When it comes to the evolution of the family run business McGaughys Suspension Parts, "right from the start" is an expression that not only describes the early days, but pinpoints a philosophy that has been important to the company surviving long enough to celebrate a quarter century of success in 2009.
Since 1984, when Mike McGaughy first opened his doors, a key principle was to do as much manufacturing in-house as possible to provide a level of quality control that is second to none. Some 25 years later, McGaughys still manufactures their drop spindles completely in-house with the exception of the foundry work, which is done in Los Angeles or locally, in Fresno.
The first step of McGaughys Classic Drop spindle manufacturing process begins when McGaughys loads up molds patterned to McGaughys exclusive design and ships them to the foundry where the molds are poured with special high-grade cast iron. As soon as the rough castings cool they are loaded back onto a truck and returned with the molds to McGaughys' Fresno, California, location. While the rough cast-iron spindles are loaded onto a Makino or Nigata CNC horizontal machining center and numerous drilling and precision surfacing operations take place the spindle spuds are manufactured from 4140 chrome-moly on McGaughys Nakamura or Mori Seiki CNC turning center. Vertical machining operations are handled by a Supermax CNC vertical machining center.
One of the things that can really take the fun out of working on a classic truck is trying to mate up different brand components that don't match, or worse yet, will not bolt directly onto a factory part without modification. The ability for the average guy in his garage to be able to do a spindle and brake swap without having to waste time and effort was another important issue McGaughys addressed by filling their shop up with state-of-the-art machinery. Fitment issues are solved thanks to a Mitsubishi CNC laser cutter. Surgical quality cuts are performed adhering to blueprints developed in McGaughys engineering department. After thorough prototype testing has been completed the product moves into production, and then packaged and warehoused by McGaughys where it will remain until it is ordered by calling (559) 226-8196.