The quality of these spindle brackets from BMI are extremely poor. I think the QC guy in the factory, took a week or so off without a replacement.
Actually Grizz, ... I really don't think your going to need any shim stock. The front parts fit well enough. I just laid the A-arms with the brackets bolted "1/4 turn" past seating them by hand, and clamped the arms down. Slide the Suspension Block up to the brackets, and clamp the suspension block down.
Welding the front is painfully SLOOOOOWWWWWW. Their is a lot of welding in a concentrated area and I could only weld 3/8-1/2" an at a time to prevent the suspension block from warping. I have just finished welding the whole **** thing. It took roughly Nothing like a new front suspension that sounds like a 50 year old rusty gate.
All in all, when I made another order from BMI, I told them about the brackets and they tossed in the two that I had that were completely un-usable. They were very nice about it, ... but it still shouldn't have to happen. They were also duped into the bad brackets. Sad thing is that you need 20 of these brackets to build the Arachnid to the plans, and 20 brackets cost $70.00 + shipping. An awful lot of cash for a huge headache. It appears cheaper to just smack yourself in the head with a ball peen hammer to get the same headache, ... but for free.
One thing I did learn but I was a little to late, ... I could have just went over to Azuza Engineering and had them bring out a box of brackets that I could go through with a pair of calipers and hand picked them. Lesson learned, ... Look for the stuff locally first to avoid shipping charges. So far to date, ... I'm close to $100 in shipping cost alone. I could have saved at least half of that if I would have found all the local shops first. Unfortunately for me, ... the rest of the stuff I need to get needs to be shipped.
She's looking good Grizz.
Regards
Bill
