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How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle
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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-05 11:52 PM (#541597)
Subject: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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I have successfully installed rear discs on my 1957 Imperial. The install retains the original bolt pattern of 5 x 5.5 and uses the same rotors as an AAJ front kit with one exception. The rears will be 4x4 truck so you don't get the studs in the rotors. I just tell the folks at the auto store 1990 Ford F150 4x4. Fronts are the same except not 4 wheel drive.

This mod involves some drilling and cutting as well as basically destroying your old drums and re-using the center hub.

I bought the brackets, calipers, some parking brake line from a kit on Ebay for mopar 8 3/4 axles. The brackets need some drilling to work with the larger 11 3/4 rotor. I didn't look for an 11 inch rotor with same bolt pattern etc. I don't know where to start so that may be an easier option than the 11 3/4 rotor.

1. remove old drums, do not discard anything. This is a hard job without a good puller and strong impact. I had to use an impact with 1,000 ft lbs to get mine off.
Keep the castle nut on the axle (very important for your safety and protection of the threads) Just back the castle nut off to give the drum about 1/4 in to 1/2 inch of movement otherwise its going to fly across the room when it breaks free. Be very careful on this step.

2. Cut center hubs out roughly 1/4 inch from the back side of the wheel studs. Get a rotor for an exact measurement for how much to cut.

3. Cut centers of the dust seal for the bearing retainer plate, keep the shims.

4. Drill appropriate additional holes in the circular mounting bracket as well as the 1st brake caliper bracket using the dust seal holes as a template. The holes on the axle flange are symmetrical FYI.

5. Be sure bearing is seated (mine backed out some when I removed the drums) install shims and dust seal then the circle bracket then the 1st caliper mounting bracket. Tighten that hardware up.

6. Be sure the 4 holes for the 1st caliper bracket are towards the rear of the vehicle. The spacers will be used to bring the 2nd caliper bracket towards the center of the vehicle.
Install this bracket and it should be safe to tighten up that hardware.

7. Install your cut up cleaned up hub from the old drum being sure it seats all the way down. You should have no end play on the axle if its installed correctly. This means pushing and pulling on your axle
by the hub should not move inward or outward. Install the rotor and use a few acorn nuts to secure it in place.

8. If your using the 11 3/4 rotor you will have needed to already drill out some new holes and tap them on the 2nd caliper bracket. If you found some 11in rotors that fit with the same bolt pattern please
chime in and give the info. Mount your caliper. The rotor should spin with just a little friction from the pads. Using the 11 3/4 rotor will have uneven wear simply because of the position the caliper mounts
and the pads make contact. I don't see this being a problem especially on the rear of the vehicle.

9. my drums had a retainer plate that helped hold the wheel studs in. I recommend pressing out wheel studs and deleting this plate simply because my disc and caliper lined up perfect once install was complete. This retainer plate is about 1/8 in thick so keeping it will cause you to need to shim the caliper mount bracket in the opposite direction. (meaning you will need to grind down the included spacers instead of add a 1/8 washer) Just keep this in mind and look for that retainer plate on the hub, it is easy to spot.


Note I purchased some longer wheel studs. I will be using aftermarket wheels so the original wheel studs needed to be pressed out due to being too short. I bought Dorman part number 610-541 The studs
have the same spline pattern as the old wheel studs. These new studs may be too long not sure yet but I can always cut them if they are.
If you are changing your wheel studs also just get a press. These things are a pain to hammer out and you just make a mess of things, I tried this on one then bought a press.

For the fronts if you have an AAJ kit the dust cap is part number 13973. Ford rotors use more than one variety, this is the correct one.

Edited by 51coronet 2017-06-06 9:20 AM




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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-06 12:33 AM (#541598 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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This custom swap took me a few days to get right FYI. Cutting down the center hubs is time consuming. A good lathe will make this job faster and easier. I recommend having a plasma cutter, professional hub puller from OTC or similar, press if you are changing wheel studs, good lathe to trim down the center hub, grinder with discs and the sand paper discs, strong impact, impact sockets and hand tools / sockets, sand paper and or scotch brite to clean up the axle and hub center, drill press or hand drill, tap and die set. The caliper bolts are 7/16 -20 (not a very common tap to have on hand). Don't be afraid. I am using the GM calipers with parking brake built into them for a future possible trans swap. I will be using the parking brake feature in these. Will run the lines soon for that.
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mikes2nd
Posted 2017-06-06 8:54 AM (#541606 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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nice and with pictures even! I think im going to try this.

Ill hit ebay up now..

 

this kit from "gearhead"?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-8-3-4-Rear-Disc-Brake-Conversion-Kit-Charger-Challenger-A-B-E-Body-/361917035677?hash=item5443efb49d

 

here is another.  any more pics of the bracket setup installed?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-1971-1972-challenger-rear-disc-brake-conversion-/330520982808?hash=item4cf495f518:g:pEcAAOSwAKxWXfxc&vxp=mtr

 

 

 

 



Edited by mikes2nd 2017-06-06 9:03 AM
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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-06 9:13 AM (#541607 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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yes that's the kit. Ask them to delete the rotors if you are doing this on imperial since that is 5 x 5.5 bolt pattern. Also get the one that comes with brake cables if you are going that route.

I will post a few more pics of the install. I made a mess of the first set of brackets with my trial and error but my 2nd set is still new so will post pics of that one.

The way the rear calipers work is you need to use the parking brake so they adjust, so plan on using the parking brake feature if you buy the parking brake calipers.
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Powerflite
Posted 2017-06-06 2:06 PM (#541621 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle



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I don't mind cutting up an old drum, but I would be really hesitant to cut up a 12" backing plate. I guess it would be better to get a less desireable 10" brake backing plate from a Plymouth or Dodge to cut up instead. But that setup should get the car stopped pretty well.
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57chizler
Posted 2017-06-06 2:50 PM (#541626 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: RE: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle



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51coronet - 2017-06-05 8:52 PM
If you are changing your wheel studs also just get a press. These things are a pain to hammer out and you just make a mess of things, I tried this on one then bought a press.


Pressing/hammering out the studs without removing the swaging risks damaging the hub. If you were going to change the studs anyway, why ruin the brake drum by cutting out the hub?
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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-06 2:53 PM (#541627 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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If the hesitation is due to rarity you're right. If its due to anything else well the rest of the plate mainly serves as a dust cover in this situation plus it gets in the way of hardware so cutting it down is needed in this application. It serves as a grease/ dust seal for the bearing as well as a retainer for the bearing.
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1960fury
Posted 2017-06-06 4:16 PM (#541636 - in reply to #541626)
Subject: RE: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle



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57chizler - 2017-06-06 2:50 PM


If you were going to change the studs anyway, why ruin the brake drum by cutting out the hub?


this is what i thought and why would i want to have a piece of an old brake drum sandwiched between the hub and disk? needless rotating/unsprung weight. i did a similar conversion using wilwood parts and just removed the swaging/bolts since they were too short anyway to be used (and of course half of them annoying left hand threads), even though the drums were shot anyway.
good job anyway. thanks for sharing.

Edited by 1960fury 2017-06-06 4:22 PM
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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-06 9:05 PM (#541658 - in reply to #541626)
Subject: RE: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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57chizler - 2017-06-06 2:50 PM


51coronet - 2017-06-05 8:52 PM
If you are changing your wheel studs also just get a press. These things are a pain to hammer out and you just make a mess of things, I tried this on one then bought a press.


Pressing/hammering out the studs without removing the swaging risks damaging the hub. If you were going to change the studs anyway, why ruin the brake drum by cutting out the hub?


There was some trial and error involved on my part. I also did not have a press when I first started tearing into this project. I even started without knowing the dimensions of the inside of the rotor.
A bit ambitious on my part but was determined to have discs in the rear and was not sure what was going to work.

Regardless the hub needs to be machined down to fit inside the rotor and the old drums were not really a concern of mine if they got destroyed in the process. Hard to find brake parts is what I wanted to avoid.
Everything is over the counter Ford or GM parts now.
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Powerflite
Posted 2017-06-06 9:41 PM (#541659 - in reply to #541658)
Subject: RE: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle



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It's a great solution to keeping the original Imperial bolt pattern. Nice job!
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51coronet
Posted 2017-06-07 9:10 AM (#541692 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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Ran into another issue with the other side. Not all rotors are made equal. One side is 1.01 inches wide and the other is 1.12 inches. That is a tenth of an inch difference and is huge for calipers that don't have more than a 1 inch gap with the pads installed.
2 options I see and these rotors are supposed to be 1.185 inches wide. Machine down the rotors on a brake lathe or machine down the pads. I am choosing pads for the time being.

I also used the old brake flange hardware instead of the new stuff. I like the old hardware better, fine threads and doesn't use an allen type head on the bolt. The new stuff that was included is coarse thread.
I just put new lock washers on it. The one bolt that doesn't bolt to the bracket I used a thick 3/8 washer (fits perfect).

Edited by 51coronet 2017-06-07 9:29 AM




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51coronet
Posted 2017-12-08 7:42 PM (#553932 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle


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Some potential good news for folks looking at a rear disc set up you can purchase. A known and recommended disc brake company may be using some of these ideas to offer a rear kit for the forward look cars. I got a call yesterday from AAJ so hopefully something will materialize in the near future. Keep that demand up and it will come to life.

Highly recommend AAJ for your brake needs!
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hemidenis
Posted 2017-12-08 11:43 PM (#553948 - in reply to #541597)
Subject: Re: How to Rear Disc brakes with tapered axle



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excellent info..
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