5 lug on 90 omni knuckle question

[rbryant]

I measured the spindles on 2 cars. 1988 omni and 1987 kcar wagon. omni measued .972" k car .980"

Something isn't consistent here.

The Neon and Daytona are .970-.980".

The lbody should be more like .900" +/- .010 (I can't remember exactly).

There has been a consensus for years that the lbody strut/spindle is narrower than the Daytona strut/spindle.

I know you said yourself have posted in the past that you had to narrow van spindles in order to get them to fit on an lbody. The van spindle should also be .970".

-Rich

[minigts]

I don't remember what the original size was (didn't measure before I adjusted), but i had to take off a significant amount of metal to get the Daytona knuckles to fit in the l-body coil overs. I did it by hand and it took a few hours.

[W.P._Turbocars]

Same here. When I did the 92 shadow knuckles I had to take quite a bit off.

[minigts]

Gary, talk to Cordes. I spoke to him the other day and he has a car in his area (89 Daytona) that has the front knuckles, MC, prop valve and rotors he can get you. My apologies for getting rid of the parts I was suppose to hold for you. I honestly forgot about it and didn't remember when I got rid of the stuff I had. I owe you one.

[cordes]

I've read that the 5 lug L body spindles take a different bearing than the 4 lug stuff, but I have not confirmed this myself.

Also, it would make a lot of sense that 86 would be the transition year for the spindles, as that was the last year for the small spline axles. IIRC 84 was a 4 lug year on everything. The K car wagons are probably a toss up, as they've had some crazy transitions which did not seem to coincide with the other body styles, even the regular K cars.

[AngelesRunner]

The standard 4 lug spindles on Omni and Horizon use a narrow bearing. The top part that fits into the strut is also narrower. When the Chrysler engineers made the GLH they wisely did not want to use the standard front wheel bearing. They made SPECIAL GLH knuckles which are fatter across the bearing area to hold the same front wheel bearing as the shadow/acclaim/spirit for increased durability but still narrow where the knuckle goes into the strut. These special GLH knuckles used different mounting horns to mount the larger brakes with vented rotors.

To these GLH knuckles you can mount the 60mm caliper from the caravan/Voyager to make SLH brake systems.

If you stay with standard omni/horizon knuckles you are forced to use a special narrow front wheel bearing which was omni/horizon only, and which must be pressed in, and which is not as durable. Going to the special GLH knuckles lets you use a more durable front wheel bearing which was good for cars 500 pounds heavier.

Using any other knuckle is to either get a larger bearing or mount bigger brakes.

[84omni]

The standard 4 lug spindles on Omni and Horizon use a narrow bearing. The top part that fits into the strut is also narrower. When the Chrysler engineers made the GLH they wisely did not want to use the standard front wheel bearing. They made SPECIAL GLH knuckles which are fatter across the bearing area to hold the same front wheel bearing as the shadow/acclaim/spirit for increased durability but still narrow where the knuckle goes into the strut. These special GLH knuckles used different mounting horns to mount the larger brakes with vented rotors.

To these GLH knuckles you can mount the 60mm caliper from the caravan/Voyager to make SLH brake systems.

If you stay with standard omni/horizon knuckles you are forced to use a special narrow front wheel bearing which was omni/horizon only, and which must be pressed in, and which is not as durable. Going to the special GLH knuckles lets you use a more durable front wheel bearing which was good for cars 500 pounds heavier.

Using any other knuckle is to either get a larger bearing or mount bigger brakes.

You can put bigger vented rotors on the stock 4 bolt knuckles. My brothers 87 horizon has 84 van rotors and 60mm van calipers on it and fits like it was made that way.

[W.P._Turbocars]

I got to cleaning up around the place a couple weeks ago and found a complete k frame from an 89 S. Daytona. I'm stealing the bolt-in bearings, knuckles and brakes, etc. for the Omni. Just gotta get the $$$ for neon struts.