8-lug to 5-lug conversion idea; Van brakes?

[Canada20]

Hey all. I noticed a lot of C20 vans in the boneyard on Thursday but they all had 5-lug rotors. I didn't think to check out what rearends they had (don't know if they'd fit the wider van frame without some work) but it occured to me that there are a couple of people talking about doing a 3/4 to 1/2 conversion so they could run 5-lug wheels instead of 8 lug and maybe this would be a source for the conversion. Would still have to figure something out for the rear though.

Just a thought,

Greg

[mikep]

I think with vans they take the whole 3/4 ton rating a lot more literally than they do with trucks. My 3/4 ton truck has a GVW of 7700 or 7800 lbs or something like that which is about 3300 lbs more than its empty weight. Thats well over 2 tons of cargo capacity. With vans I believe that 3/4 ton actually means 1500 lbs so there is a difference in the running gear. I know theres some heavy 3/4 ton vans with 8 lug hardware which is probably more in line with what we'd call 3/4 stuff in the truck world.


My guess would be the spindles are different. You can always convert a 8 lug rear end to 5 lug. It just costs about $600 and requires custom axles and new end flanges to be welded on the tubes