front suspension swap?

[drivethechevy]

im looking to swap the front drums on my 69 chevy fleetside for disk brakes without spending a lot of money and one of my dads old mechanic friends told me that the front suspension from 73-late 80's chevy pickups with front disk brakes swaps right in, and he couldnt remeber if i would have to drill any new holes or anything
so what im wondering is if it works? and how exactly i am to go about the swap?

any other cheap ways to get disks on my truck would help me

[70GMCer]

Yep....direct swap except for 2 holes that do not match up on the crossmember. Most don't even bother with them. What I'm going to do, is swap out all the suspension and use my existing crossmember. Still, everything bolts up.

[Boog]

Right. I have an 82 front under mine. The 73 up control arms use rubber bushings instead of the metal cups like the earlier ones. Should help isolate some bump and noise. Also know that you need to move the brake lines going to the front wheels as the rubber line attaches in a different location, no big deal to move. And you will need to use a newer master cylinder for disc brakes. This is about the cheapest way to get your 5 lug disc brake front end I know of.

[LockDoc]

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Here's a thread that might help.....

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...nt+crossmember

LockDoc

[drivethechevy]

thanks much now i have another question that is similar
does the swap work the smae way if the donor truck is a 90's chevy, cause if so then that will make it much easier cause we have a 96 chevy 1/2 ton tthat we used on our farm till the engine died and i know that has front disks and it would sure save me the trouble of finding another truck to scavenge off the parts i need,
so is there anything else i would have to do to fit that 96 front suspension on my 69 frame?
thanks again

[Scott68-93-97]

Completely different the 96 has the crossmember welded in and the suspension is completely different, trucks up to 88 will work for your donor parts really you can buy all the parts new anyway you dont need a donor its just cheaper, but you could cut the frame off the 96 and weld it to the 69 or mount the 69 cab to the 96 frame the motor will swap into the 96 frame no problem since it had a small block and if the trannys good run the one out of the 96. What went wrong with the motor in the 96 if its a lower end problem you can run the vortec heads on your 350 and all the fuel injection to make a pretty strong good mpg motor. Just swap your sheetmetal and block over to the 96 it would be a pretty sweet swap, good drivability of newer chassis with the classic look

[drivethechevy]

the 96's engine just has a lot of miles on it as far as i know and no one can remember why it stoped running but i pulled the engine apart a few days ago cause i tried getting it started again and it didnt work so i guess i just have everything looked over before i try to use any of it.

would it be easier to swap everything out of another truck crossmember and all or would it be easier to just swap everything accept the cross member? i got a donor truck with the brakes to put on mine so no im looking for the easyiest way to go about the swap,

also id like to upgrade the rotors and all that stuff for the brakes any sudgestion of brands that are great and are affordable?

and would the rear end off a a 73-87 swap in without any troubles?

[davidh]

I saw a guy here in town, put the rear end from a 80's C10 and changed it over to leaf springs even!!!!!

[davidh]

on a 67' that is.

[gunnersm8]

hey i got a question. and i did a basic search and its likely a stupid question, but i got a chance to grab a 74 g20 van, im thinking i can get the steering column as well as the front end. is this the same thing?

[EyeH8the24]

just finished swapping a 87 front crossmember in my 69,super easy swap.hardest part has been brake lines.but even that isnt too hard to deal with

[gunnersm8]

you used a vn? i presume theyre the samme but wanted to bounce it off you guys

[EyeH8the24]

i used a truck..dunno bout a van x member

[chrislehr]

disk brakes? 5.25 or 3.5"?

[franky69c10]

Originally Posted by EyeH8the24

just finished swapping a 87 front crossmember in my 69,super easy swap.hardest part has been brake lines.but even that isnt too hard to deal with

just how hard was the brake lines 2 swap, the setup im getting is off a 87 also..

[EyeH8the24]

i used all the brake lines from the 87,had to make the rear line fit ,napa cut and put a double flare fitting on it for me ...

[Longhorn Man]

can't use the van stuff, not as wide.

[rstewart09]

I believe the van cross member is wider, at least it was on an 89 van that I got for the motor and trans for my 67 GM