Do yourself a favor and replace your upper and lower control arms while you have it all apart. I ended up rebuilding the whole front end when I did mine. Night and day difference in steering feel and response.

Youll still prob. need to do an alignment. The belltechs flip the tie rod end mounts in order to keep it close to factory geometry.

 

Pretty much any change in suspension, including a 2" drop with the spindles, is going to require that you get an alignment.

Who told you that by keeping your original springs you wouldn't need an alignment?

 

I just assumed that if I did not change springs that my geometry would not change. What I really want to know is, has anyone had trouble after using the belltech spindles.

 

Mine did. I do not see the big deal of getting an alignment done. It's a pretty standard thing for a shop to do. The Lightning isnt anything special when it comes to alignments.

 

If by trouble you mean did they require an alignment then I would guess everyone who has done them will tell you they had to get an alignment or, wisely, chose to.

If by trouble you mean is there anything of note with the Belltech spindles then I'd imagine a simple 'Search' would yield all kinds of information about an increased turning radius.

A quick search for 'belltech spindle' yields 89 results, which I imagine would answer just about every question you might have.

 

Do yourself a favor and do a search on spindles and see the various "generations" that are out there for them. The most current ones have areas machined out to allow you to run OE 18" wheels without having to grind. You do lose turning radius with the spindles however the cost of them compared to UCA and LCA may make the decision easier for you and won't care about turning radius. I have Belltech spindles on mine truck with SM0304's and love the look. Clunk washers, adjustable cam bolts, and a good alignment shop.

 

Bingo...everything spoon fed in one simple, concise post.

 

thanks Boss Hoss, for the informative reply. I was mostly worried about problems with the spindles because someone told me that there might be a clearance problem with the tie rods. I am quite new to this so I do not know what clunk washers and smo304's are. I am currently running original 18in. wheels

 

With the stock 18's there is clearance issues as I mentioned depending on which generation of spindles you get from whichever vendor. You'll have to do a search on here to see the pics that show the differences so you know if you are going to be grinding. SM0304 = Sport Machines replica 20" 03-04 Lightning wheels. Clunk washers are used to prevent lower control arms from clunking. Enjoy reading up and learning as much as possible.

https://www.lightningrodder.com/for...dder.com/forum/14-gen-2-lightnings/7320-still-problems-belltech-spindles-3.html