Reply to "Big bearing front spindles?"

The reason I asked is because I noticed the similarity of the front spindles on the Pantera and the 65-69 Mustangs and Cougars.

When Ford went from the 70 series tires to the 60's series there was almost immediately an issue with spindle failure.

The solution for Ford was to enlarge the outside diameter of the spindle. The racers immediately took advantage of these as well.


Similarity does not indicate the exact situation. There is a big difference between the Mustang with close to a 60/40 weight bias and the Pantera which is 40/60.



My car had the front locking nuts. It was very simple for me to change these over to the cotter pin retainer like used on the Mustang. Those bearings for me, since I have experience with those, I can get the bearing preload perfect every time on.

That is not a difficult change over at all. In fact, it is a very easy and simple one.



As far as the aluminum calipers instead of the iron, again, I noticed the difference from the street Cobras to the Comp Cobras which used the aluminum calipers.

I also noticed that some of the factory Gp4 Panteras were using the aluminum Girling 18/4, 16/4 calipers which are intended for the 1.25" vented rotors.

These are the same calipers used on the 68 and later GT40's, also know as the Gulfs.

Noted also used on other late 60's early 70's GT race cars, like the Lola T70 and the 935 Porsche. Maybe the 917 whale tales too? Something in the period rules about limiting braking ability for safety reasons? Very strange. How does that slow down the cars? The rules comity must have voted on that one at a wine tasting festival? In any event, aluminum calipers can't be all bad?



I agree that unless someone gave you a set of the aluminum Girlings for free, they are disproportionately expensive compared to say the Wilwood, the most logical way to go with brakes right now is with a set of Wilwood's and leave the existing spindles and bearings alone and just pack 'em with grease once in a while.

Even switching to the 65 Mustang vented rotors no longer makes much sense since they have become collectors items? They were just a cheap substitute for the stock Girling rotors to begin with.


The real issue is that far too many Panteras are being put away for 5 or 10 years at a time then just be pulled out of storage and driven without any maintenance at all. You need to pack the bearings annually as far as I am concerned.