So 10 years ago I made a disc conversion for my old 56 dodge truck, well this monday on my way home before I got on the freeway it broke bigger than hell leaving me stuck half way in an intersection. Haven't pulled it apart yet but it dont look good. So with that said, It seems my 1/4" plate wasn't up to the job, so I guess I am either going to put a scarebird kit on the front, or have a machinist mill down a piece of 1/2" plate to fit the offset i need for this setup right now. So anyone got scarebird kit on theirs? how do you like it? and did it change your track width? I am on the fence about what way to go here. Here is the carnage, GoD I hope this spindle didnt crack and cause this failure.... The caliper got wedged into the wheel pretty nasty and hard, but saved the brake line from being ripped out... I know someone here will say, why not put the drums back on, well thats fine and dandy, i probably would if i could actually get parts that would be correct for it, but finding this dodge stuff aint easy, and normally doesnt fit quite right.
I've seen 1/2" and 3/8" used, even some cast. (!) Never actually saw the bracket break, looks like it sheared? (or tore, starting with a ding or small fracture in the plate?) I think I'd call Scarebird, and ask some particulars... Like, "Ever had a failure with bracketing?" And, "Is this a known 'fit' for MY truck?" 1/4" is beyond "should work" for this application. Only 'thin' brackets I've seen (mostly foreign) are FORGED STEEL. Good hunting. Glad you nor the truck weren't 'damaged'!
1/4" plate for the backing plate, 99 dodge avenger rotors, stock hubs with the drums removed, gm metric calipers.
Thanks man, yeah 25 mph into a corner and the inside wheel locking up, little fight to keep it off the curb but it came to rest 1" off the curb so call it a win, I think what really got me on this was the fact that the 5 mile stretch I do on the freeway right now is 80 mph, and if this would have happened I dont think the truck would still be with us anymore. Yeah When i get it all apart, I think my fear will be reality, I think the white chunk at the bottom of the caliper is a piece of the spindle, you can see the 2" wide piece of 1/4" plate ripped at the back of the pic, so may be looking for a spindle also now.
engineering is a tough teacher of what in theory should work - quality of materials used important too - failure of parts is the old back to the drawing board lesson - like you said, could have been much worse
I'd like to see pics once you have it apart. In the pic it looks like maybe part of the spindle broke.
I just did a scarebird disk conversion on the front of my 53 Buick. It went together smoothly. I had a few questions and they e mailed me right back the next morning which I greatly appreciated.
I bought scarebird but never again! It did not fit and I had to take a grinder to my spindle. I sure hated to do that.
. I don't really think it is your spindle. It almost looks like something caught between the caliper and rim. if it is the spindle good luck dodge parts are hard as hell to come by I had a 57 for a long time. there is a dodge truck forum on the web and had swap meet section on it Tom
Yeah, ole dodge parts are getting harder to come by for sure. What you see between the rim and caliper is a sliver of aluminum from the caliper digging in.... You and me both, just need to get out there this week probably tomorrow is when i will finally have a little time to myself to get it torn down. I think your right, that little chunk below the caliper in the pic sure looks cast......
Well, took some work but she is all apart now, seems the grade 8 hardware saved the spindle. Here is a few pictures...Missing some chunks of metal in weird places. Some parts have dirty break lines, so there was stress fracturing that happened at some point in the last year since I took it apart for its annual check up.
As an engineer that is a pretty thin cross section for a brake part, plus the edge-distance on the broken out hole is just about nothing. Is that a cast piece?
Seems the hole enlarged and there was metal around that hole, now there is not, I agree there was not enough around that hole to even be able to hold together. Not cast.... was all 1/4" plate
The hole is probably egged out (something was slightly loose) and the break-line is dirty, meaning the crack propagated over time. Take it apart and mate up the other part, I'm curious why it took that path to break the part where it did.
Thanks for posting this. I have 1/4" front caliper brackets on my project car. Gonna rethink that now...
That section was too long to be 1/4". The crappy kit I got for my Ford, everything is 3/8" or 1/2". Look at some of the Scarebird stuff to get a sense of scale. Longer sections have to have pads welded or pressed into them for mounting hardware, big radii of course to reduce stress risers.
Sucks it broke. I have a scarebird kit on my ‘54 Country Squire and I’m quite happy with it. It didn’t change wide and I’m running stock sized wheels. I also like that I can get parts over the counter, nothing exotic or custom. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Other vendors to consider are www.rustyhope.com and www.aajbrakes.com Also, as a fellow engineer, I agree with bobss396 assessment. .
Thanks, look at the brackets on the Rusty Hope site, sharp corners and thin sections. The AAJ stuff looks a bunch better. Scarebird does his homework from what I see of his stuff. I'll eventually replace the kit I put into my Ford with one of his or a Wilwood conversion.
The Jalopy Journal
