brake help

[Captainfab]

Yes on the front, if you remove those screws the drums will come off. but as blackedoutharley said, it would be a good idea to re-pack the front wheel bearings, and install new seals. In the rear, you will have to remove the axles and then the hub and drums as a unit. Be forewarned, if those rear drums are not turnable/useable, new ones will be expensive to replace. I've seen them on Classic Parts' website for $110.00 each.

[canonball]

Finally got around to inspecting the brakes. My friend helped me get the passenger front and rears pulled apart and we inspected everything. The fronts actually aren't in that bad of shape. The wheel cylinder is shot, the wheel bearings need to be replaced, the shoes are in pretty good good shape and the drums are decent as well, my friend is going to re-surface them and we'll see how they clean up and check for warping. The rear is pretty bad, wheel cylinder is bad (go figure), shoes are worn almost completely down, the drums show signs of metal to metal and are going to have to be replaced. Brake lines and hoses are pretty dry-rotted and the master cylinder could probably be rebuilt but I'm planning on replacing it anyway. We also checked some of the steering components, tie rod ends are going to have to be replaced as well as a couple of other components. I'm going to take apart the drivers side brakes and check all those components. I've got a list of parts and in between work days I'll try and get all this stuff worked out once I order all these parts and get them all in. I'll update here with progress... or for more help.

Oh the photos are from the passenger rear. you can see the shoes are worn almost completely away and the wheel cylinder is shot, lots of corrosion and leakage from the boots and corrosion on the hardware.

[canonball]

I'm planning on getting some parts ordered this week and have been weighing different options lately. I've been looking into wheels as well because mine are for tubed tired I guess? I don't want to have to mess with tubed tires, and there doesn't seem to be many options for 8 lug wheels unless your wallet is a heavyweight (mine isn't). So I'm now looking into what is needed for a 6 lug conversion as well as possibly swapping out the front drums with disc brakes. This was not my original intention but I'm going to be down there replacing and fixing stuff anyway so I may as well spend the extra time saving up a little more money and doing it all together. I should be able to get the disc brakes from a donor vehicle like a late model chevy (mid - 70s) right? and as far as the 6 lug conversion I'll need new hubs for the rear, would a later model C20 work? I'm just thinking about the axel situation on my C20 in that the wheel and hub float over the axel (you have to take the axel out in oder to take the hub/drum off). I don't remember if the C10s are like that, or other later model chevys? Oh, in case you haven't noticed I'm a little new to this stuff!

Anyway, I'm going to see what I can find around the forum which I probably should have done in the first place but this is already all written out so, yeah.

[raycow]

[QUOTE=canonball;4311309]as far as the 6 lug conversion I'll need new hubs for the rear, would a later model C20 work? I'm just thinking about the axel situation on my C20 in that the wheel and hub float over the axel (you have to take the axel out in oder to take the hub/drum off). I don't remember if the C10s are like that, or other later model chevys?QUOTE]

You will have to replace the rear axle with one from a C10. The C20 rears are full floating and there are no 6 lug hubs that fit them. This isn't as bad as it sounds because the C10 rear will give you highway-friendlier gearing.

As for the fronts, you can do a C10 disc swap from the control arm shafts out. You shouldn't have to swap the crossmember unless you want to. You can get aftermarket 6 lug rotors that are a bolt-on replacement for the 5 lug.

Ray