76 mercury montego spindles

[30ford]

can i use 76 mercury montego spindles in my 57 ranchero and what modifications would be required are they the same as torino
thanks

[Frankenstein57]

Yes you can, I have a set on my 58. Took it on its first road test yesterday, stops and drives great.You will have to reset the front end, I had to machine about 3/8 off of my cross  shaft of the upper a frame to get the a arm where I wanted it. A side note, record the engine size of the donor car, mine had a 6 cylinder engine and the inner bearing was smaller than v-8 spindles. We had the spindles off for several years, didn't remember model or engine size, I figured it out by using autozones website. The brake hoses for the donor car worked fine on the 57. You will need to use the disc brake wheels from the donor, or buy a set.I used a set of explorer mags, should be ok for now. My son and my $$$$$ go to a college in downtown Chicago. Hope this helps, One more thing , I had to ream the ball joint tapers and maybe the tie rod end.  Mark

[30ford]

Thanks Mark this car is a v-8 car  what part of the upper control arm shaft did you have to take the 3/8 out of was it to move it in
     or on the bottom Bert

[Frankenstein57]

I milled the face of the cross shaft where you would usually put shims, I'm not saying you need to do that, just what needed to be done to get the camber caster numbers I wanted. And I only needed that on one side of the car. Looks like the front dropped 1-1/2 to 2" , car has a nice stance as does Ron's 57 (shopratwoody) he used the torino spindles also.  Mark

[30ford]

This sounds like it will work do you know if Ron had to shave the cross shafts at all
are the montego and torino spindles the same

[shopratwoody]

Yes, I used the Torino spindles. A machinist friend advised me
to just get the castle nuts tight on the tie rod ends mark them and
make the groove in the nut a little deeper. Seems to work fine.
They should be same as Torino.I didn't machine anything. I got
the camber good enough at home. Goes straight, as far as the caster
goes. It does need to be checked, but does drive good and doesn't
wear tires. I think that maybe 73 and up have bigger bearings.
I just used what I got at pick ur part. You'll have to check the
yrs for sure for what u want. My coils are cut some too, from my
old spindles. Can't bring myself to raise it either
It stops good and goes straight and doesn,t seems to wear tires
so that'll work. Actually I had to remove shims.
Have fun. Take the little hose brackets off doner car, And new Torino
hoses.
Ron

[30ford]

Thanks Ron I am going to try this if these are still available tomarrow
Bert

[canadian_ranchero]

hollander says 74-79 mark,cougar 74-79,ford pass 74-78[5x5 wheel size],ltdII 77-79,mercury 74-78[5x5 wheel],montego 74-76,tbird 74-79,torino 74-76,are all the same.the rest have the 4.5x5 wheel size same as 57 ford.the ball joint size is the same as 57 fords

[JPotter57]

Thunderbird, Cougar, Montego all have 5X4.5 bolt pattern.  I used T-Birds on my first `57 for a while, used mid 70s steelies then switched to Pro Stars with Granada parts for the 2 inch drop.  The centers of the 15X8 wheels I made for my car are from my old `71 Thunderbird junker.  Get this, bought it and drove the 429 ThunderJet C6 car home for $100...The mid 90s were the golden age.

[clubcoupe57]

  I used spindles off a 1976 Mercury Marquise, worked great didn't have to machine anything only draw back is had to run big Ford rims on the front they are like 5 on5,, cut 1 coil rides good and stops good so I am happy!