front cross member swap
 

I know the group will have the answer-I want to change to disc brakes up front and someone gave me the a-arms, spindals,calipers rotors for free!! Yeah I was a happy man that day. I was talking to another guy who said it's much easier to swap out the whole cross member complete 7-14 bolts, roll it out and roll in a replacement ready to go-says the springs are hard to deal with (3/4) ton and the front end will not be alind. He also said you can use up to a 91 suburban cross member or up to 88 in pick ups. what do you that have done this think? I can get a complete cross member ready to bolt in for $150.00. I think that is a good price-also what about the proportioning valve-would I go with the suburban unit or back to our vintage trucks....mine's a 69..Steve

Re: front cross member swap
 

I just did a swap from a 85 into my 69. I had to drill out 1 whole on each side, and use a file to open up another whole on each side. It is great because of the disc brakes, and much newer stuff. Not sure about the prop valve, but I am going to use the one off the 85 as well. This is the 69 cross member that came out. I can take some more pics tomorrow if you would like to see the crossmember of the 85 that is in the 69 frame.

Re: front cross member swap
 

Thanks for the reply and pics.I just wanted to make sure this would work like the guys said. It makes more sense to have newer parts....steve

Re: front cross member swap
 

Just a little note. If you are using long tube Hedman Headers for sbc, (in the V8 mount position on the xmember), they will hit the lower control arms of the 73/87 setup.

Re: front cross member swap
 

Into 69z,you seem to have the idea.If you want more info on the swap and want to research the difference between swapping crossmembers and just control arms out look in the FAQ section.I'm sure someone has written it up both ways.
You do need the prop valve from the later truck and the Master cylinder.The disc brakes require different residual valves and MC volume.Again the FAQ's section can guide you on which brake rod to use and which stuff works with what.There are too many ways to work all this out for me to repeat( well OK remember).