsports

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Just for the record; My McGaughy's spindles pushed the wheel out about a little over a 1/4" or so. May not be a big deal in most cases, but it was on mine. Also, the holes for the balljoints are just a bit small and I had to use a die grinder to remove some material in order to press in both the upper and lower balljoints because they wouldn't seat in nearly as far as stock.
Ballsie, give me a call if you have problems installing yours and I'll try to shoot over to your place if needed.
 

Grocery Getter

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I am by no means a mechanic but my brother in law(who is a mechanic) installed the 3/5 kit no problem. I don't know if it changed the track width but my 22's still tuck under the front fender. They do barely scrape the inside of the fender if I really jack the front into a driveway or something but we are just going to roll the fenders and it will not be an issue at all.........
 

55belairtim

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i have never installed a kit that pushed the wheels out 1/4 of an inch. ive done over 50 of them. did you change the wheels at the same time. ive heard of guys complaning about this before and come to find out they changed the wheels from stock to 20*9.5 and had the wrong offset.
thank you tim
 

JKmotorsports

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i have never installed a kit that pushed the wheels out 1/4 of an inch. ive done over 50 of them. did you change the wheels at the same time. ive heard of guys complaning about this before and come to find out they changed the wheels from stock to 20*9.5 and had the wrong offset.
thank you tim
Same wheels, tires, etc, etc. that I had on before. Only part changed were the spindles. Before the install, the wheels sat flush with the fenders. Now they're out about a 1/4" on both sides. Is there a revised part/part number maybe?
 

55belairtim

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hi
no same spindles ive been using since they first made them. they should be within an 1/8 of an inch of stock, should mostly be sucking the wheels inword. thats weird the only thing that it could be is that its more noticable once you lower it than when it was stock. i just did a tahoe this moring 07 3/5 drop and i measured track width befor and after , it was actually in 1/8 of an inch. i know spindles will vary, both mcgaughys and factory, maybe you had a set of factory ones that were inward 1/8 and the mcgaugys wer out 1/8, dont know.
 

CHISTOSO

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Mine fit in like a glove. Actually after installing the spindles and the keys I took it in for an alignment and it was real close, minor adjustment was needed. My track width was about an 1/8" wider per side, nothing noticeable.. Extremely happy with it..
 

sstahoe22

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Do you have 2 or 4 wheel Drive? I want to do a 3-5 on my 4x4 its an 06.. Do you think it will work.. Do you like your kit better than Belltechs?
 

55belairtim

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with a 4x4 you only want to go 2/3, if you go more than 2 inches in the front you will get vibrations and could break the cv axles.
thank you tim
 

boostaholic

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I was dropped at least 3" with keys only and cv angles were fine, you can drop the hell out of these 4wds and not damage a cv
IMG00593.jpg

IMG00108.jpg
 

55belairtim

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i know it can be done i just woren people about it, last thing i want is a guy calling me yelling saying that his cv axles broke. i just inform you about mcguahgys policy.
 

JKmotorsports

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55belairtim, being a McGaughy's distributor and having installed many of these units, I'm curoius if you've ever had any problems pressing in the balljoints on the 33004 (2003T) spindles? With mine, both the upper and lowers did not seat nearly as far in as they did in the stock spindles, not even close. I've installed a couple Belltech pieces before on similar model Tahoes w/o any problems.
 

55belairtim

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what your experiencing is th ball joint boot does not tougch the casting. mcgaughys makes them that way so they will clear the 4x4 or awd trucks and suvs. they had to back that ball joint out so that the nut would go on. the belltechs fully seat because there spindle is 1.5 inches taller than the mcgaughys spindle causing the a frame to be pointed up in a positive 15 degress. this causes the front end to come out of alignment eaily. two weeks ago i had a guy bring me his truck saying that 3 shops in town tried aligning it and they cant do it. i looked and found the bell spindles on it. i told him for 400.00 i would fix the problem.(he had bell spindles 1.5 inches tall bell drop struts2 inches drop, offset bushing and ofset a frame. his tires were -1 deg. i showed him that when you add weight to it that your tires will begin to move upward causeing that a frame to pich upward and in on the arc of the upper a frame. this sucks the wheels inward causing you to wear your tires prematurly.) the old bell spindle (copy of mcguahgys) there were only 100 of them ever made was the same as mcgaughys the ball joint boot did not touch the spindle.
 

55belairtim

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i have calculated the difference in serface area before and its .0987 so about .1 of a sq inch, and thats over calculating. its not varry much. ive sold and installed more than 400 of the spindles both the 33004 and the 34037 last year alone. i wish i knew exactly how many i have installed and sold since the vary first ones were avalible. i have been doing business with mcgaughys since i was 14 yrs old, now im 26 most of the work i did in the past was classic chevy stuff. i have never had any major problems(ie broken spindles, incorrect ball joint tapers or sloppy tapers.) i think the thing that sets mcgaughys appart from there competitors is that 90 percent of the stuff they sell is made in house. the only things outsorced is the spindle castings and leaf springs. plus when the owner of the business has been in manufacturing since the 70's you know your going to get good parts. ive been in manufacturing for 7 yrs, and i know a lot more now about different processes than i did before. you should see some of the pieces of equipment that these companines use. mcgaughys uses a large machining center to machine there spindles, djm uses smaller machines not designed for machining cast iron (there machines are good if you need to run a part hear and ther but mcgaughys machines are designed for cast iron 24/7.
 

55belairtim

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i had more to type but for got what i was going to say now there was a problem with the internet on my end or tahoe forums.
 

boostaholic

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So they really are that much better than the belltechs? I get a really good deal on the belltechs but I'd rather go a different route if it's so much better from an engineering standpoint.
 

55belairtim

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i know i have some of the best prices around on mcgaughys. im waiting for them to fix the perfered vendor section and ill be on here as a perfered vendor. bell is still trying to use there name form the past, mcgaughys is what bell was in the early 90s
 

ballsie

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So your saying that the BJ boot is NOT supposed to sit on the spindle? and the wheel should not push out more than 1/8"? Just want to verify before I break out the grinder this weekend.
 
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