For many of us in this group .... building the trucks is the most fun of the whole thing. Sometimes however, doing what seems the easiest isn't necessarily the best. Take the disk brake kits that are available from a number of sources. No machining.... easy to do ..... and parts are readily available. But .... is there any downside with the kits? Take a look at these two photos, and see if you can figure out what was done here .... and just so you know .... this was not done with a kit. NAPA provided all the parts other than the original spindle, hub, and the caliper mount (made that myself).

The biggest question may well be why go through all this work when the kits are out there??


RG in Spokane

Passenger side assembly .... front and back views:







Ooops .... the photos would not load ..... stay tuned .... I'll keep fiddling with this until they do!!!

 

Of what I know about most kits, is they only provide a spindle and/or a sleeve that presses over the spindle depending on bolt pattern desired, and the buyer has to provide the 73-79 f100/150 rotor, GM brake calipers, and part store provided bearings, seals, and races.

Also, for the earlier IH trucks, Ford explorer disc brakes go on with a GM caliper. I can't see your pics to compare.

 

I'm baffled .... the photo link refuses to function ..... It's always worked before???

I'll try tomorrow ...... sorry!!

RG

 

For front disc brake conversion kits try Classic Performance Products in Anaheim, CA

Their kits are complete w/ bearings,hubs,& brakes -- your choice of bolt patterns.

 

I'm still trying to get the photos to work .....

......... and nope ... the photo links won't work!!! GRRRRRR!!


So ..... if you go to my gallerys and look at the last two photos in the 48 F1 section ..... you'll see the two images I referred to in the initial post.

Let's just say that it is a quiz?? Look hard and you will see some stuff very different than what the kits do. The process is more complicated, and takes some machining savvy, but it solves one major issue that all the kits have inherent in them. The truck won't be on the road for a while, so how this all works out will take a while to experience, but it should
make it a better rig safety wise.


RG

 

I tried to post your pictures;………. I don't think it is fixed?
Anyways, I give up on the quiz, never was good at them, can’t stand the suspense, so what’s the answer?

 

It won't move the wheel out a half inch or whatever amount it does? Looks like a flat plate machined to hold a newer style GM caliper.

 

Havi,

You got it ..... and the amount is actually closer to an inch .... at least on the one kit I looked at that a friend of mine had. The issue is that the spacer puts the inner bearing out that distance .... and that is around a 20% greater load out on the spindle. Take a 50+ year old spindle ..... load it that much more, and I just decided why not do it a little differently. I was able to keep the original hub in this deal .... mainly by using a 4x4 disk that I re-drilled to match the F1 wheel lug pattern, and then mounted it behind the hub against a shoulder I created when I lightly machined the back of the hub flange. The lugs were from a 72 Dodge pickup, and have longer splines so the rotor is tightly held against the hub back with the lugs, and centered by that new shoulder.

For most folk ... this would be way too complicated an adventure to undertake ... especially given the ease of install the kits provide .... but since I enjoy the machining work and am semi-retired, and could make the conversion be a bit more durable, I figured why not.

The caliper mount plate is essentially no different than what all the kits provide ... just a little beefier.

Now that the whole conversion is done .... would I do it again? Not so sure about that. Lots of hours involved in the machining, but it was fun .... which is what this whole hobby is about.

And if you go get a lathe, a milling machine, a tracer style cutting torch, and find a very helpful NAPA store. you too can have this much fun?? (grin)

RG

 

Hi Robert,

It's not you or what you are doing with the pictures. The IT gods had some sort of issue with the program, and installed some kind of fix that took most of our galleries and all the previous pictures we have posted and made them disappear. They said they had it fixed, took off for the weekend and won't be in until monday.

As one person who post a terrific amount of pictures, and depends on the search function to refer people to discussions we have already had about their issue....All I can say is reading the three e-mails I wrote last night to our IT folks ought to be a warm start for them on monday.