I'm about to do the vipers to a 97-02 spindle myself.

I know you said you're against "kits" but it's a matter of benefiting off someone else's hard work and saving yourself some headache and time!

I actually just picked up a set of brackets off someone that uses the 97-02 spindles, but everyone is afraid of them because they "failed" and is a "poor design" (so I got them for dirt cheap compared to what the original fabricator was selling them for)

well, the design is solid. it's the hardware that sucks. whoever put all the work into making these brackets, having them CNC cut from thick billet steel. the weak point is that it was designed to use the 3 factory dust shield bolts, and they were shearing off.

what size is the head on those? 10 mm if memory is right. meaning the shank is like 6 or 7mm!

I'm going to drill and tap the spindle to use a 3/8" grade 8 bolts. THAT should hold!

if you want, I'll take measurements and pictures of my brackets if you want to try to copy them. I'll even trace them out on paper and send them as a template.