Gents, I would like to purchase a disk brake/drop spindle conversion for my 65 c10 this week but to my dismay I was told that I can no longer use my stock wheels because the disk brake calipers will hit the wheels. Is this true?? Does anybody know how to retain the stock wheels but upgrade to front disks?? If not is there an aftermarket wheel that resembles the stock Chevs that works with the disk brake upgrade?? I really like the look of the factory wheels with white walls and want to keep that asthetic. Thanks for the help!
I recommend you keep the stock drums. Just true them up and tune them to perfection. They work fine, imo. But if you want disks, yes, the stock rims will likely need to be changed out to rims with a different backspacing and hoop design to clear the calipers. I went this route on my '55 truck and ordered custom rims from Wheels Vintique. Wheelkid here can help you out.
Does anybody sell 2.5 inch drop spindles that I can use with the drum brakes? My main objective is dropping the front end with an air/spindle set up but when I went to purchase the spindles I was told I had to convert to Disks?? I feel like I am going in circles.
Greetings! As for those who advise you to keep your original brakes, the truth is the best drum brakes aren't as good as the worst disk brakes. Swap out your spindles/brakes for ones from a '72 on up Chevy pickup (I would advise swapping out the entire suspension cradle, steering box and don't forget the master cylinder) then have the rotors re-drilled for the six lug pattern. As for the wheels, they will need to be "re-hooped" to clear the calipers. For hoops on the cheap you might try Ford truck wheels, the centers on the early disk brake wheels were riveted to the hoops instead of being welded. Good Luck with your swap.
you can make em work I used 9 inch disk on my 53 chevy fronts I just gruond them down tell they fit np. they told me the same thing . good luck
Back in the 70's when we started swapping out to disk brakes or we swapped our wheels over to cars that came with disk brakes we had to run spacers behind the wheels to push them out enough to clear the calipers. Usually a 1/4 or 3/8 spacer was enough to get the wheel to clear the the caliper along with maybe a bit of grinding on the corner (s) of the caliper. Rather than going by what my buddies or the guys at the bar said I'd be asking the manufacture of the disk brake kit what they suggest as no doubt they will have and answer. You might also be thinking about looking for steelies that fit a 71 or later four wheel drive Chevrolet K10 as they would clear the disk brakes and shouldn't look a lot different than the original wheels.
Thanks for all of the info.....I can surely figure it out with everybody's input. I am going the route of a grinding/cutting/ what ever it takes. Thanks again for quick responses!
i just put disc on a 63 galaxie and am still using the stock 14" drum wheels. 1/4" spacer and some caliper grinding is what it took, and it wasnt a lot of grinding.
I had the same issue. I ended up going with the scarebird disc brake conversion and wheel vintiques wheels with a 1/4" spacer. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
If you want to keep the drum brakes but want a 2 inch drop . Keep the spindle and go with a dropped lower control arm .
I figured with a little spacing I could accomplish a fix and retain the stock wheels but just wanted to pick a few brains before dropping the cash on the conversion. Thanks again for the added input.
No need for wheel spacers. You definitely want to switch to disc brakes. The inside shape of the stock wheel will not clear the caliper, as Im sure you have found out. The 67-72 steel wheel looks very similar to the 60-66 wheel but will work with disc brakes. The first picture is a factory 60-66 wheel and the second picture is a 71-72 4WD wheel. Note the different shape in the fluting. The ones on the rt will resolve your issues and still retain the stock look and hub cap. Sean p.s. There are currently a pair of 67-72 steel wheels on Ebay as we speak
No re-drill on the rotor required: http://www.earlyclassic.com/catalog.aspx?category=Disc+Brake+Conversion+Kits '72+ style rotors, six lug, are in there, in the "components" section.
The easiest and cheapest solution for your wheel issue is to find a set of 73-87 wheels off a 4x4. They have to be 4x4 for the 6 lug pattern. 2wd of course used the 5 lug pattern. The yards are full of old 4x4s with the skinny steel wheels. Like Gimpy said above too, the days of redrilling rotors is well over. You can get them cheap already with the 6 lug pattern
Seems like if you're running 15"s, that they would work. Under my '51 Pontiac wagon is a '94 Impala frame clip, with Impy's big disk brakes and spindles, and I'm able to run the stock 15's. I used 1/4" spacers, and clearanced caliper with a grinder. Brian
Wheel spacers. Depending on the caliper/rotor offset they can be as narrow as .09375 or as thick as .375. No hill for a stepper.
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