disc brake conversion kit for 8 lug set up on a 57 chevy truck?

Look for a front rotor from a 3/4-ton Suburban 4x4, circa 1985. They are separate from the hub.

Like this:


They are, however, designed to be mounted on the backside of the hub, so you may need to use the lug bolts from that vehicle too, and have the holes in the hub opened up a bit. They register on a shoulder on the hub, so a little machine work to produce the shoulder on the existing hub would be in-order. You might be able to get them on from the outside of the hub with some machine work too.

The calipers that go with these are cheap, and are of the two slider-bolt variety, which are pretty easy to mount:

If you go the mount-from-outside-the-hub route, pay close attention to the inside of the rotor hat when selecting them. Some aftermarket rotors are machined in this area, some are rough finished, even inside the same store. You will want the machined ones. In this case, you'd turn down the hub so the rotor registers on the o.d. of the hub with a gentle press fit.

 

a bit over 70" to the outside of the tires, widest part.

Some more pics from the front

 

That one is on a later model dually frame, with widened rear fenders. Frame swaps are not for the faint of heart, or the thin of wallet.

 

ok so a 1987 with 74.5 is to much

i whant it low so it needs to be Maximum 71 inch wide

Maybe Ford or dodge Axle are ok?

 

i dont think now that is on a 1984+ frame the front wheel are in the fenders not out of the fenders

But will be happy to talk to the owner of that truck

 

i have seen guys narrow those later front crossmembers to use in the earlier trucks. all the newer stuff with good brakes is going to be too wide.

 

An under the floor power brake master cylinder system is readily available at moderate cost from the vintage Chevy truck specialist.

Still drum brakes, but much less pedal effort.

Towing you will be limited to 55 MPH by law.

Fix the cam in your engine, drive the truck enough to bed-in the new brake shoes, you will see the stock brakes are pretty good unless you drive much faster than the truck is designed for.
Adding power brakes will give it a more modern feel.

 

73-91 1 ton`s with the square body are basically the same. That truck could very well be a frame swap, the wheels tuck in nice because it is a dually, look at the front wheels. I think all of the 88 and up new body style trucks have unitized hub/ bearing assemblies. The solid front axle was only used after 88 in some 1 ton trucks(crew cabs), Blazers, and Burbans up till 91 when they changed them over to IFS.

 

the rotors that gimpy showed is the easiest way to go.ive put disc on all kinds of axles doing it this way..most newer cars and trucks have this set up.
as for the the 4x4s i narrow the front ends all the time... all i need is the spring mounting width and the over all track width.
few years back a put a 1 ton chevy front axle(4x4) under a 57 chevy pickup,looked factory.

 

Hy Richard

Richard is the guy that sold me the 1957 truck and if anybody is looking for a elcamino check richard ads

Richard i will try the truck first to see how it stops
and i will put back the dually wheel (16 inch) in front and back so please can you give me the front hubs .

 

i just mesure a 1 tons dually 1987 and its 74 1/2 also so its to wide also

 

Ahh, that gives me an idea. He could build, or have built up, an axle a-la the 2WD Jeep Cherokee (1984-2001). They were exactly the same setup as the 4x4 one, but just a tube that went from one inner knuckle to the other, without stopping off at a center section along the way.

Some DOM, a couple of inner knuckles, some spring perches, and a trip to the local self-service yard, and you've got a nice solid axle.

 

...neat idea, but the truck would sit up pretty high! The stock axle has a hefty drop, maybe 5 inches. And I doubt there's room to put a tube axle over the spring, without having it hit the frame

 

See if THIS may give you some ideas...joe

 

We now offer a setup for the 3/4 ton 59-71 Dodge - uses the same type of rotor Gimpy shows. I will look and see how long GM used that spindle/hub combo - may be worth looking into.

 

Spindle was used on 3/4, 1 and 1.5 ton trucks from 53-59

The non-dual hub was used 47-59

 

Aw, they have a CNC bender up the street. It could do 3" x 0.50" wall DOM, no problem.

 

Hi; I think if those big 3/4 ton drum brakes are set up right( drums turned, shoes arced to each drum, semi metalic shoe material,) they work great,drum brakes have a much larger surface area than disc brakes and work better untill they get hot, aluminum wheels would help dissipate the heat,drilling holes in the face of the drum to get rid of some of the gasses might help and along with good trailer brakes I see no problem.I have a dodge truck with big drum brakes on it and you have to be careful when its empty or it will throw you through the windshield! Chris

 

That year spread is pretty good - I ordered a spindle and hub, along with a few others (49-53 Ford pass., 64-67 Econoline) for engineering samples.

 

Please keep us advised on this- I for one am interested in a conversion for a 3/4 ton Chevy (1950). Jim

 

That is good - we will need a test customer in a little bit...

 

or just a thought.. I had a 72 champion motorhome with front drums and they were huge but still fit behind 16'' dually wheels. and it stopped great... maybe swapping the front straight axle from a motorhome with bigger front brakes might be easier....

 

We have a test set now.

 

I am doing a disc sertup on my 39 chevy straight axle car, like we did bakinthday. I had a 50 chev 5 bolt drum brake setup already on. I seperated the drums from the hubs and used a 64-82 corv. rotor, and it fit directly on the 50 chev hub. Now I know yours is 8 lug truck, but you might be able to adapt a later removable 8 lug rotor to your 8 lug hubs, just an idea. oh then make up a mounting plate. ???

 

I have a 70 C-30 one ton. It was a camper special with a box. Now it's a flatbed. It's an IFS, but now weighs about 4500 empty. It has drums, and 8 lug dually 16's It will lock the front wheels when trying to stop hard. So there is more brake there than you can use. I know it's not the same set up as your truck, but I'd think the brake sizes were very similar size and stopping power too.

The drag racers of the late60's early 70's used these one tonners for ramp trucks and cruised the country match racing and carried a lot of weight.

 

i have done the conversion with 1999 chevy 3500 rotors and calipers. stock hubs got cut on the backside to index the rotor then new studs where pressed in to hold the rotors on. buy loaded calipers the come with the bracket that bolts to the knuckle and just make a simple bracket the bolts solid

 

FWIW I wanted an 8 lug setup on my 54 F250. I found everything these guys have already said. So, since the spindles are the same as a F100, I used the 5 x 5.5 disc conversion and a 9 inch.

My conclusion is that it would be easier, faster, and better to adapt vintage tin to a later chassis. Non-HAMB-friendly, but a worthwhile consideration.

 

Did you ever find a conversion for the straight ale 8 lug front end, I am going through the same headache with a 54 3800 I must convert to disc brake...

 

Slag, have you got some pics of this, I am trying to do a disc brake conversion on my 54' 3800 1 ton dually
is, this the same?

 

If you check the 67-72 chevy truck forum, go to the 47-59 message board, then click on projects and builds
there is a post by dwcsr titled disc brake swap for 3/4 ton and 1 ton. It gives a very well detailed writeup
or how he did this. Not the only way, but one approach which used modern tapered bearings as well.