I purchased Jamco's front disc brake kit for my shoebox. Im already dissappointed it the fitment, and misalignemt of holes and the fact that if I didn't notch the caliper bracket, it would have ripped off my zerk fittings when I turned. Wasn't happy with the nylon locking nuts instead of jamnuts for thier backets. And the lack of backing plates to protect the rotor. After bolting the caliper bracket up. I noticed that it mounts the caliper forward of the spindle rather than towards the rear of the spindle. EVERY CAR I HAVE EVER SEEN has had the caliper oriented to the rear of the spindle. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE REASON IS BEHIND THAT??? Is it ok to have it oriented towards the front?
Putting the caliper in back tends to keep the rotors cooler and protect the caliper and brake line to some extent. There's no reason they shouldn't work just fine on the front. Having said that...are you SURE you don't have the brackets switched left for right or on upside down?
Every aftermarket brake kit I have installed had Nylocks for the caliper bracket. There isn`t very much heat there at the spindle where they mount. As far as the sheilds go you should be able to find some off a late model and adapt them, or do without them altoghether. Have you called Jamco to ask about the problems?
Positive that the brackets are oriented right.....as long as thier directions are right. They can't be mounted rearward due to the steering arm. I followed thier instructions. I just didn't know that if the purpose was for some sort of loading/unloading of the suspension under braking.
I got the kit Friday and I've been working on bolting it up all weekend. I'm going to call Jamco on Monday. It's just the little things that tend to add up that make me question the overall design
The steering arms can be a problem, and that's probably why the kits are made to go on the front (my supermod is the same way). But, the OEMs manage to get them on the back of rear steer cars, so....
A quick survey of the "late model" (factory disc brake) cars sitting around here revealed two cars with front mounted calipers as a factory design....
Really??? Wow im an ass......I will now commence the inserting of the foot in the mouth. Thanks Squirrel. I was pretty much just waiting for a few second opinions and maybe some proof from a factory design
Had a '57 Bel Air with a Danchuck front disc conversion kit, used a pair of fabricated caliper brackets on the stock '57 spindles and discs/calipers from a '72 Monte Carlo. The calipers were mounted towards the front, swapping the left and right caliper postions so the brake bleeders would end up on the top. It worked fine, stop worrying.
Mid 70's mopars mounted the calipers in both locations. I think where they went was up to the guy working the assembly line that day.
Nyloc nuts and no inner gravel shields are par for the course when it comes to aftermarket brake kits. In fact I ask you to show me a manufacturer that does otherwise. I have installed nearly every other kit available over the last 20 years and no matter how "perfect" or high end you think the kit should be there is some idiocyncracy to deal with. Calipers mounted on the front of an axle have no detrimental effect on braking. Cool air is drawn through the center of the rotor and expeled radially just like any other impeller design. Adding a gravel shield only blocks air flow so if you want the maximum benifit from the brakes you keep them cool. Besides, if there was a disadvantage to the front mounted caliper do you think these guys would have figured out a way to put the caliper on the back?
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