If I was doing it again, I would do exactly the same thing INCLUDING the air-ride!

 

I went and got my truck safety inspected today . The safety lane is in a big rig repair shop and the guys know me there , They always have stuff in the yard that just sits there broken! So I asked if they had a air ride twin screw rear clip some where and they said that they did have a 2003/2004 fraightliner Columbia !

I looked the truck over and found I could use a lot of parts off it ! I asked the guy helping me how much for the rear clip and he said he would ask the owner. So I was hanging out talking with some of the mechanics showing them my 56 build site , then they all started telling me what could work on my truck motor wise trains wise and.....then John looks at me and says " I know that your a builder ,we need some work done." I said ok show me what your thinking of...talked to the owner and looks like I may have a big trade in the works!

 

ya can't get any better than that!!!!

 

Question of the night ! Can I change out the front hubs /spindles and leave the steering axle and springs that I already have? I need to put air brakes on the front of my truck.
Can I put air brakes on my spindles that are there?

 

I could be wrong but I don't think ANYONE puts standard air brakes on a front axle because they don't actuate evenly.....

I think air-over-hydraulic is common however........ Look at what other trucks have. All the HD trucks I drove years ago [with air-brakes] didn't have front wheel brakes at all...

 

anything built after i think it was 1970 had to have front brakes.
the air front brakes work fine. the difference between front brakes and rears is that the fronts are set up to not lock up. some systems use a proportioning valve to limit air pressure, others by limiting brake travel.

 

That might be required. The trucks I used to drive were much newer than 1970.

The last one was a new 1978 IHC Transtar Eagle. It didn't have front wheel brakes. Maybe the owners removed them.

I think any new trucks with disc brakes have them though....

If I was going to replace (both front and rear) axles with modern ones, I would use (hydraulic, boosted) disc brakes all the way around!

 

maybe it was 79 that they were required them. it has been a while though.
the 69 white 9000 did not have front brakes, the 79 autocar constructor did. these were both tractors too.
every tandem dump i have ever driven had front brakes, and my first ride, a 49 international L-190 had front brakes too. the 49 had air over hydraulic on the tractor, straight air for the trailers.

 

I know the 1969 Ford C-750 we used to have on the farm (sold it this summer) had air brakes on the front and rear. It was a single axle.

 

I was thinking of a two tone paint job like this one
Green on the bottom and cream on cab roof and wheels

 

I think that I could have juice on the front brakes and air on the back and use the air to activate the master cylinder .i m not sure if it is called a vacuum or buster

 

I can`t remember for sure any more but I think that a 72 L8000 single axle gravel truck I had years didn`t have front brakes.

 

If I had to then ,I could always put the new back end on and work out the front brakes leader. Thank for the post

 

Do you know what the part is called that would activate the front hydraulic if I was running air brakes on the two back axles? And thank you for helping me !

 

Rick. Thanks for your help .