15,000 miles on mine. I have very minor rubbing on the bottom of the notches,nothing like what pockets pictures show. I also went to a good alignment shop witch I think may have helped,but I will stick to my previous statement and give credit where credit is due Spohn products should be described with capital J !

 

Wow. I hope I get lucky and dont have any of these issues. I guess I'll find out in the next two months.

 

Just looked under my car, 300 miles on teh setup and zero rubbing. My car is stock height though.

 

No issues with the steering rubbing on mine. The main issue I had is that the engine did not sit level. Had to do some fab work to the mounts to even out the engine.

 

With as many different reports from owners it seems like he must not use a jig at all but eyeball all the pieces

Main hoop is at different levels and angles. Mounts wherever, firewall clearance varies. Wheels are centered on some, not on others. Sometimes the front brace clears, usually not. Headers usually fit fine but some touch the framerail...

Little too much variance for a repeatable jig

 

How much variance do the frames on these cars have at this point after 20 years of preservation or abuse and neglect? Is that enough to account for it? I doubt it, but it's one of the possibilities.

 

True, but alot of these issues are coming from unwrecked garage queens as well and knock around toys. Some of the things that change are things that shouldnt matter what condition the car is like engine angle, F/R orientation and main hoop depth/angle

 

I will admit when I first got the stuff I thought it was of nice quality and money well spent. When installing and seeing all the issues it really changed my mind first with the K member tie rod clearance. I think the transmission crossmember is what makes the engine sit unevenly. The manual transmission is not bolted to the bellhousing strait up and down,it's rotated a few degrees. My crossmember goes across the car evenly. The torque arm fit the stock and 4th gen rear ends just fine and even lined up with mount on the crossmember,but its huge one size dose not fit anything else design is just stupid. To make it even worse the instructions even say grind away your expensive upgrade to make our garbage fit and it wont line up with the crossmember anymore. I would never recommend their products to anyone. I would feel guilty if I were to except money from someone else for this garbage I cant even sell it.

 

I have a PA "K" and it should have a name change to POS Kmember.
Im not going to but if you do a search I had these issues many many years ago.
I had to cut mine apart and redo a LOT to make the A arm mounts equal on each side. And then there is the steering linkage rubbing issues you guys are having..
not to mention the powdercoating that was flaking off and the oil and rust under it.
One of these days Im going to make my own the way they should be made. .

I used heat and a BFH to "clearance" main hoop on both sides for steering clearance..

 

Hi Guys,
Wanted to chime in here, I have seen some cars that have had the clearance issues with the Tie rods and it seems to be on cars that have specific brand aftermarket tie rods, with that being said it SHOULD NOT RUB no matter what tie rod is on the car, I have spoken with Steve at Spohn about this in the past with no avail to change as that would make it a must to use AFTERMARKET lower a arms when using a tubular k member. This is the reason the spohn cross bar is so far forward and the BMR cross bar is toward the rear more with a dif angle. This is the reason you CANNOT use facotry a arms with a BMR K member, for this reason I try to get customers to steer toward the BMR K member AND a arms so I can INSURE that there will be no clearance issues. If any of you guys have any questions BEFORE ordering feel free to give me a call in the office and I will talk it over with you as I have used them all and know the ends and outs.I look forward to helping if I can.
Thanks,Bruce
www.hawksthirdgenparts.com
864-855-2694

 

You sold me this garbage and I do not recall being steered away from the spohn products. I have also bought other things from you and they were all great products especially the stuff from stainless works,so in my eyes you have kinda redeemed yourself as a vendor,but I am still very unhappy with the spohn products and the fact that you peddled them. Those stainless works swap headers you sell exclusively brang me back,so you should call and thank THEM for my continued business. I will still shop your store,but will allways second guess your products and advise.

 

Just installed a Spohn k-member in my '84 T/A and the tie rods hit the k-member. So bad you can't get the steering wheel to go lock to lock. I did notice that the hoop sticks out further from the a-arm front mounting points where on the stock k-member the front mounting point for the a-arm is flush with the front of the k-member. That's why basically everyone is having issues with this k-member. I believe that this k-member was originally designed for a rack and pinion application where the hoop placement was not an issue. They got lazy and just sold it as a replacement for all applications instead of checking and doing some proper redesign work.

 

Bruce, I appreciate your candid response. It is very good to know you understand our perspective. I would suggest you either,

1. Update your website with application information so internet shoppers can make informed choices before purchasing Spohn, BMR, Race Craft, or whatever K-members you might sell. Fair enough considering the pitfalls each options might have.

2. Make Spohn K-member a special order item where customers have to call your shop to place order and you can talk them through the obstacles.

3. Stop carrying Spohn K-members if it doesn't meet your expectation. You can carry other Spohn products that work well. Just be selective to protect your customers and your reputation.

You provide a unique service for 3rd gen owners not equalled elsewhere. Nobody else is doing so much to bring products to us, nobody else is representing our voice like you, and after all that effort I know there isn't a lot of money to be made. This is just something you enjoy doing and that is why you do it so well. But you have more influence than you realize. Don't be a victim in your supplier relationship with Spohn, especially considering you have choices in what you will sell.