I told my son I needed a winter project and he suggested I put a new engine/trans, rear end in Herman (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=635618). He has put 7000 miles on Herman since he bought it from me and is still running around Columbus, Ohio with all original engine, trans, brakes and TIRES!! Yikes on the tires and brakes! This wont be my first hot rod motor installation but will be my first Mopar truck to transform. I already have the .060 over 283 built and the 5 speed bought and know what rear end I need. All of that including the re-wiring will be relatively simple for me. But here is what I need help with. What do I do with the front brakes? Leaving them stock is not an option as they are problematic now. An axle change would also be desirable as Herman has the reverse rake with the front higher than the rear of the truck. Neither my son nor I want to put Mustang II or any other independent front under the truck.And if possible we would like to leave the stock steering box/column so we can retain a stock appearance on the inside. I know he found a place to have the stock front axle dropped but we have no idea on what spindles etc can be installed to update the front brakes. I would prefer to end up with disc brakes on the front. Someone has no doubt solved this problem already, I just need to be educated as winter will be here soon (sorry!) Thanks for any help with this! C-dog
There was an article somewhere here on the HAMB where a guy drilled the drums off the front hub, retained/used the hub and mounted Ford Explorer disc rotors. From there he made a bracket to mount the disc calliper and VOILA disc brakes - and still retained the rest of the existing suspension. His cost was minimal as he could scour the wreckers for the parts. I did the same thing on a 35 Desoto some years ago and it was the best modification I could have done to the vehicle
Using the existing hub with the disc located on the concentric and wheel studs is a way to go if you're up for the fab work. Find vehicles with your bolt pattern on the discs, and start researching disc offset to get close to where the capiler will mount, mid 70's chevy impala is a common and cheap caliper, also "metric" gm caliper from 1980 or so monte carlo, these 2 are good because circle track guys use them and many places carry the parts (speedway). Locate your disc, locate your caliper and make a bracket to mount. Plan on lathe work on the hub outer, and on the concentric to fit it to the new disc, plan on mill work to true up spindle mounting surfaces for the caliper bracket. Plan on new wheel studs. The bracket can be made from flat stock if the offsets all work out, transfer screws used for the bolt pattern. if you don't have the equipment available, the scarebird kit looks pretty good.
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