Hello everybody! I'm new here and just been doing random searches on different topics that I may have had questions about. I don't want to be the annoying tool that asks questions about topics that have been gone over a million times. I was searching through old threads where people had mentioned or questioned the use of different GM spindles. I was changing out the idler arm on my S-10 a while back and noticed that the spindles are not much different than the ones on my 85 SE. Rough measurement with a flashlight in my driveway, in the dark, looked to be about 1"-1.5" larger in overall height, and the tie rod was placed about an inch further out.

I did a search and didn't find anything S-10 related as far as spindles went. I did get an answer to weather or not the 4WD hub assembly could be fitted to the rear. I can get a set of 4 Firebird rims for next to nothing. 17" if I remember right, and I plan on installing my polyurethane over the winter along with a couple of new ball joints and figured I could maybe beef up my brakes on a budget while I'm at it. S-10 parts are plentiful and cheap so that sparked my interest. I know where there's a totaled one that was built up quite nicely, dropped spindles, nice rims and rubber... You get the idea.

I've seen the extended ball joints that Rodney Dickman sells and thought to myself that if 1 inch is fine and I bought adjustable upper ball joints to keep things in check that it wouldn't be too far a stretch to think that this idea might work? If I'm missing something please let me know. I'm good friends with machinists and welders that I've met on my delivery routes over the years, so unless this idea has a major flaw that I'm missing I can handle the small stuff. I'm sure it does or one of you guys would have thought of it by now.

Thanks in advance, Jerry

Even if you managed to somehow change the hubs to fit the bolt circle of the Firebird wheels - the wheels won't work because the offset is all wrong. They'll be sitting past the outside of the fenders. It's because they are RWD wheels and the Fiero uses FWD wheel offsets.

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[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 12-11-2009).]

The F-body wheels that I'd be using would be from the last generation of Firebirds / Camaros. They are basicly glorified front drive wheels.

[This message has been edited by Birddogg1 (edited 12-12-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Birddogg1: S-10's and F-bodies share the same bolt pattern also.

I tried to fit these rims to my 98' 2WD S-10 and they were tucked too far into the wheel wells. So far that they would hit the control arms when you tried to steer. They're not made with the typical rear wheel drive backspacing that the older F-body cars had. I'm not quite ignorant enough to think that 60s, 70s, and 80s style Z-28 rims are going to bolt right up. The rims look like new and even lowly S-10 brakes would have to out-perform the units on the 84-87 stockers. Not to mention that you'd already have the hardware in place for a simple Corvette brake upgrade later on. The rears in a 4.5x5 bolt pattern have already been done. I looked it up in the archives on here.

I just got my hands on a free set of stock S-10 spindles today. The hubs, calipers, and rotors could be "borrowed" from my S-10 just to size things up. Lack of funds and time before the fat man in the red suit gets here are the only things that are holding me back from mocking things up. Freezing temperatures at work all day to come home and work in a freezing garage is killing my motivation also.

I was just seeing if anyone on here has gone down this road, and if so did you have any issues?

I haven't seen the parts you're talking about, but the most obvious thing to look for is if one is a front mounted rack while the other is a rear mounted rack (duh). However, I'd be surprised if the same geometry existed between the upper and lower ball joints holes and the steering tie rod arm hole. If any of these holes are in a different location even by half an inch of so to each other, you can get into issues like bump steer if the tie rods aren't in the same relative locations, and changed kingpin and caster angles if the ball joints on the upper and lower control arms aren't in the same relative location as they were on the Fiero knuckles. You might be able to fudge caster within tolerances, but there's no way to correct the kingpin angle short of changing out or modifying the length of the control arms. If you're not sure what I mean, I can post a little schematic which would explain things alot more easily than words.

Messing with the suspension geometry can, and probably more often than not, have undesirable results. Only way to know is to either do a detailed simulation or just put it together and see what you get.

The steering arm on both the Fiero and the S-10 both are on the front side of the spindle. My concern there is that the arm on the S-10 sits about an inch further out than the Fiero. The mounting point for the tie rod may put the tie rod at an angle that could cause premature wear? On the plus side, it would be easier to steer (not that it needs it) Both steering arms look to be located in roughly the same location in relation to where it's spaced from top to bottom.

I understand what you guys are saying about the axis on witch it turns. You could end up with a very twitchy, bump-steer prone front end if that imaginary line is tilted too far forward. Or a lazy, lethargic, prone to push feel from the wheel if it's too far back. no real way to adjust it either without it being far from a bolt-on swap. It's the last thing you want from a far that is supposed to be fun to drive. This is the part that I feel may give me an issue. I really won't know how all of that will shake out until I would actually mock things up and see how close things are. Or how far off they may be.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Its amazing what ya find when you search. I was going to ask the same thing. H body guys use S 10 spindles for better brakes and to get the 5 lugs. I have a set of GTA wheels and was thinking about doing this swap with S 10 spindles for.
Birddogg1 If your out there.. Please Tells us what ya found out.



S10 Spindles

Didn't this come up just a few months ago? I seem to recall typing how I had wanted to try this, especially since I have a non-running '86 S-10 2WD pickup. If noone else beats me to it, I'll be trying this swap this summer. For wheels, the '93-'95 Firebirds came with standard 16x7.5" wheels, on which I was thinking of mounting 205/55 tires. If you don't like the styling of these twisted 5-holes, the camaro 7.5s are steel, for use with plastic covers. In the camaro's case, a twisted 5-spoke. If the upsize 16x8s fit, you could fit a 225/50, most of these are advertised as having tread widths around 8.1-8.3" I think the first issue is going to be the size of the Fiero ball joints, versus the size of the holes in the S-10 parts. Next, if the tie rod angle is a problem, it wouldn't be unreasonable to just move the whole steering rack forward.