Hate to start my venture on this sight with a lame question. But i bought my maverick as someone else's project. Then eventually noticed this little piece of engineering and I don't trust it. Im not the most knowledgeable car guy so work with me here. It's in a 70 maverick with manual steering and everything well in good till you get to where the tie rod meets the wheel hub. I just don't know what that custom welded piece is and what it's called so I can replace it. SOS
That would be the "steering knuckle" or "spindle". I see you have an aftermarket suspension (and i believe brake calipers? they don't look like the stock ones I have), so you know what company makes it, any stampings? If you can find that out, you can contact them. It could even be like that from whoever manufactures it. Is it there on both sides?
sure looks like aftermarket, Macpherson strut type spindle assemble, definitely not OEM for our Mav/Comets, plus your 70 never came with front disc brakes. So someone did some mods at one time.......... David
Unless I knew the welder personally, that looks damned dangerous to me. 90° angles aren't the strongest design to begin with but at the very least it should have been gusseted on the inside of the corners. Almost looks like a Fox body setup with PBR calipers but who know what Frankenstein could be made of.
looks like the system had ABS. Anti-Lock Braking System I can see the the speed sensor gear in it. on a 70 Maverick ? see if the person who sold the vehicle knows from what type of car the parts come out .so you get and idea for your next step...
Not a good place for welding, doesn't matter who did it. Is that a fresh shiny scar on the strut assembly? Possibly from when the knuckle broke? I would replace it.
A weld on the spindle? Find out what kind of spindle it is.....nice looking brakes though. Check the other side too. May be it was repaired OR customized.
It does look like a Fox body mustang strut, there are not a lot of companies that make strut suspension for 60's 70's ford cars AJE and Gateway classic mustang are a couple, pretty sure none look like that though. I think fox spindles are front steer tie rod with a rack and mavericks are rear steer that bracket looks like it is bolted to the caliper bolts to make it able to be rear steer setup, it does look a little iffy , how does the strut tower mount look.
I wud not trust that setup either. Certainly a place I wud not want to see a weld on anything I drive.
Alright I took some more pictures to better describe what's happening here. There was a bolt that went through the customer piece, through the spindle and threaded into the caliper bracket. The only marking I have found was the pbr on top of the caliper. And it looks like the wheel bearing from a 2004 mustang with abs. Same situation on the other side
seems to be a 95ish mustang spindle and strut except because the mustangs tie rod was infront of the wheel they cut the from arm off the spindle, then custom made that bracket to catch the stock maverick steering. The problem now is should i try to salvage this setup some how, or just throw it all to the wind and try a mustang II front end.....
Not as bad as I first thought it was although the welds are junk and would probably never pass a penetration test. Still wouldn't drive it much faster than about 40 in an open field. lol
If you try to salvage that setup?.. have it cut and rewelded by someone who can do a decent job on them. The bigger problem with welding is the potential brittleness and residual stress buildup that results when heat treatment is not used following the repair work. I'm all for fixing things whenever possible.. but that just doesn't seem worth the hassle and nagging feeling of possible failure that it would create. Almost like Russian Roulette on wheels.
