Does anyone know the king pin angle used by Ford on 1960's eara spindels?
Or

Any suggestion on a best doner option for spindels and brakes to be used on serious budget vehicle. I would like to use some sort of straigt axle drop axle front end. The combination after the king-pin gets a little foggy. Ford appear to have the king-pin at 90 degrees but I know chevy is at 9 degees.

Any help or thoughts is great.

Not too sure what your question is asking? A 90 degree kingpin inclination would make the kingpin horizontal (parallel to the ground). Wouldn't work. In my '73 Ford truck, the I beam kingpin inclination is only about 2 dgrees or so. Can you make it a little clearer?

Thanks for giving is this some thought. It is hard to describe.

I am looking for the Kingpin (inclination) angle labeled #4 in the attached image. Should have found an image the first time. Do all ford drop axles use the same angle? if so what is it? I am wanting to mate it up with some donor car parts. Do any have and angle of 0?

It seams every answer reveals another question.

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In most cases there are two kingpin inclinations. One is how much the top of the kingpin leans in toward the center of the car (which seems to be the one you are looking for). It gives you camber. The other is how much the top of the kingpin leans toward the rear of the car (which gives you caster). I thought you meant the second one. Sorry!

You might try the Old Car Manuals Project at: www.tocmp.com to see if they have a shop manual on a car with an axle like you want. Might give specs.

Kingpin inclination is independent from camber. It only refers to the inward or outward axis, not the rearward or foreward inclination. That is just caster. Since the in/out inclination (kingpin) is independent from camber, that is the reason for both measurements. inclination of the pin fore/aft is the same as caster, so there is no such thing as kingpin inclination fore/aft... just caster.

Kingpin inclination only exists as in/out, like viewed in that image, but it doesn't "set" camber. Just like in that photo, the camber is close to zero, but the kingpin is definitely angled in. Changing the kingpin inclination without changing the spindle will change camber.

Giant, can you measure it? Could you level the axle and use an angle gauge?

I used some 76 Lincoln spindles on a project once and seem to remember they were 7 1/2 degrees, although that has been a number of years ago and my memory is foggy. Chuck the spindle snout up in a lathe that is leveled on the floor and lay your angle finder on the balljoint bosses.

The kingpin inclination angle on all '65-'79 light-duty trucks (F100, F150, F250, F350) is 4°, according to the factory shop manuals.

Thanks everyone. I think some progress is being made. At the very least we are all talking about the same thing. I now see that all spindles are not on the same angle. Perhaps as I suspected requires some rethinking.

I am trying to build up a low budget t-bucket type project with a drop axle. The problem is in the selection of a donor car. I would like it to be a Ford perhaps with a 289 or 302. I would like to use it for as much of the suspension and drive train as possible. I am trying to find something that will readily connect to a drop axle. They appear to be fairly straight up and down. Perhaps 4 degrees of less.

wp442 - noted '65-'79 light-duty trucks (F100, F150, F250, F350) is have an inclination 4°. I assume they also have a straight axle? Any other suggestions for donors?

No, the front suspension on these trucks is the Twin I-beam. The pre-'65 trucks had a mono-beam....that's more what I think you're looking for. The install would be a lot less painful, I think. I'm attaching a schematic of the Twin I-beam suspension.

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