Classic Performance Products Chevy C10 Drop Spindle Install - Choose Your Own Brake Adventure

Most aftermarket dropped C-10 spindles like this one will only allow stock-type disc brakes, which is fine, but if you want to go to bigger brakes and wheels--like many do--than you'd have to buy another spindle. Not so with CPP's new Modular dropped spindles.

CPP spent a great deal of time and money to make sure their new Modular dropped spindle worked the way they said it would and still installed as easily as any other spindle. If you have worn-out ball joints in your control arms, now is the time to replace them (CPP stocks those, too).

The brackets to mount the stock GM calipers are easily bolted to the spindle. These brackets have a slight bend in them to locate the caliper on the rotor properly. The bend should be toward the outside.

For grins, we put back on the old stock brakes to pull some measurements since we are also going to check out CPP's other brake options. With the truck back on the ground, the ride height didn't change a bit from the 2 -inch dropped spindles that were in it before, and they also pulled the tire in about a full inch on each side! These are the brakes that we recorded a best 60-0 stopping distance of 172 feet, which is in the not-so-great range.

With the 2 -inch dropped spindle and 2-inch dropped coils in the front, the C-10 measures roughly 26 inches from terra firma to the top of the front wheelwell. Basically, it's on the bumpstops up front, which isn't for everyone, but a simple coil spring change would give a bit more clearance. The back is going to come down in the near future--don't worry.

If you don't have disc brakes on your truck or need to replace your old factory ones, CPP can do that too in either a five- or six-lug rotor. These replacement disc brakes are installed just like the OE brakes and come with new wheel bearings and seals and can be used on stock or dropped spindles.

Craig showed us this little trick for installing grease caps without bashing them in with a hammer. Take a piece of tubing that fits over the cap and use it to seat the grease cap.

Here's the complete 12-inch stock-type disc brake kit installed. If you don't need the whole kit, each piece is available a la carte. Again, we put the truck back on the ground to take some measurements from the factory brakes, and these brakes didn't change any of the dimensions--which is a good thing!

To illustrate the results of my non-scientific test (aside from the tape measure), here's the truck at the same height while being pushed down on. Now I can get my whole hand up between the 18-inch wheel and the inner fender--and I have big hands.